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Determine the Chinese zodiac sign and related associations for a given year.

Traditionally, the Chinese have counted years using two simultaneous cycles, one of length 10 (the "celestial stems") and one of length 12 (the "terrestrial branches"); the combination results in a repeating 60-year pattern. Mapping the branches to twelve traditional animal deities results in the well-known "Chinese zodiac", assigning each year to a given animal. For example, Saturday, January 28, 2017 CE (in the common Gregorian calendar) begins the lunisolar year of the Rooster.

The celestial stems have no one-to-one mapping like that of the branches to animals; however, the five pairs of consecutive stems each belong to one of the five traditional Chinese elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water). Further, one of the two years within each element's governance is associated with yin, the other with yang.

Thus, 2017 is also the yin year of Fire. Note that since 12 is an even number, the association between animals and yin/yang doesn't change. Consecutive Years of the Rooster will cycle through the five elements, but will always be yin, despite the apparent conceptual mismatch between the male animals and the female aspect.

Task: Create a subroutine or program that will return or output the animal, yin/yang association, and element for the lunisolar year that begins in a given CE year.

You may optionally provide more information in the form of the year's numerical position within the 60-year cycle and/or its actual Chinese stem-branch name (in Han characters or Pinyin transliteration).

Requisite information

The animal cycle runs in this order: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig.
The element cycle runs in this order: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water.
The yang year precedes the yin year within each element.
The current 60-year cycle began in 1984 CE; the first cycle of the Common Era began in 4 CE.

Thus, 1984 was the year of the Wood Rat (yang), 1985 was the year of the Wood Ox (yin), and 1986 the year of the Fire Tiger (yang); 2017 - which, as already noted, is the year of the Fire Rooster (yin) - is the 34th year of the current cycle.

Information for optional task

The ten celestial stems are 甲 jiă, 乙 yĭ, 丙 bĭng, 丁 dīng, 戊 wù, 己 jĭ, 庚 gēng, 辛 xīn, 壬 rén, and 癸 gŭi. With the ASCII version of Pinyin tones, the names are written "jia3", "yi3", "bing3", "ding1", "wu4", "ji3", "geng1", "xin1", "ren2", and "gui3".
The twelve terrestrial branches are 子 zĭ, 丑 chŏu, 寅 yín, 卯 măo, 辰 chén, 巳 sì, 午 wŭ, 未 wèi, 申 shēn, 酉 yŏu, 戌 xū, 亥 hài. In ASCII Pinyin, those are "zi3", "chou3", "yin2", "mao3", "chen2", "si4", "wu3", "wei4", "shen1", "you3", "xu1", and "hai4".

Therefore 1984 was 甲子 (jiă-zĭ, or jia3-zi3). 2017 is the 34th year of the current cycle, 丁酉 (dīng-yŏu or ding1-you3).

Common Lisp

Translation of: Ruby

<lang lisp>; Any CE Year that was the first of a 60-year cycle (defconstant base-year 1984)

(defconstant celestial-stems

 '("甲" "乙" "丙" "丁" "戊" "己" "庚" "辛" "壬" "癸"))

(defconstant terrestrial-branches

 '("子" "丑" "寅" "卯" "辰" "巳" "午" "未" "申" "酉" "戌" "亥"))

(defconstant zodiac-animals

 '("Rat"   "Ox"   "Tiger"  "Rabbit"  "Dragon" "Snake"
   "Horse" "Goat" "Monkey" "Rooster" "Dog"    "Pig"))

(defconstant elements '("Wood" "Fire" "Earth" "Metal" "Water"))

(defconstant aspects '("yang" "yin"))

(defconstant pinyin

 (pairlis (append celestial-stems terrestrial-branches)
   '("jiă" "yĭ" "bĭng" "dīng" "wù" "jĭ" "gēng" "xīn" "rén" "gŭi"
     "zĭ" "chŏu" "yín" "măo" "chén" "sì" "wŭ" "wèi" "shēn" "yŏu" "xū" "hài")))

(defun this-year () (nth 5 (multiple-value-list (get-decoded-time))))

