Different questions can use different year boundaries
Everyday Chinese-zodiac descriptions often use Lunar New Year, while BaZi year pillars commonly change at the beginning-of-spring solar term. These are different conventions rather than one year label that can be copied everywhere.
For a January or February birthday, first ask whether you are identifying a zodiac animal or calculating a Four Pillars year pillar. A simple operation on the Gregorian year can miss the relevant boundary.
Consider early February 2024
Lunar New Year in 2024 fell on February 10; the beginning-of-spring term occurred on February 4. A birth between them may receive different year labels under the two conventions.
The useful response is to show the calendar rule, not to select the label that sounds more appealing. A birth on the transition day also requires the time and time zone, not just the date.
A zodiac animal is only one part of a chart
The animal corresponds to the year branch. BaZi also includes the year stem and three more pillars. The Day Master is the day stem, not the zodiac animal. Applying a general animal description to the entire chart omits the rest of its structure.
Wenbu shows lunar date, zodiac and four pillars as separate fields. Its methodology identifies the solar-term rule used for year and month pillars, so you can understand why labels may differ.
Sources & further reading
Hong Kong Observatory · Gregorian–Lunar conversion tables ↗lunar-typescript · calculation source and examples ↗Traditional interpretations are not established predictions. See the source notes for context.