2021 Year of the Ox (Metal): Dates & Li Chun

2021 is a Metal Ox year (Xin-Chou, 辛丑) in the Chinese zodiac calendar. The name comes from the year’s stem-branch pair: the Heavenly Stem Xin supplies the metal element, and the Chou Earthly Branch supplies the Ox. The same pair returns once every 60 years.

Metal adds precision, discipline, and structural integrity. A Metal Ox year tends to be methodical, quality-focused, and quietly productive. For people born in this year, the metal modifier shapes how the Ox’s traditional traits (steady, patient, and dependable) express themselves.

In a Bazi chart, Xin-Chou (辛丑)would be only the year pillar, one of four. The day pillar’s stem (the Day Master) is the reference point of the reading, so two people born in 2021 can have very different charts.

Read the Ox zodiac page for the base Ox personality, or use the Bazi calculator to see how this year pillar interacts with your full chart.

The 2021 Year of the Ox (Metal Ox, Xin-Chou 辛丑) runs from February 12, 2021 to January 31, 2022, while Li Chun, the year-pillar boundary used by many Bazi schools, falls on February 3, 2021.

If your birthday falls before February 12, 2021, the popular zodiac places you in the previous sign, the Rat. Many Bazi schools use Li Chun (February 3, 2021, 22:58 China Standard Time) as the year-pillar boundary instead, so a birth between Li Chun and Lunar New Year can have an Ox year pillar in a Li Chun-based chart but is usually listed as a Rat in popular zodiac charts. Check which boundary a calculator uses before comparing results. The Lunar New Year date can fall one day earlier in the Americas because of time zones.

The Ox repeats every 12 years in the zodiac cycle. Each occurrence carries a different Heavenly Stem that modifies the year energy. Recent Ox years include 1949, 1961, 1973, 1985, 1997, 2009, 2021. The full sexagenary cycle produces five Ox types — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

In Five Element theory, the metal element generates Water, controls Wood, and is controlled by Fire. In a Bazi reading, whether more metal helps or strains a chart depends on the balance of the other seven characters, which the year label alone does not show.

By branch, Ox combines with Rat, shares a Metal triad with Snake and Rooster, and clashes with Goat. Those patterns are the same in every Ox year; the metal stem does not change them.

For a complete compatibility check, use the zodiac compatibility tool or generate a full Bazi chart.