(defun pinyin-for (han) (cdr (assoc han pinyin :test #'string=)))

(defun chinese-zodiac (&rest years)

(loop for ce-year in (if (null years) (list (this-year)) years) collecting
  (let* ((cycle-year (- ce-year base-year))
         (stem-number (mod cycle-year 10))
         (stem-han    (nth stem-number celestial-stems))
         (stem-pinyin (pinyin-for stem-han))

         (element-number (floor stem-number 2))
         (element        (nth element-number elements))

         (branch-number (mod cycle-year 12))
         (branch-han    (nth branch-number terrestrial-branches))
         (branch-pinyin (pinyin-for branch-han))
         (zodiac-animal (nth branch-number zodiac-animals))

         (aspect-number (mod cycle-year 2))
         (aspect        (nth aspect-number aspects)))
         (cons ce-year (list stem-han branch-han stem-pinyin branch-pinyin element zodiac-animal aspect)))))

(defun get-args ()

 (or
  #+CLISP *args*
  #+SBCL (cdr *posix-argv*)
  #+LISPWORKS system:*line-arguments-list*
  #+CMU extensions:*command-line-words*
  nil))

(loop for cz in (apply #'chinese-zodiac (mapcar #'read-from-string (get-args)))

doing
 (format t "~{~a: ~a~a (~a-~a, ~a ~a; ~a)~%~}" cz))</lang>

Output:

$ sbcl --script cz.cl
2017: 丁酉 (dīng-yŏu, Fire Rooster; yin)
$ clisp cz.cl  193{5,8} 194{1,7} 1968 197{2,6}
1935: 乙亥 (yĭ-hài, Wood Pig; yin)
1938: 戊寅 (wù-yín, Earth Tiger; yang)
1941: 辛巳 (xīn-sì, Metal Snake; yin)
1947: 丁亥 (dīng-hài, Fire Pig; yin)
1968: 戊申 (wù-shēn, Earth Monkey; yang)
1972: 壬子 (rén-zĭ, Water Rat; yang)
1976: 丙辰 (bĭng-chén, Fire Dragon; yang)

Haskell

(We can use Chinese characters in Haskell names, as long as the first character is lower-case alphabetic) <lang haskell>-- TRADITIONAL STRINGS ------------------------------------------------------ ts :: [(Char, String)] ts =

 zip
   "甲乙丙丁戊己庚辛壬癸" -- 天干 tiangan – heavenly stems
   (words "jiă yĭ bĭng dīng wù jĭ gēng xīn rén gŭi")

ds :: [(String, String)] ds =

 zip
   (chars "子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥") -- 地支 dizhi – terrestrial branches
   (words "zĭ chŏu yín măo chén sì wŭ wèi shēn yŏu xū hài")

ws :: [(String, String, String)] ws =

 zip3
   (chars "木火土金水") -- 五行 wuxing – elements
   (words "mù huǒ tǔ jīn shuǐ")
   (words "wood fire earth metal water")

xs :: [(String, String, String)] xs =

 zip3
   (chars "鼠牛虎兔龍蛇馬羊猴鸡狗豬") -- 生肖 shengxiao – symbolic animals
   (words "shǔ niú hǔ tù lóng shé mǎ yáng hóu jī gǒu zhū")
   (words "rat ox tiger rabbit dragon snake horse goat monkey rooster dog pig")

ys :: [(String, String)] ys = zip (chars "阳阴") (words "yáng yīn") -- 阴阳 yinyang – dark & light

chars :: String -> [String] chars = (flip (:) [] <$>)

-- TRADITIONAL CYCLES -------------------------------------------------------- f生肖五行年份 y =

 let i年份 = y - 4
     i天干 = rem i年份 10
     i地支 = rem i年份 12
     (h天干, p天干) = ts !! i天干
     (h地支, p地支) = ds !! i地支
     (h五行, p五行, e五行) = ws !! quot i天干 2
     (h生肖, p生肖, e生肖) = xs !! i地支
     (h阴阳, p阴阳) = ys !! rem i年份 2
 in [ [show y, h天干 : h地支, h五行, h生肖, h阴阳] -- 汉子 Chinese characters
    , [[], p天干 ++ p地支, p五行, p生肖, p阴阳] -- Pinyin roman transcription
    , [[], show (rem i年份 60 + 1) ++ " of 60", e五行, e生肖, []] -- English
    ]

