Chinese Zodiac · 1 of 12
What are people born in the Year of the Rat like?
In the Chinese zodiac, people born in a Year of the Rat are quick-witted and resourceful. The Rat is the first of twelve animals. Its years begin at Lunar New Year, not January 1, so a January or early February birthday may belong to the animal before. Recent Rat years: 1996, 2008 and 2020.
The Math
Calculated facts only, worked out the same way the machine does it.
- The Rat is animal 1 of 12. Its years come round every twelve years, each time with the next element in the cycle.
- Each year starts at Lunar New Year (Beijing date), calculated by the machine from the new moons and the December solstice.
| Year | Element | Starts | Ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1924 | Wood | February 5, 1924 | January 23, 1925 |
| 1936 | Fire | January 24, 1936 | February 10, 1937 |
| 1948 | Earth | February 10, 1948 | January 28, 1949 |
| 1960 | Metal | January 28, 1960 | February 14, 1961 |
| 1972 | Water | February 15, 1972 | February 2, 1973 |
| 1984 | Wood | February 2, 1984 | February 19, 1985 |
| 1996 | Fire | February 19, 1996 | February 6, 1997 |
| 2008 | Earth | February 7, 2008 | January 25, 2009 |
| 2020 | Metal | January 25, 2020 | February 11, 2021 |
The Machine Says
Lines from the machine's own library, word for word.
The machine's line for the Rat
- Quick-witted and resourceful.
In the Tradition
What Chinese tradition pairs with the Rat. Tradition, not science; the years are calculated by the machine.
| Place in the cycle | 1 of 12 |
|---|---|
| Chinese name | 鼠 shǔ |
| Earthly Branch | 子 zǐ |
| Yin or yang | Yang |
| Fixed element | Water (always the same, unlike the year’s element in the table above) |
| Traditional hours | 11 pm to 1 am (midnight sits in the middle) |
| Month of the Chinese calendar | 11th month, the one that holds the winter solstice |
| Compass direction | North, 0° (12 o’clock with north at the top) |
| Season | Winter |
| Most recent Rat year | 2020, Metal Rat: January 25, 2020 to February 11, 2021 |
| Next Rat year | 2032 (twelve years on; past the end of the machine’s tables, which run to 2031) |
| Also called | 鼠 shǔ covers both rat and mouse; the Hong Kong Observatory says mouse. |
The Great Race
A folk tale told many ways. It explains the order of the animals, not their history.
In the best-known telling, the Jade Emperor promised a year to each animal in the order it reached him, and the course crossed a wide river.
The Rat was small and a poor swimmer, so it talked the kindly Ox into carrying it over, then sprang off the Ox’s head at the last moment to finish first.
Some versions add that the Rat left its friend the Cat behind, by pushing it into the river or by not waking it in time, which is said to be why cats chase rats and why there is no Year of the Cat in China. 3,5,6
Allies and Opposites
Old pairings people talk about, not promises about anyone.
Trine allies (sān hé)
Tradition sorts the twelve into four groups of three animals, each four places apart in the cycle. The Rat’s group: Rat, Dragon and Monkey. They are said to get along easily.
The clash (liù chōng)
The animal six places away, straight across the circle, is the Rat’s opposite: the Horse. Tradition calls the pair a clash, which people read as strong differences rather than a verdict. 3
What It Symbolises
Meanings from Chinese art and folklore, as museums describe them.
- Cleverness, hard work and wealth: the Hirshhorn ties this to the rat’s knack for finding and storing away food. 7
- A darker side too: “Big Rat” in the ancient Book of Songs uses the rat to mock greedy officials. 7,8
- An old word: the character for rat already appears on oracle bones from about the 13th century BCE. 8
- For all that, rats seldom decorated older Chinese objects; most rat art in collections is fairly modern. 9
Sources
Each read on October 13, 2026. The numbers above point here.
- Earthly Branches, Wikipedia. Read on .
- Chinese calendar (table of branches: direction, season, month, double hour), Wikipedia. Read on .
- Chinese zodiac (signs, compatibility, the Great Race, regional versions), Wikipedia. Read on .
- The 12 animals, Hong Kong Observatory. Read on .
- The Chinese Zodiac, Timothy S. Y. Lam Museum of Anthropology, Wake Forest University. Read on .
- What is the Chinese zodiac?, National Geographic. Read on .
- Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads: Rat, Hirshhorn Museum, Smithsonian. Read on .
- Celebrating the Year of the Rat (2020), The Metropolitan Museum of Art. Read on .
- The 12 zodiac animals at the V&A, Victoria and Albert Museum. Read on .