Chinese Zodiac - Rat

Ranking the first in the Chinese zodiac, rat represents wisdom. Personality traits for the people born in the year of the Rat are intelligent, charming, quick-witted, practical, ambitious, and good at economizing as well as social activities. The weaknesses are that the Rats are likely to be timid, stubborn, wordy, greedy, devious, too eager for power and love to gossip.

Basic Astrology Elements
Earthly Branch of Birth Year: Zi
The Five Elements: Water (Shui)
Yin Yang: Yang ([Chinese philosophy] positive/active/male principle in nature)
Lucky Numbers: 2, 3; Avoid: 5, 9
Lucky Flowers: lily, African violet, lily of the valley
Lucky Colors: blue, golden, green; Avoid: yellow and brown

Start Date	End Date	Associated Element	Heavenly Branch
02/05/1924	01/23/1925	Yang Wood	Jia Zi
01/24/1936	02/10/1937	Yang Fire	Bing Zi
02/10/1948	01/28/1949	Yang Earth	Wu Zi
01/28/1960	02/14/1961	Yang Metal	Geng Zi
02/15/1972	02/02/1973	Yang Water	Ren Zi
02/02/1984	02/19/1985	Yang Wood	Jia Zi
02/19/1996	02/06/1997	Yang Fire	Bing Zi
02/06/2008	01/25/2009	Yang Earth	Wu Zi
01/25/2020	02/11/2021	Yang Metal	Geng Zi

It’s a fate that rat and human beings are greatly related with each other. They often eat our food and have the ability to survive at anywhere without picky about food. Because of this, the people born in the year of the Rat are outgoing, optimistic and highly adaptable in any environment. They are not the people who haggle over every ounce but stay at ease under all circumstances. So, they are easy to be liked and helped by others.
 
The Rat people are endowed with the power of acute observation, anticipation, and visionary power. You can get a validation from an old saying among the boatmen – ‘Rats leave (or desert or forsake) a sinking ship’ which means the rat can aware that the ship will be wrecked and run away in advance. Also, for a factory, once there are rats run out one after another, it predicts the fire damage is coming soon. Because of the ability, the rat people are usually good at some creativity works. They can be artistic creators, inventors, innovators etc. However, they should not rely on this power to deal with things completely. Think hard and ask for the opinions from others are very important. Please click for more about Rat Personality Traits.

The Rat people of different elements also have different personalities and fortune:

Click the following links to get personalities and horoscope for the five types of Rat.  
→ Wood Rat: 1984 (Feb. 02, 1984 - Feb. 19, 1985)   
→ Water Rat: 1972 (Feb. 15, 1972 - Feb. 02, 1973)
→ Metal Rat: 1960 (Jan. 28, 1960 - Feb. 14, 1961)
→ Earth Rat: 1948 (Feb. 10, 1948 - Jan. 28, 1949) or 2008 (Feb. 06, 2008 - Jan. 25, 2009)
→ Fire Rat: 1936 (Jan. 24, 1936 - Feb. 10, 1937) or 1996 (Feb.19, 1996 - Feb. 06, 1997)

 

Best Match: Dragon, Monkey, Ox
Worst Match: Rabbit, Horse, Sheep, Rooster
→ Please click for more about Rat Compatibility.

Find your compatible zodiac signs according to your month:

Birth Month of the Rat	Personality of the Rat	Girl's Match	Boy's Match
Jan.	hard-working; enthusiastic	Ox	Ox
Feb.	intuitive	Dragon	Pig
Mar.	complicated; intricate	Snake	Dragon
Apr.	dignified and experienced	Dog	Rat
May.	ambitious, having lofty ideals	Dragon	Ox
Jun.	having a desire to lead	Tiger	Monkey
Jul.	having an iron hand in a velvet glove	Dragon	Monkey
Aug.	active; having a ready response	Rooster	Dog
Sep.	self disciplined	Tiger	Dragon
Oct.	daring	Monkey	Monkey
Nov.	strong-willed	Dragon	Dragon
Dec.	straightforward, frank and lenient	Ox	Monkey