-- FORMATTING ---------------------------------------------------------------- colWidths :: Int colWidths = [[6, 10, 7, 8, 3], [6, 11, 8, 8, 4], [6, 11, 8, 8, 4]]

showYear :: Int -> String showYear y =

 unlines $
 (\(ns, xs) -> concat $ uncurry (`justifyLeft` ' ') <$> zip ns xs) <$>
 zip colWidths (f生肖五行年份 y)
 where
   justifyLeft n c s = take n (s ++ replicate n c)

-- TEST OUTPUT --------------------------------------------------------------- main :: IO () main = mapM_ putStrLn $ showYear <$> [1935, 1938, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984, 2017]</lang>

Output:

1935  乙亥        木      豬       阴  
      yĭhài      mù      zhū     yīn 
      12 of 60   wood    pig         

1938  戊寅        土      虎       阳  
      wùyín      tǔ      hǔ      yáng
      15 of 60   earth   tiger       

1968  戊申        土      猴       阳  
      wùshēn     tǔ      hóu     yáng
      45 of 60   earth   monkey      

1972  壬子        水      鼠       阳  
      rénzĭ      shuǐ    shǔ     yáng
      49 of 60   water   rat         

1976  丙辰        火      龍       阳  
      bĭngchén   huǒ     lóng    yáng
      53 of 60   fire    dragon      

1984  甲子        木      鼠       阳  
      jiăzĭ      mù      shǔ     yáng
      1 of 60    wood    rat         

2017  丁酉        火      鸡       阴  
      dīngyŏu    huǒ     jī      yīn 
      34 of 60   fire    rooster

Perl 6

Works with: Rakudo version 2017.01

Translation of: Ruby

<lang perl6>sub Chinese-zodiac ( Int $year ) {

   my @heaven  = <甲 jiă 乙 yĭ 丙 bĭng 丁 dīng 戊 wù 己 jĭ 庚 gēng 辛 xīn 壬 rén 癸 gŭi>.pairup;
   my @earth   = <子 zĭ 丑 chŏu 寅 yín 卯 măo 辰 chén 巳 sì 午 wŭ 未 wèi 申 shēn 酉 yŏu 戌 xū 亥 hài>.pairup;
   my @animal  = <Rat Ox Tiger Rabbit Dragon Snake Horse Goat Monkey Rooster Dog Pig>;
   my @element = <Wood Fire Earth Metal Water>;
   my @aspect  = <yang yin>;

   my $cycle_year = ($year - 4) % 60;
   my $i2         = $cycle_year % 2;
   my $i10        = $cycle_year % 10;
   my $i12        = $cycle_year % 12;

   %(
       'Han'     => @heaven[$i10].key ~ @earth[$i12].key,
       'pinyin'  => @heaven[$i10].value ~ @earth[$i12].value,
       'heaven'  => @heaven[$i10],
       'earth'   => @earth[$i12],
       'element' => @element[$i10 div 2],
       'animal'  => @animal[$i12],
       'aspect'  => @aspect[$i2],
       'cycle'   => $cycle_year + 1
   )

}

TESTING

printf "%d: %s (%s, %s %s; %s - year %d in the cycle)\n",

   $_, .&Chinese-zodiac<Han pinyin element animal aspect cycle>
   for 1935, 1938, 1968, 1972, 1976, 1984, Date.today.year;</lang>

Output:

1935: 乙亥 (yĭhài, Wood Pig; yin - year 12 in the cycle)
1938: 戊寅 (wùyín, Earth Tiger; yang - year 15 in the cycle)
1968: 戊申 (wùshēn, Earth Monkey; yang - year 45 in the cycle)
1972: 壬子 (rénzĭ, Water Rat; yang - year 49 in the cycle)
1976: 丙辰 (bĭngchén, Fire Dragon; yang - year 53 in the cycle)
1984: 甲子 (jiăzĭ, Wood Rat; yang - year 1 in the cycle)
2017: 丁酉 (dīngyŏu, Fire Rooster; yin - year 34 in the cycle)

