1962 Chinese zodiac sign: Water Tiger

Chinese year 1962 begins on Monday, February 5, 1962, and ends on Thursday, January 24, 1963, the day before the Year of the Water Rabbit 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 1963.

The year opens with the new moon on Sunday, February 4, 1962 at 7:10 p.m. ET. In Beijing it is already February 5, 8:10 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on February 5. The total solar eclipse takes place at this same new moon.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Monday, February 19, 1962. The year's first full moon falls on Monday, February 19, 1962 at 8:18 a.m. ET. The penumbral lunar eclipse takes place at this same full moon.

It is year 39 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1924 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 壬寅 (rényín): the heavenly stem 壬 gives the element and the earthly branch 寅 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1962 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, 1962 at 2:17 a.m. Eastern Time. That is one day before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 4 still has the Metal Ox sign in the lunar calendar but already the Water Tiger sign in Ba Zi.

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

The Tiger is the sign of courage and energy. It loves a challenge, has a strong sense of justice and stands up for the underdog, even when it costs it.

Intuition, flexibility and a gift for persuasion. Water softens a sign and teaches it to go with the flow.

The Water element covers two years in a row, 1962 (yang) and 1963 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1952–1953, next in 1972–1973.

The Water Tiger is the calmest of its family. Water gives it empathy and the ability to listen, so it understands others better and acts on impulse less often. It still loves freedom and challenges, but it picks them with more judgment. On the other hand, it sometimes hesitates where another Tiger would have leaped long ago.

In 2026, people born in 1962 turn 64 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as an ally's year from the same trine for the Tiger. People born in 1962 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2034, when they turn 72 years old.

The Tiger comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1962, the Water Tiger, returns every 60 years: in 1902, 1962 and 2022.