Shengxiao (Animal Signs) is a folk method used for naming the years in Chinese zodiacal calendar.

If you were born in 1923, 1935, 1947, 1959, 1971, 1983, 1995, or 2007 - you were born under the sign of the pig. The Lunar New Year dates from 2600 BC, when the Emperor Huang Di introduced the first cycle of the Chinese zodiac. The years progress in cycles of 12, and each year is represented by an animal.The cycle of 12 repeat five times to form a larger cycle of 60 years, in each of the 12-year cycle, the animals are ascribed an element (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, or Water).

The Chinese Zodiac consists of a 12-year cycle; each year of the cycle is named after a different animal that gives different and distinct characteristics to its year. These twelve animals were the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.The animal signs also serve a useful social function for finding out people’s ages. Instead of asking directly how old a person is, people often ask what his or her animal sign is. This would place that person’s age within a cycle of 12 years, and with a bit of common sense, people can deduce the exact age.