Is the zodiac counted by beginning of spring or the first day of the first month?

According to China's lunar calendar, the zodiac should be calculated in beginning of spring.

However, with the loss of traditional culture, many people use New Year's Day in the solar calendar or the first day of the first lunar month to distinguish their zodiac signs, which is incorrect.

According to historical records, the method of taking beginning of spring as the standard of the zodiac began in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. At present, beginning of spring is used as the basis for calculating the zodiac in folklore such as the Gregorian calendar, traditional numerology and divination.

For example, 20 17 beginning of spring is the seventh day of the first month, so people born before the seventh day of the first month should be monkeys instead of chickens. People born after the seventh day of the first month in 20 17 and before beginning of spring in 20 18 are monkeys. This is because, in ancient China, the heavenly stems and earthly branches was used to record the year, month and day, and the zodiac corresponded to twelve animals, such as the ugly son corresponding to the mouse, the ugly son being the year of the rat, and the ugly year being the year of the ox, the year of the tiger and the year of the rabbit. Because the chronology of trunk and branch is based on the sun, and the alternation of trunk and branch begins in beginning of spring every year, the dividing line of trunk and branch year is beginning of spring, and the Lunar New Year begins in the beginning of spring.