The General
Chinese astrology is based on the traditional astronomy, calendars and other special system.

The development of Chinese astrology is tied to that of astronomy, which came to flourish during the Han Dynasty (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD).

Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy (theory of the harmony of sky, humans and earth) and different "principles" to Western: the five-element teachings, Yin and Yang, I-Ching theory, eight trigram theory, Ho drawing, Luo writing, deity array system, astronomy: five planet, the 10 Celestial stems, the 12 Earthly Branches, the lunisolare calendar (moon calendar and sun calendar), the time calculation after year, month, day, shichen (the time) and so on.

According to Chinese astrology, a person's destiny can be determined by the position of the major planets at the person's birth along with the positions of the Sun, Moon and comets and the person's time of birth and Zodiac Sign. The system of the twelve-year cycle of animal signs was built from observations of the orbit of Jupiter--the Year Star. Following the orbit of Jupiter around the sun, Chinese astronomers divided the celestial circle into 12 sections, and rounded it to 12 years. Jupiter is associated with the constellation Sheti and is sometimes called Sheti.

A laborious system of computing one's fate and destiny based on one's birthday,birth season,and birth hours, known as Zi Wei Dou Shu is still used regularly in modern day Chinese astrology to divine one's fortune. The 28 Chinese constellations, Xiu (Chinese pinyin: xìu), are quite different from the 88 Western constellations. For example, the Big Bear (Ursa Major) is known as Dou (Chinese pinyin: dǒu); the belt of Orion is known as Shen (simplified Chinese: shēn), or the "Happiness, Fortune, Longevity" trio of demigods. The seven northern constellations are referred to as Xuan Wu (Chinese: xúanwǔ). Xuan Wu is also known as the spirit of the northern sky or the spirit of Water in Taoism belief.