Chinese cultural term · reviewed 2026-10-21
生肖
Chinese zodiac animal
shēng xiào · birth likeness
An animal associated with the year in the Chinese sexagenary cycle.
A familiar bridge
Start from something known.
A calendar symbol attached to the year position, more like a cycle label than a personality category.
Worked example
See the term in position.
A Four Pillars year branch of Zi maps to the Rat in the conventional zodiac sequence.
Cultural context
What surrounds the word.
Popular culture often treats the animal as a sun-sign-like personality label. In this project it is a calendar-linked cultural symbol.
Boundary
What it does not mean.
It is not a complete personality reading, and the popular Lunar New Year boundary may differ from the Four Pillars year boundary.
Inside the portrait
How this term appears here.
The animal is mapped from the calculated year branch using the same Lichun-based year position shown in the portrait.