Year of the Ox
The Ox is the second of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, the animal of the earthly branch chou. The most recent Year of the Ox ran from 12 February 2021 to 31 January 2022; the next begins on 31 January 2033. In Vietnam it is the year of the water buffalo.
Meaning
The Ox (牛 niú) stands for the second earthly branch, 丑 chǒu, which also names the hour from 1 to 3 in the morning and the twelfth month, the last of the Chinese year, in the Hong Kong Observatory’s tables. Wang Chong, in the Lunheng of the 1st century AD, gave chou the element earth and the ox as its animal, and reasoned that because wood overcomes earth, the ox is “overpowered by the tiger”. To the Chinese farmer, Ming Wilson of the Victoria and Albert Museum writes, the ox was his best friend, and a boy riding an ox’s back is a picture of a contented people in a peaceful time. The cycle is used across East and Southeast Asia and in the diaspora; in Vietnam the second animal is the water buffalo.
Origin and history
The ox appears in the oldest list of the animals, the chapter on thieves in the day book (Rishu) from Tomb 11 at Shuihudi in Hubei, buried in 217 BC. It uses the animal of the day a theft happened to tell what the thief looks like; the Hubei archaeologist Fan Guodong quotes the ox’s entry, “丑，牛也，盗者大鼻”: chou is the ox, and the thief has a big nose. The same pairing of chou and the ox is in the Qin day book from Fangmatan in Gansu, found in 1986, and in Wang Chong’s Lunheng.
An ox had a place in the calendar long before the zodiac took its present form. The Monthly Ordinances (Yueling) of the Book of Rites instruct the officials, in the last month of winter, to “出土牛，以送寒氣”: bring out an earthen ox to send off the cold. The Wuhan University historian Yan Changgui counts it among the signs that animals were being tied to the order of time.
Years of the Ox
| Year | Element | Begins | Ends |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1925 | Wood | 24 January 1925 | 12 February 1926 |
| 1937 | Fire | 11 February 1937 | 30 January 1938 |
| 1949 | Earth | 29 January 1949 | 16 February 1950 |
| 1961 | Metal | 15 February 1961 | 4 February 1962 |
| 1973 | Water | 3 February 1973 | 22 January 1974 |
| 1985 | Wood | 20 February 1985 | 8 February 1986 |
| 1997 | Fire | 7 February 1997 | 27 January 1998 |
| 2009 | Earth | 26 January 2009 | 13 February 2010 |
| 2021 | Metal | 12 February 2021 | 31 January 2022 |
Each year runs from one Lunar New Year to the day before the next, as the Hong Kong Observatory’s conversion tables give them; the next Year of the Ox begins on 31 January 2033. The element comes from the year’s heavenly stem, so it changes with the last digit of the year: Wood for years ending in 4 and 5, Fire for 6 and 7, Earth for 8 and 9, Metal for 0 and 1, and Water for 2 and 3 (the five elements). Someone born in January or early February before that year’s Lunar New Year belongs to the previous animal: a child born on 1 February 2021 was born in the Year of the Rat, because the Year of the Ox began on 12 February. Some fortune-tellers count the change from the solar term Spring Commences (lichun, about 4 February) instead; the Hong Kong Observatory, and China’s national calendar standard of 2017, use the Lunar New Year.
Second in the race
In the race the Jade Emperor called to set the order of the calendar, as Encyclopaedia Britannica tells it, the ox was the first to reach the far side of the river, but the rat had ridden over on its back and jumped down just before the finish to take first place, leaving the ox second.
Whipping the spring ox
The earthen ox of the Book of Rites lives on in the custom of whipping the spring ox at Spring Commences (lichun), the first of the twenty-four solar terms, around 4 February. The lexicographer Hugo Tseng describes it in Taiwan: an effigy of clay or paper is struck to drive out the sloth of winter before the ploughing. He writes that the rite has largely vanished from Taiwan’s cities but is still performed at places such as the Luermen Matsu Temple in Tainan.
The water buffalo of Vietnam
Vietnam shares ten of the twelve animals with China, but in place of the ox the Vietnamese honour the water buffalo, and the cat in place of the rabbit, AFP reported for the Voice of America in 2023. Encyclopaedia Britannica lists the buffalo among the Vietnamese variations, with the goat for the sheep and the cat for the rabbit.
Read next
- Next in Chinese zodiacYear of the TigerThe Tiger is the third of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac, the animal of the earthly branch yin. The most recent Year of the Tiger ran from 1 February 2022 to 21 January 2023; the next begins on 19 February 2034.
