The eight characters refer to which of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals.

The eight characters don't point to any of the twelve zodiac signs. Eight-character is an academic language of numerology, which is composed of four factors: date of birth, date of birth, and is used to predict people's fate. The Chinese zodiac is a way to express the year in China traditional culture. Everyone has a corresponding zodiac sign, but it is not directly related to the eight characters.