Fire · Yin
Snake
Brings. Reads situations accurately and says nothing until saying something helps.
Struggles with. Keeps its own counsel to the point where nobody knows where they stand.
Traditional clash
Snake and Pig
Traditional clash
45%
Directly opposite on the wheel. Traditionally the most difficult pairing, because the qualities each of you values are the ones the other neglects.
Water · Yin
Pig
Brings. Genuinely kind and hard to provoke. Gives without keeping a ledger.
Struggles with. Trusts too readily and indulges too easily.
Distance on the wheel6 of 12
RelationTraditional clash
Same fixed elementNo
How Chinese compatibility works
The rule is positional. Animals four apart form an affinity triangle and are read as natural allies — they share instincts and pace. Animals six apart sit directly opposite and are the traditional clash: each values what the other neglects.
This differs from Western astrology, which uses angles on a 360-degree circle. Here the wheel has twelve positions and the relationships are counted in steps, not degrees.
Traditional pairings sometimes override the geometry — a few combinations are named explicitly as friends or enemies in the old texts, and those take precedence.
Computed from 110 years of real lunar new year dates
The arithmetic behind this pairing
Chinese years run 354 or 384 days, so each animal collects a different number of days across the century — the shares below are not 8.33% each.
Positions apart on the cycle
6 — the classical clash
Pairings at this distance
6 of 78
Days assigned to Snake
3,277 · 8.23%
Days assigned to Pig
3,306 · 8.3%
Share of all pairings
1.366%
6 positions apart · 6 of 78 pairings share that distance · 1.366% of all pairings. The clash — one pairing in thirteen.
Possible age gaps — fixed by the cycle
Because the animals sit at fixed positions, two people with these signs can only differ in age by certain numbers of years. Not approximately — exactly these:
6
years apart
18
years apart
30
years apart
42
years apart
Recent birth-year combinations
Wood Snake 2025 & Earth Pig 2019
6 years apart
Wood Snake 2025 & Metal Pig 2031
6 years apart
Water Snake 2013 & Fire Pig 2007
6 years apart
Water Snake 2013 & Earth Pig 2019
6 years apart
Metal Snake 2001 & Wood Pig 1995
6 years apart
Metal Snake 2001 & Fire Pig 2007
6 years apart
Earth Snake 1989 & Water Pig 1983
6 years apart
Earth Snake 1989 & Wood Pig 1995
6 years apart
The five versions of each animal
The animal repeats every 12 years but the element every 60, so each partner comes in five variants — and the combination you actually have is one of 25.
Earth Snake
1989
Metal Snake
2001
Water Snake
2013
Wood Snake
2025
Fire Snake
1977
Wood Pig
1995
Fire Pig
2007
Earth Pig
2019
Metal Pig
2031
Water Pig
1983
Birth years for this pairing
⚠️ Each year starts at the lunar new year, not 1 January — if either of you was born in January or early February, check the exact date before trusting the animal.
Snake
1965 · 1977 · 1989 · 2001 · 2013 · 2025Pig
1971 · 1983 · 1995 · 2007 · 2019 · 2031