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The Chinese sexagenary cycle (Chinese: 干支; pinyin: gānzhī) is a cyclic numeral system of 60 combinations of the two basic cycles, the ten Heavenly Stems (天干; tiāngān) and the twelve Earthly Branches (地支; dìzhī). more...

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These have been traditionally used as a means of numbering the years, not only in China but also in other East Asian nations like Japan, Korea, and Vietnam.

Ten Heavenly Stems

Twelve Earthly Branches

*The names of several animals can be translated into English in several different ways. The Vietnamese Earthly Branches use Cat instead of Rabbit/Hare.

In a traditional story of the twelve animals, the cat and rat were once good friends, but the animals to be selected to represent the years included the cat but not the rat. These animals had to present themselves to be given the honour of representing the years in the cycle, and the cat asked the rat to wake him up before they had to go. The rat didn't do this, but instead went himself. When they came to cross a river, the rat jumped on the ox's back, and just before the ox got to the bank, the rat jumped off and was first in line. This is why the twelve animals are lead by the rat, and because the cat was cheated out of its rightful place, rats are forever sought out by cats for revenge.

Sexagenary Cycle

The sexagenary cycle was first used for days in the Shang Dynasty, and later also used for years and less commonly for months.

For example, the year 2000 was 17th year of the 78th sexagenary cycle, a gēng-chén year (庚辰年), a year of the Yang Metal Dragon. Therefore, 2004 is four years after, the 21st year of the 78th sexagenary cycle, called a jiǎ-shēn year (甲申年), a year of the Yang Wood Monkey.

The naming of the months and days is not common now, although they will be shown on Chinese calendars and almanacs.

Read more at Wikipedia.org