Selenarium · Chinese zodiac by year of birth
Dragon Chinese Zodiac Sign: Traits, Love, Compatibility
The Dragon is one of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, earthly branch 辰 (chén), the one of the double hour 07:00-09:00. Power and luck - that is the heart of the character of anyone born in its year.
Dragon
The Dragon is the brightest and luckiest of the twelve: power, charisma, scale. You are sure of yourself, you reach for the big thing, and people follow. Limits feel tight on you, and the world tends to meet you halfway.
In love
In love you are vivid and magnanimous, and you love in a wide, generous way. You expect admiration and want someone worthy beside you.
In work
A born leader and a large dreamer: big goals, a venture of your own, anything that asks you to lead and inspire. Pettiness suffocates you.
Strengths and weak spots
The 辰 branch: hour, direction and element
In the Chinese cycle this is the fifth of the twelve earthly branches, 辰 (chén). Tied to it are the double hour 07:00-09:00, the direction east-southeast and the fixed element Earth - standing correspondences that do not move with the element of the year. Its season is spring, and in the solar calendar of the four pillars the year starts at the beginning of spring rather than on the first of January.
The links are read off the branch. The trine of affinity gathers on a single element, here Water: Rat and Monkey. The pair of the six harmonies gives the Rooster instead, which is a separate tradition. Straight across, six steps around the circle, stands the Dog: the clash of branches, the most charged link of all.
What to keep in mind
The branch 辰 (chén) is a yearly measure: it is the same for everyone born between two Chinese New Years. The element of the year adds the shading - solidity, practical sense, patience for Earth - while the hour and the city only show on a chart of the sky. For the year 2024 the switch falls on February 10: born before that date, you still count as the Rabbit. Your branch hands out no fate at all.
FAQ
Three questions about the branch 辰 (chén): its years, its affinities and its hour.
Which years are Dragon years, counting 2024?
1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024, 2036. The wheel brings the branch 辰 back every twelve years, while the element of the year turns on ten - so the pairing of animal and element only returns after sixty. If you were born in January or early February, check against the date of Chinese New Year: in 2024 it falls on February 10, and before that date the year still counts as the Rabbit.
Who does the Dragon get on with, Rat and Monkey or Dog?
The best understanding comes from the trine of affinity, Rat and Monkey: all three resting on the element Water. Apart from the trine, the pair of the six harmonies gives the Rooster. The biggest snag comes from the opposite branch, six steps further: the Dog. That said, the branch 辰 stays a yearly measure, and real understanding reads off two whole charts of the sky.
What hour and what direction belong to the branch 辰?
The double hour 07:00-09:00 and the direction east-southeast, with the fixed element Earth. Those correspondences belong to the branch itself: they do not move when the element of the year changes, the one that brings solidity, practical sense, patience.
Dragon is only the year you were born. The Moon, the ascendant and the planets are waiting in the full chart.
✦ Build my natal chart