1981 Chinese zodiac sign: Metal Rooster

Chinese year 1981 begins on Thursday, February 5, 1981, and ends on Sunday, January 24, 1982, the day before the Year of the Water Dog 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 1982.

The year opens with the new moon on Wednesday, February 4, 1981 at 5:14 p.m. ET. In Beijing it is already February 5, 6:14 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on February 5. The annular 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 Thursday, February 19, 1981. The year's first full moon falls on Wednesday, February 18, 1981 at 5:58 p.m. ET.

It is year 58 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1924 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 辛酉 (xīnyǒu): the heavenly stem 辛 gives the element and the earthly branch 酉 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1981 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 Tuesday, February 3, 1981 at 4:55 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 2 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 4 still has the Metal Monkey sign in the lunar calendar but already the Metal Rooster sign in Ba Zi.

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

The Rooster is the sign of hard work and honesty. It is observant, organized and precise, and bold in voicing its opinions.

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, 1980 (yang) and 1981 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1970–1971, next in 1990–1991.

Metal is the Rooster's fixed element, and the Metal Rooster is exceptionally determined, precise and hardworking. It has clear principles, courage and high standards, and it takes loyalty dead seriously. Compromise comes hard. Its criticism is often on target, but for the people close to it, it can be too harsh.

In 2026, people born in 1981 turn 45 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as a year with no special tie for the Rooster. People born in 1981 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2029, when they turn 48 years old.

The Rooster comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1981, the Metal Rooster, returns every 60 years: in 1921, 1981 and 2041.