Twelve Animals
Shengxiao, or shuxiang, refers to the 12 aniamls traditionally used in China to symbolize lunar years. A lunar year usually begins sometime between the last week of January and the second week of February of the Western calendar.

The 12 animals - mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog, pig - constitute a 12-year cycle, each animal representing one year in the given order. Thus we have the Year of the Mouse (the last one corresponded to 1996), the Year of the Ox (1997), the Year of the Tiger(1998) and so on. The animal that symbolizes the year in which a person is born is called his or her shengxiao. The Year 2000 is the Year of the Dragon. And so is 1988, 1976, 1964, and so on. If a person was born in the Year of the Rabbit, he or she must be born in 1999, or 1987, or 1975.

Do you want to know why these 12 animals are used and not others? According to one legend, Buddha invited all the animals to his kingdom to celebrate the New Year, but only 12 of them turned up, the mouse was first, followed by the ox, then the tiger, the rabbit and so on and finally the pig. Out of gratitude, Buddha decided to name each year after each of the animals in their order of arrival. If you don't know what your shengxiao is, look it up in the following table.

Table of Shengxiao


  Rat 1900 1912 1924 1936 1948 1960 1972 1984 1996
Ox 1901 1913 1925 1937 1949 1961 1973 1985 1997
Tiger 1902 1914 1926 1938 1950 1962 1974 1986 1998
  Rabbit 1903 1915 1927 1939 1951 1963 1975 1987 1999
Dragon 1904 1916 1928 1940 1952 1964 1976 1988 2000
  Snake 1905 1917 1929 1941 1953 1965 1977 1989 2001
Horse 1906 1918 1930 1942 1954 1966 1978 1990 2002
Goat 1907 1919 1931 1943 1955 1967 1979 1991 2003
Monkey 1908 1920 1932 1944 1956 1968 1980 1992 2004
Rooster 1909 1921 1933 1945 1957 1969 1981 1993 2005
Dog 1910 1922 1934 1946 1958 1970 1982 1994 2006
Pig 1911 1923 1935 1947 1959 1971 1983 1995 2007