Cathay Ink › Chinese zodiac › Year of the Rat › 2020
Year of the Rat 2020
The Metal Rat, 庚子: from Chinese New Year on 25 January 2020 to 11 February 2021.
Quick, resourceful and sociable. The Rat opens the cycle: it is the sign of beginnings, of noticing the opening before anyone else and slipping through it. Metal years favour decisiveness and finishing: clean cuts, clear words, things brought to a conclusion.
The Metal Rat
Element
Metal years are associated with resolve and clarity: the edge of a blade, the ring of a bell. In the sixty-year cycle each animal meets each element once, so the Metal Rat came last in 1960 and returns in 2080. The year's 纳音 (the "sound" of its stem and branch in the old almanacs) is 壁上土.
Company
The Rat shares a trine with the Dragon and the Monkey; its secret friend is the Ox. Those signs are said to find a Rat year easiest. In the race that fixed the order of the zodiac, the Rat rode across the river on the Ox's back and leapt ahead at the bank to finish first.
Years of the Rat
Each starts at Chinese New Year.
- 1924Wood Rat, from 5 February 1924
- 1936Fire Rat, from 24 January 1936
- 1948Earth Rat, from 10 February 1948
- 1960Metal Rat, from 28 January 1960
- 1972Water Rat, from 15 February 1972
- 1984Wood Rat, from 2 February 1984
- 1996Fire Rat, from 19 February 1996
- 2008Earth Rat, from 7 February 2008
- 2020Metal Rat, from 25 January 2020
- 2032Water Rat, from 11 February 2032
- 2044Wood Rat, from 30 January 2044
Questions
When does the Year of the Rat 2020 start and end?
It starts at Chinese New Year, 25 January 2020, and ends on 11 February 2021, the day before the next new year.
What element is the Rat in 2020?
Metal (金), from the heavenly stem 庚. Metal years are associated with resolve and clarity: the edge of a blade, the ring of a bell.
Is a baby born in January 2020 a Rat?
No. A baby born before 25 January 2020 belongs to the previous animal, the Pig. The zodiac year follows the lunar calendar, not 1 January.
Which other years were Metal Rat years?
1960. The same stem and branch return every sixty years.
Your Rat in ink
The Rat painted in ink wash above your name and lunar birthday.
Make the poster
Enter your birthday; we set the animal, the element, the lunar date and your name, and add a Chinese name as a seal if you have one.
Start with my birthdayMore about the animal: Year of the Rat. All twelve: the zodiac.