PowerShell

Translation of: Ruby

<lang PowerShell> function Get-ChineseZodiac {

   [CmdletBinding()]
   [OutputType([PSCustomObject])]
   Param
   (
       [Parameter(Mandatory=$false,
                  ValueFromPipeline=$true,
                  ValueFromPipelineByPropertyName=$true,
                  Position=0)]
       [ValidateRange(1,9999)]
       [int]
       $Year = (Get-Date).Year
   )

   Begin
   {
       $pinyin = @{
           '甲' = 'jiă'
           '乙' = 'yĭ'
           '丙' = 'bĭng'
           '丁' = 'dīng'
           '戊' = 'wù'
           '己' = 'jĭ'
           '庚' = 'gēng'
           '辛' = 'xīn'
           '壬' = 'rén'
           '癸' = 'gŭi'
           '子' = 'zĭ'
           '丑' = 'chŏu'
           '寅' = 'yín'
           '卯' = 'măo'
           '辰' = 'chén'
           '巳' = 'sì'
           '午' = 'wŭ'
           '未' = 'wèi'
           '申' = 'shēn'
           '酉' = 'yŏu'
           '戌' = 'xū'
           '亥' = 'hài'
       }

       $celestial   = '甲', '乙', '丙', '丁', '戊', '己', '庚', '辛', '壬', '癸'
       $terrestrial = '子', '丑', '寅', '卯', '辰', '巳', '午', '未', '申', '酉', '戌', '亥'
       $animals     = 'Rat', 'Ox', 'Tiger', 'Rabbit', 'Dragon', 'Snake', 'Horse', 'Goat', 'Monkey', 'Rooster', 'Dog', 'Pig'
       $elements    = 'Wood', 'Fire', 'Earth', 'Metal', 'Water'
       $aspects     = 'yang', 'yin'

       $base = 4
   }
   Process
   {
       foreach ($ce_year in $Year)
       {
           $cycle_year     = $ce_year - $base

           $stem_number    = $cycle_year % 10
           $stem_han       = $celestial[$stem_number]
           $stem_pinyin    = $pinyin[$stem_han]

           $element_number = [Math]::Floor($stem_number / 2)
           $element        = $elements[$element_number]

           $branch_number  = $cycle_year % 12
           $branch_han     = $terrestrial[$branch_number]
           $branch_pinyin  = $pinyin[$branch_han]
           $animal         = $animals[$branch_number]

           $aspect_number  = $cycle_year % 2
           $aspect         = $aspects[$aspect_number]

           $index          = $cycle_year % 60 + 1

           [PSCustomObject]@{
               Year        = $Year
               Element     = $element
               Animal      = $animal
               Aspect      = $aspect
               YearOfCycle = $index
               ASCII       = "$stem_pinyin-$branch_pinyin"
               Chinese     = "$stem_han$branch_han"
           }
       }
   }

} </lang> <lang PowerShell> 1935, 1938, 1968, 1972, 1976 | Get-ChineseZodiac | Format-Table </lang>

Output:

Year Element Animal Aspect YearOfCycle ASCII     Chinese
---- ------- ------ ------ ----------- -----     -------
1935 Wood    Pig    yin             12 yĭ-hài    乙亥     
1938 Earth   Tiger  yang            15 wù-yín    戊寅     
1968 Earth   Monkey yang            45 wù-shēn   戊申     
1972 Water   Rat    yang            49 rén-zĭ    壬子     
1976 Fire    Dragon yang            53 bĭng-chén 丙辰

Defaults to the current year: <lang PowerShell> Get-ChineseZodiac </lang>

Output:

Year        : 2017
Element     : Fire
Animal      : Rooster
Aspect      : yin
YearOfCycle : 34
ASCII       : dīng-yŏu
Chinese     : 丁酉

