Is the zodiac according to the lunar calendar?

The zodiac is calculated according to the lunar calendar. Because the Chinese zodiac is a part of the traditional lunar calendar in China. The Zodiac, also known as the Zodiac, is twelve kinds of animals that match the twelve earthly branches in China according to the year of birth, including rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs. The origin of the zodiac is related to animal worship. According to the Qin bamboo slips unearthed in Yunmeng Shuihudi, Hubei Province and Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu Province, there was a relatively complete zodiac system in the pre-Qin period. As a long-standing symbol of folk culture, the zodiac has left a lot of poems, Spring Festival couplets, paintings, calligraphy and paintings and folk arts and crafts that depict the image and symbolic meaning of the zodiac.

Apart from China, many countries in the world issue stamps of the zodiac during the Spring Festival to express their wishes for the New Year in China. The zodiac is calculated according to the lunar calendar. Whether the zodiac starts in beginning of spring or the first day of the first month is controversial among folk and folklore experts. The official history takes the first day of the first month of the Spring King as the start date of the New Year. In modern times, the official also regards the first day of the first month as the beginning of the Year of the Zodiac. For details, please refer to the headline of People's Daily on the first day of the first month and the countdown ceremony of CCTV Spring Festival Evening. Purple Mountain Observatory of China Academy of Sciences is a modern calendar editing unit, which supports the first day of the first month as the beginning of a year. Many folk customs all over the country take the first day of the first month as the starting point of the zodiac year. For example, the custom of "tying a red rope and wearing red underwear" has been handed down since midnight on New Year's Eve. In China, beginning of spring is the beginning of a year.