2020 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Metal Rat

2020 is the year of the Metal Rat (庚子 Gēngzǐ), from 25 January 2020 to 11 February 2021. Anyone born in 2020 before 25 January 2020 belongs to the Earth Pig year.

• Animal: Rat
• Element: Metal (Yang)
• Cycle name: 庚子 Gēngzǐ, year 37 of the 60-year cycle
• Starts: 25 January 2020
• Ends: 11 February 2021

The Metal Rat

Metal years are traditionally linked with determination, precision and principle: the element of clear edges, strong will and high standards. The Rat opens the twelve-year cycle, and tradition gives it the quickest mind of the twelve. Rat people are described as resourceful, sociable and alert to an opening before anyone else has noticed it. They save for a rainy day, read a room fast and like to have a plan and a spare plan.

Born in January or February 2020?

Anyone born from 1 January to 24 January 2020 belongs to the Earth Pig year of 2019. From 25 January 2020 the Metal Rat year begins.

How the dates are worked out

Each Chinese New Year here is worked out from the sky, not copied from a list. A lunar month starts on the day of a New Moon in China Standard Time (UTC+8, or Beijing local time before 1929). The month holding the December solstice is the 11th month. When 13 New Moons fall between two of those months, the first month with no principal solar term (the Sun reaching a multiple of 30 degrees) is a leap month. New Year is the first day of the 1st month, which is why it moves between 21 January and 20 February. New Moons and solar terms follow Jean Meeus's Astronomical Algorithms. The rules follow the Chinese calendar.

2019: Earth Pig · 2021: Metal Ox · All Rat years · All 12 animals