Using the Year property of a [DateTime] object: <lang PowerShell> Get-Date "11/8/2016" | Get-ChineseZodiac </lang>

Output:

Year        : 2016
Element     : Fire
Animal      : Monkey
Aspect      : yang
YearOfCycle : 33
ASCII       : bĭng-shēn
Chinese     : 丙申

Emulate the Ruby script's output: <lang PowerShell> $zodiacs = 1935, 1938, 1968, 1972, 1976 | Get-ChineseZodiac

foreach ($zodiac in $zodiacs) {

   "{0}: {1} ({2}, {3} {4}; {5} - year {6} of the cycle)" -f $zodiac.Year,
                                                             $zodiac.Chinese,
                                                             $zodiac.ASCII,
                                                             $zodiac.Element,
                                                             $zodiac.Animal,
                                                             $zodiac.Aspect,
                                                             $zodiac.YearOfCycle

} </lang>

Output:

1935: 乙亥 (yĭ-hài, Wood Pig; yin - year 12 of the cycle)
1938: 戊寅 (wù-yín, Earth Tiger; yang - year 15 of the cycle)
1968: 戊申 (wù-shēn, Earth Monkey; yang - year 45 of the cycle)
1972: 壬子 (rén-zĭ, Water Rat; yang - year 49 of the cycle)
1976: 丙辰 (bĭng-chén, Fire Dragon; yang - year 53 of the cycle)

Python

Translation of: Ruby

coding: utf-8

from __future__ import print_function from datetime import datetime

pinyin = {

 '甲': 'jiă',
 '乙': 'yĭ',
 '丙': 'bĭng',
 '丁': 'dīng',
 '戊': 'wù',
 '己': 'jĭ',
 '庚': 'gēng',
 '辛': 'xīn',
 '壬': 'rén',
 '癸': 'gŭi',

 '子': 'zĭ',
 '丑': 'chŏu',
 '寅': 'yín',
 '卯': 'măo',
 '辰': 'chén',
 '巳': 'sì',
 '午': 'wŭ',
 '未': 'wèi',
 '申': 'shēn',
 '酉': 'yŏu',
 '戌': 'xū',
 '亥': 'hài'

}

animals = ['Rat', 'Ox', 'Tiger', 'Rabbit', 'Dragon', 'Snake',

          'Horse', 'Goat', 'Monkey', 'Rooster', 'Dog', 'Pig']

elements = ['Wood', 'Fire', 'Earth', 'Metal', 'Water']

celestial = ['甲', '乙', '丙', '丁', '戊', '己', '庚', '辛', '壬', '癸'] terrestrial = ['子', '丑', '寅', '卯', '辰', '巳', '午', '未', '申', '酉', '戌', '亥'] aspects = ['yang', 'yin']

def calculate(year):

   BASE = 4
   year = int(year)
   cycle_year = year - BASE
   stem_number = cycle_year % 10
   stem_han = celestial[stem_number]
   stem_pinyin = pinyin[stem_han]
   element_number = stem_number // 2
   element = elements[element_number]
   branch_number = cycle_year % 12
   branch_han = terrestrial[branch_number]
   branch_pinyin = pinyin[branch_han]
   animal = animals[branch_number]
   aspect_number = cycle_year % 2
   aspect = aspects[aspect_number]
   index = cycle_year % 60 + 1
   print("{}: {}{} ({}-{}, {} {}; {} - year {} of the cycle)"
         .format(year, stem_han, branch_han,
                 stem_pinyin, branch_pinyin, element, animal, aspect, index))

current_year = datetime.now().year years = [1935, 1938, 1968, 1972, 1976, current_year] for year in years:

   calculate(year)

</lang>

Racket

Translation of: Common Lisp

<lang racket>#lang racket

(require racket/date)

Any CE Year that was the first of a 60-year cycle

(define base-year 1984)

(define celestial-stems '("甲" "乙" "丙" "丁" "戊" "己" "庚" "辛" "壬" "癸"))

