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牛 Ox

niú ㄋㄧㄡˊ ngau4

牛
Order
2 of 12
Recent & upcoming years
11

Characteristics

The Ox is popularly associated with patience, dependability and steady hard work. In folk descriptions it stands for the person who keeps going quietly long after others have stopped, honest and methodical, valuing duty over display. These are traditional cultural associations rather than claims about any individual born in an Ox year.

History

The Ox holds second place in the cycle and the earthly branch 丑 (chǒu). In an agrarian society it was the indispensable partner of the farmer, and that respect runs all through its zodiac image: the Ox is the emblem of toil rewarded and of the land itself. Spring ploughing rites and "spring ox" imagery long tied the animal to the turning of the agricultural year.

In the Great Race

Strong, willing and untroubled by the river, the Ox was set to finish first in the Great Race. Carrying the Rat on his back across the current, he never noticed his passenger creeping forward; at the last moment the Rat leapt down ahead of him. The Ox, good-natured as ever, took second place without complaint — a turn of the tale that fixed his reputation for steadiness and quiet generosity.

The five elements

Across the sixty-year cycle the Ox appears in five elemental tones: a Wood Ox is described as more flexible, a Fire Ox as more forceful, an Earth Ox as especially grounded, a Metal Ox as resolute, and a Water Ox as gentler and more adaptable. They are cultural shades on the same dependable figure, not forecasts.

Recent & upcoming years

Years of the Ox, with the heavenly-stem element and the exact period (Chinese New Year to the day before the next).
Year Element Period
1925 木 Wood Jan 24, 1925 – Feb 12, 1926
1937 火 Fire Feb 11, 1937 – Jan 30, 1938
1949 土 Earth Jan 29, 1949 – Feb 16, 1950
1961 金 Metal Feb 15, 1961 – Feb 4, 1962
1973 水 Water Feb 3, 1973 – Jan 22, 1974
1985 木 Wood Feb 20, 1985 – Feb 8, 1986
1997 火 Fire Feb 7, 1997 – Jan 27, 1998
2009 土 Earth Jan 26, 2009 – Feb 13, 2010
2021 金 Metal Feb 12, 2021 – Jan 31, 2022
2033 水 Water Jan 31, 2033 – Feb 18, 2034
2045 木 Wood Feb 17, 2045 – Feb 5, 2046

Further reading