The Chinese zodiac

Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. The order comes from the Great Race myth, in which the Jade Emperor ranked the animals by their finishing position — the Rat arriving first by riding on the Ox and jumping off at the line.

At Chinese New Year, not on 1 January. The date is lunisolar and moves between 21 January and 20 February each year, so anyone born before it belongs to the previous animal. This is the single most common error in quick zodiac lookups, and it affects roughly one birthday in nine.

Wood, fire, earth, metal and water. Each element governs two consecutive years, so the element cycle takes ten years while the animal cycle takes twelve. Together they produce the sixty-year sexagenary cycle — which is why a Wood Dragon comes round only once in a lifetime rather than every twelve years.

Through classical relations rather than elements and aspects. San He groups animals four apart into four alliance trines; Liu He names six 'secret friend' partnerships; Chong marks the six clashes between animals sitting directly opposite; Hai marks six subtler harm pairings. It is a different construction from Western astrology and gives different answers.

No. Western astrology assigns a sun sign by month within a solar year. The Chinese zodiac assigns an animal to a whole lunisolar year, layers a five-element cycle over it, and judges relationships through the classical relations. Neither system translates into the other, and having them disagree about a relationship is normal.