Chinese zodiac 1988
Year of the Earth Dragon
17 February 1988 to 5 February 1989
Born in 1988? Your sign depends on the day
The animal changes at Lunar New Year, not on 1 January. In 1988 it falls on 17 February 1988.
- 17 February to 31 December 1988
- 🐉 Earth Dragon
- and on to 5 Feb 1989
Check an exact birth date
The Earth Dragon at a glance
Animal
🐉 Dragon
Said to be ambitious, energetic, charismatic.
Element
土 Yang Earth
Linked with stability and patience. Each element rules two years in a row.
Length
355 days
A regular year of twelve lunar months.
Other Dragon years
The 60-year cycle
Animal and element line up again only every 60 years. The Earth Dragon years nearest to this one are 1928 and 2048.
Who gets on with the Dragon
Allies
Four years apart. The three animals of a trine are said to share a temperament.
Secret friend
One of six fixed pairs said to complement each other.
Opposite
Six years apart, directly across the wheel. Tradition calls this the hardest pairing.
Friction
One of six fixed pairs said to rub each other the wrong way.
Bonds come from each animal's position among the twelve, as tradition sets them. They describe the Dragon sign in general, not any one person.
Dates are computed estimates from the Hong Kong Observatory's calendar tables, counted in China's time zone. Some traditions change the animal at the start of spring (around 4 February) instead of at Lunar New Year.