(define terrestrial-branches '("子" "丑" "寅" "卯" "辰" "巳" "午" "未" "申" "酉" "戌" "亥"))

(define zodiac-animals

 '("Rat" "Ox" "Tiger" "Rabbit" "Dragon" "Snake" "Horse" "Goat" "Monkey" "Rooster" "Dog" "Pig"))

(define elements '("Wood" "Fire" "Earth" "Metal" "Water"))

(define aspects '("yang" "yin"))

(define pinyin

 (map cons
      (append celestial-stems terrestrial-branches)
      (list "jiă" "yĭ" "bĭng" "dīng" "wù" "jĭ" "gēng" "xīn" "rén" "gŭi"
            "zĭ" "chŏu" "yín" "măo" "chén" "sì" "wŭ" "wèi" "shēn" "yŏu" "xū" "hài")))

(define (this-year) (date-year (current-date)))

(define (pinyin-for han) (cdr (assoc han pinyin)))

(define (han/pinyin-nth n hans) (let ((han (list-ref hans n))) (values han (pinyin-for han))))

(define (chinese-zodiac ce-year)

 (let* ((cycle-year (- ce-year base-year))
        (stem-number    (modulo cycle-year (length celestial-stems)))
        (element-number (quotient stem-number 2))
        (aspect-number  (modulo cycle-year (length aspects)))
        (branch-number  (modulo cycle-year (length terrestrial-branches)))
        (element        (list-ref elements element-number)) 
        (zodiac-animal  (list-ref zodiac-animals branch-number))
        (aspect         (list-ref aspects aspect-number)))
   (let-values (([stem-han stem-pinyin]     (han/pinyin-nth stem-number celestial-stems))                  
                ([branch-han branch-pinyin] (han/pinyin-nth branch-number terrestrial-branches)))
     (list ce-year stem-han branch-han stem-pinyin branch-pinyin element zodiac-animal aspect))))

(module+ test

 (for ((ce-year (in-list '(1935 1938 1941 1947 1968 1972 1976))))
 (apply printf "~a: ~a~a (~a-~a, ~a ~a; ~a)~%" (chinese-zodiac ce-year))))</lang>

Output:

1935: 乙亥 (yĭ-hài, Wood Pig; yin)
1938: 戊寅 (wù-yín, Earth Tiger; yang)
1941: 辛巳 (xīn-sì, Metal Snake; yin)
1947: 丁亥 (dīng-hài, Fire Pig; yin)
1968: 戊申 (wù-shēn, Earth Monkey; yang)
1972: 壬子 (rén-zĭ, Water Rat; yang)
1976: 丙辰 (bĭng-chén, Fire Dragon; yang)

Ruby

This is written as a command-line tool that takes a list of CE year numbers as arguments and outputs their information; if no arguments are supplied, it displays the information for the current year.

<lang ruby># encoding: utf-8 pinyin = {

 '甲' => 'jiă',
 '乙' => 'yĭ',
 '丙' => 'bĭng',
 '丁' => 'dīng',
 '戊' => 'wù',
 '己' => 'jĭ',
 '庚' => 'gēng',
 '辛' => 'xīn',
 '壬' => 'rén',
 '癸' => 'gŭi',

 '子' => 'zĭ',
 '丑' => 'chŏu',
 '寅' => 'yín',
 '卯' => 'măo',
 '辰' => 'chén',
 '巳' => 'sì',
 '午' => 'wŭ',
 '未' => 'wèi',
 '申' => 'shēn',
 '酉' => 'yŏu',
 '戌' => 'xū',
 '亥' => 'hài'

} celestial = %w(甲乙丙丁戊己庚辛壬癸) terrestrial = %w(子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥) animals = %w(Rat Ox Tiger Rabbit Dragon Snake

                  Horse Goat Monkey Rooster Dog    Pig)

elements = %w(Wood Fire Earth Metal Water) aspects = %w(yang yin)

BASE = 4

args = if !ARGV.empty?

