1940 Chinese zodiac sign: Metal Dragon

Chinese year 1940 begins on Thursday, February 8, 1940, and ends on Sunday, January 26, 1941, the day before the Year of the Metal Snake begins. It has 354 days, or 12 lunar months: each month starts on a new moon, so it is 29 or 30 days long. The next leap year, with a thirteenth month, comes in 1941.

The year opens with the new moon on Thursday, February 8, 1940 at 2:45 a.m. ET, which is 3:45 p.m. China Standard Time, so the date is the same in New York and in Beijing.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Thursday, February 22, 1940. The year's first full moon falls on Friday, February 23, 1940 at 4:56 a.m. ET.

It is year 17 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1924 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 庚辰 (gēngchén): the heavenly stem 庚 gives the element and the earthly branch 辰 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1940 begins not at the lunar New Year but at the moment of lìchūn (立春, “start of spring”), when the Sun reaches 315° of ecliptic longitude: on Sunday, February 4, 1940 at 6:07 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 4 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 7 still has the Earth Rabbit sign in the lunar calendar but already the Metal Dragon sign in Ba Zi.

This page and the calculator give your sign by the lunar calendar.

The Dragon is the only mythical creature in the Chinese zodiac and a symbol of imperial power, which is why in China a Dragon year is considered the best time to have a baby. The sign carries energy, confidence and big ambitions.

Determination, principles and a clear goal. Metal tempers a sign: it adds willpower, but can make it unbending.

The Metal element covers two years in a row, 1940 (yang) and 1941 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1930–1931, next in 1950–1951.

The Metal Dragon is the most determined Dragon. Metal strengthens its willpower and sense of justice, so it won't back down from anything it believes is right. It is honest, direct and unshakable in a crisis. But it can be domineering, and it takes opposition as a personal insult.

In 2026, people born in 1940 turn 86 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as a year with no special tie for the Dragon. People born in 1940 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2036, when they turn 96 years old.

The Dragon comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1940, the Metal Dragon, returns every 60 years: in 1880, 1940 and 2000.