- The same shape in Symbols across culturesDragons across culturesA dragon is a great serpent, often with legs, wings or fire, and its meaning splits by region. In Europe and the ancient Near East it is chaos or evil, killed by a god or hero; in China and Japan it is a helpful power of water and rain, and the emblem of emperors.
See also
Year of the Rat, Year of the Rabbit, Year of the Dragon, Year of the Snake, Year of the Horse, Year of the Goat.
Sources
- Gregorian-Lunar Calendar Conversion Table of 2021 (Hong Kong Observatory), Hong Kong Observatory, Gregorian–Lunar Calendar Conversion Table of 2021, yearly text file, Hong Kong Observatory, yearly tables T1924e.txt to T2022e.txt, all checked: the date marked “1st Lunar Month” in each year of the Ox and in the following year; title line of this file; the Lunar New Year date in this file
- Gregorian-Lunar Calendar Conversion Table of 2033 (Hong Kong Observatory), Hong Kong Observatory, Gregorian–Lunar Calendar Conversion Table of 2033, yearly text file, Hong Kong Observatory, title line and the date marked “1st Lunar Month” (the next Year of the Ox)
- Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches (Hong Kong Observatory), Hong Kong Observatory, “Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches”, Calendar pages, Hong Kong Observatory, opening paragraph; Table 3 (the 12 shichen); Table 4 (stems of the months)
- What year is it today? (Hui Tai-wai, Hong Kong Observatory), Hui Tai-wai, “What year is it today?”, Hong Kong Observatory educational resources, April 2018, Hong Kong Observatory, paragraphs 4 and 6
- Huainanzi, Tianwen xun 天文訓 (Chinese Wikisource), Huainanzi 淮南子, chapter 3 “天文訓” (Celestial Patterns), 2nd century BC; Chinese text on Wikisource, Wikisource (Chinese), the passage pairing stems and branches with the five elements
- Lun-hêng, part I (Wang Chong, tr. Alfred Forke, 1907), Wang Ch’ung, Lun-hêng, Part I: Philosophical Essays of Wang Ch’ung, translated by Alfred Forke (Leipzig, Shanghai, London, 1907), Internet Archive OCR text, Internet Archive, chapter “The Nature of Things”, p. 105
- Lunheng, chapter 14, Wu shi 物勢 (Wang Chong, Chinese Wikisource), Wang Chong 王充, Lunheng 論衡, chapter 14 “物勢” (The Nature of Things), 1st century AD; Chinese text on Wikisource, Wikisource (Chinese), Wu shi, the passage on the twelve animals
- The 12 zodiac animals at the V&A (Ming Wilson), Ming Wilson, “The 12 zodiac animals at the V&A”, V&A Blog (Imperial Chinese Robes from the Forbidden City), 1 February 2011, Victoria and Albert Museum, OX
- 十二生肖起源可推至战国 (Fan Guodong, Chinanews / Wuhan Evening News), “十二生肖起源可推至战国 鼠身兼阴阳居首位”, interview with Fan Guodong 凡国栋, Wuhan Evening News 武汉晚报, reprinted by China News Service, 15 February 2015, China News Service (chinanews.com), interview text
- 中国传统生肖文化探源 (Yan Changgui, People’s Tribune), Yan Changgui 晏昌贵 (School of History, Wuhan University), “中国传统生肖文化探源” (The origins of the traditional Chinese zodiac), 人民论坛 People’s Tribune, 16 October 2025, 人民论坛 People’s Tribune, “十二生肖溯源”
- Liji, Yueling 月令 (Book of Rites, Chinese Wikisource), Liji 禮記 (Book of Rites), “月令” (Monthly Ordinances); Chinese text on Wikisource, Wikisource (Chinese), the last month of winter (季冬之月)
- When Taiwan awakens to spring (Hugo Tseng, Taipei Times), Hugo Tseng, “When Taiwan awakens to spring”, Taipei Times, 1 February 2026, Taipei Times, paragraphs 1 and 6
- Chinese zodiac (Encyclopaedia Britannica), Frannie Comstock, “Chinese zodiac”, Encyclopaedia Britannica (Internet Archive copy, 29 September 2026), Encyclopaedia Britannica, History and legend; Personalities, meanings, and other variations
- Why Vietnam Is Celebrating the Year of the Cat, Not the Rabbit (VOA / AFP), “Why Vietnam Is Celebrating the Year of the Cat, Not the Rabbit”, Voice of America (from AFP), January 2023, Voice of America, paragraphs 3–4, 7
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from curves and waves.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed October 8, 2026. How we research
Added .