Editor’s Note: As we approach the Chinese New Year later this week, we thought it would be fun to take a look at an app in Ovi Store that could help us learn about the different Chinese zodiac signs. Read on to learn about the Sun and Chinese Signs app …

“Gung Hei Fatt Choi!” – That is the way that most Westerners learn to say “Happy New Year!” in Chinese. It actually means “Wishing you good fortune.” and is usually said while pressing a red envelope with money in it into the hand of a child or parent as a Chinese New Year tradition. The actual “Happy New Year” is more like “Gong he xin xi”, or “Xin nian hao” (said as hello), or “Xin nian kuai le” (said as goodbye).

My neighborhood in the Sunset district of San Francisco is 85 percent Chinese, so I have picked up tidbits like this over the years. The Chinese (or Xia) calendar, however, remained a mystery to me. So, when I saw the app Sun & Chinese Signs by CannyTech, I found a shortcut to this wisdom without having to think like a Chinese astrologer.

The app is as simple as can be. You type in a birthday, including day, month, and year, and it returns both the Western astrological sign for that birthday and the Xia calendar year sign. The screenshot below shows how the app appeared on my Nokia N8 device.

The beginning of the Xia calendar year does not always line up with the Gregorian calendar year, since it is based upon both lunar and solar calculations, and there are lunar-based criteria for the beginning of a new Xia year. The Xia calendar goes through 12 year cycles, where each successive year is dedicated to a rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, ram/sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig, rat, ox, or tiger. Each of these animals has different characteristics that are assumed to be reflected in people born in that particular year. The Chinese version of the Zodiac is known as the Shen Xiao.

If someone were born on January 26, 2011, for example, they would be an Aquarian born in the Year of the Rabbit.

According to the Shen Xiao, someone born in the Year of the Rabbit is gracious, kind, soft-spoken, and a good friend, among other good characteristics. On the downside, they can be moody, detached, and stubborn, among other things.

I do wish that the calendar icon and date field had been made a bit larger, as my adult male finger found it somewhat tricky to activate the calendar icon or the date field. Once I did, it looked like this:

Again, the dropdown fields for month and year as well as the calendar itself could be larger, making it easier to select the date and year using the icon.

I then set about typing in the birth dates of my wife, daughter, sister, and several friends, discovering that no two of them have the same Chinese sign, although some of them have the same astrological sign. By the time I had looked up five of them, I felt that I had gotten my money’s worth. By going to details about the Chinese Zodiac on Wikipedia, I was able to check out the characteristics associated with each of them. This is another thing that I wish had been incorporated into the app, and perhaps it will be in the next revision. One should be able to click on either the astrological or Chinese sign and read the listing of associated attributes. As they say in the sports world, “Wait ’til next year!”

Sun & Chinese Signs is available in Ovi Store for $0.99 (USD).