        ARGV
      else
        [Time.new.year]
      end

args.each do |arg|

 ce_year = Integer(arg)
 print "#{ce_year}: " if ARGV.length > 1
 cycle_year     = ce_year - BASE

 stem_number    = cycle_year % 10
 stem_han       = celestial[stem_number]
 stem_pinyin    = pinyin[stem_han]

 element_number = stem_number / 2
 element        = elements[element_number]

 branch_number  = cycle_year % 12
 branch_han     = terrestrial[branch_number]
 branch_pinyin  = pinyin[branch_han]
 animal         = animals[branch_number]

 aspect_number = cycle_year % 2
 aspect        = aspects[aspect_number]

 index         = cycle_year % 60 + 1

 print stem_han, branch_han
 puts " (#{stem_pinyin}-#{branch_pinyin}, #{element} #{animal}; #{aspect} - year #{index} of the cycle)"

end</lang>

Output:

Given arguments 1935 1938 1968 1972 1976:

1935: 乙亥 (yĭ-hài, Wood Pig; yin - year 12 of the cycle)
1938: 戊寅 (wù-yín, Earth Tiger; yang - year 15 of the cycle)
1968: 戊申 (wù-shēn, Earth Monkey; yang - year 45 of the cycle)
1972: 壬子 (rén-zĭ, Water Rat; yang - year 49 of the cycle)
1976: 丙辰 (bĭng-chén, Fire Dragon; yang - year 53 of the cycle)

Given no arguments and run during the year 2017:

丁酉 (dīng-yŏu, Fire Rooster; yin - year 34 of the cycle)

zkl

Translation of: Ruby

<lang zkl>fcn ceToChineseZodiac(ce_year){ // --> list of strings

  # encoding: utf-8
  var [const] pinyin=SD(  // create some static variables, SD is small fixed dictionary
    "甲","jiă",  "乙","yĭ",  "丙","bĭng", "丁","dīng", "戊","wù", "己","jĭ",
    "庚","gēng", "辛","xīn", "壬","rén",  "癸","gŭi",

    "子","zĭ",  "丑","chŏu", "寅","yín", "卯","măo",  "辰","chén", "巳","sì",
    "午","wŭ",  "未","wèi",  "申","shén","酉","yŏu",  "戌","xū",   "亥","hài"
  ),

  celestial  =T("甲", "乙", "丙", "丁", "戊", "己", "庚", "辛", "壬", "癸"),
  terrestrial=T("子", "丑", "寅", "卯", "辰", "巳", "午", "未", "申", "酉", "戌", "亥"),
  animals    =T("Rat",   "Ox",   "Tiger",  "Rabbit",  "Dragon", "Snake",

"Horse", "Goat", "Monkey", "Rooster", "Dog", "Pig"),

  elements   =T("Wood", "Fire", "Earth", "Metal", "Water"),
  aspects    =T("yang","yin"),
  ;

  const BASE=4;

  cycle_year:=ce_year - BASE;

  cycle_year,aspect    := ce_year - BASE,         aspects[cycle_year%2];
  stem_number,element  := cycle_year%10,          elements[stem_number/2];
  stem_han,stem_pinyin := celestial[stem_number], pinyin[stem_han];

  branch_number,animal     := cycle_year%12,      animals[branch_number];
  branch_han,branch_pinyin := terrestrial[branch_number], pinyin[branch_han];

  return(stem_han,branch_han,

stem_pinyin,branch_pinyin, element,animal,aspect) }</lang> <lang zkl>foreach ce_year in (T(1935,1938,1968,1972,1976,Time.Clock.UTC[0])){

  println("%d: %s%s (%s-%s, %s %s; %s)"
          .fmt(ce_year,ceToChineseZodiac(ce_year).xplode()));

}</lang>

Output:

1935: 乙亥 (yĭ-hài, Wood Pig; yin)
1938: 戊寅 (wù-yín, Earth Tiger; yang)
1968: 戊申 (wù-shén, Earth Monkey; yang)
1972: 壬子 (rén-zĭ, Water Rat; yang)
1976: 丙辰 (bĭng-chén, Fire Dragon; yang)
2017: 丁酉 (dīng-yŏu, Fire Rooster; yin)