► Rat Yearly Horoscope

2017 Yearly Horoscope Predictions
* The prediction is valid for 2017 starting from January 28, 2017 and lasting to February 15, 2018.
Overview: In Chinese zodiac, 2017 is the year of the Fire Rooster 'Ding You' 丁酉. For you Rat people, ‘Zi’ (子) which is your earthly branch will destruct ‘You’ (酉) which is the earthly branch of Tai Sui who is also known as Grand Duke Jupiter or Grand Commander of the Year. Simply speaking, you will suffer damage and loss in the year. Generally, as you clash with Tai Sui, you are prone to have many quarrels and unnecessary disputes leading to bad luck in wealth. However, you will be blessed by three auspicious stars in the year, namely Tianxi, Dijie and Taiyin, which will make the year not too bad.
Find out what’s in store for you Rats for money, career, love relationship and health in 2017, please click:→ Rat Horoscope 2017 Predictions

You may also want to know Rat horoscope in the next year. Please click: → Rat Horoscope 2018 Predictions

2017 Yearly Horoscope for Rat Born in Different Years
If you were born between January 28, 1960 and February 14, 1961, please click 1960 Rat
If you were born between February 15, 1972 and February 2, 1973, please click 1972 Rat
If you were born betwee February 2, 1984 and February 19, 1985), please click 1984 Rat
If you were born between February 19, 1996 and February 6, 1997, please click 1996 Rat

► 2017 Monthly Horoscope
Find out what 2017 will be for the Rat each month? Please click 2017 Monthly Horoscope Prediction for Rat

Rat's Fate by Birth Time
The birth time of people plays a very important role in terms of whether the destiny is auspicious or not. People under the Rat sign born in different time periods will have different characters and fate. Those who were born and will be born between 05:00AM - 07:00AM and 05:00PM - 07:00PM are the most auspicious.

Best Birth Dates
The Rats born in the 4th, 9th, 13th, 25th or the 30th day in Chinese lunar calendar are usually blessed with good luck and fortune during the whole life.

Best Birth Months
Birth months that could bring good luck to the Rat people are January, May, July, August and Septmber.
January: The Rat people born in January usually have a generous ancestral estate, so they would have no worry about food and clothes for the entire life. 
May: Grain in Ear which is one of the Chinese 24 Solar Terms usually falls on May of Chinese lunar calendar. It is the time that wheat grows ripe and a busy farming season begins. So, the Rat people born in May are usually work hard, perseveringly and can lead a glorious life.
July: The autumn season which is a harvest season usually begins in July. So, the Rat people born in July mostly could live comfortably without any worry about food and clothing.  
August: The Rat born in August could mostly get a high position and great wealth. They can live rich for the whole life. 
September: The Rat with the birth month of September could spend the whole life peacefully, happily and healthily.

Note: The months here refer to the Chinese lunar month. Please use the Gregorian-Chinese Calendar Converter tool on Chinese calendar page to find the Chinese lunar month.

The people under the Rat sign are fit to those kinds of creative jobs such as artists, editors and writers. Also, the Rat people are best suited to technical jobs such as gardeners and craftsmen. Warmhearted and uninhibited, the Rats are fond of charitable causes. As long as there is any jobs related to charity, you can see the Rat people working there wholeheartedly. However, the Rats are not good at political works and actual participation in the work. To be exactly, they should avoid doing party affairs, to be a political official, police officer, military officer and other management class jobs. 

When selecting a Chinese name for the people born in the year of Rat, there are some dos and don’ts you need to know which are based on the characters of the Rat, zodiac compatibility and Chinese five element theories. Let's take a look at what are good and auspicious names for the male and female Rats.
 → Auspicious Chinese Names for the Rat People

Ben Affleck, Charlotte Bronte, Clark Gable, George Bush Sr., George Washington, John F. Kennedy Jr., John McCain, Marlon Brando, Prince Charles, Richard Nixon, Scarlett Johansson, Sean Penn, Shaquille O'Neal, William Shakespeare, Wayne Gretzky, Wilt Chamberlain, Yves St Laurent.

Chinese Celebrities: Du Fu (a famous Chinese poet in the Tang Dynasty), Zhuangzi (an influential Chinese Taoist philosopher in the Warring States Period)