1982 Chinese zodiac sign: Water Dog

Chinese year 1982 begins on Monday, January 25, 1982, and ends on Saturday, February 12, 1983, the day before the Year of the Water Pig begins. It has a full 384 days, because it is a leap year with 13 lunar months; the next one comes in 1984. The Chinese calendar adds the extra month roughly every two or three years so that it doesn't drift away from the seasons.

The year opens with the new moon on Sunday, January 24, 1982 at 11:56 p.m. ET. In Beijing it is already January 25, 12:56 p.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on January 25. The partial 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 8, 1982. The year's first full moon falls on Monday, February 8, 1982 at 2:57 a.m. ET.

It is year 59 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1924 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 壬戌 (rénxū): the heavenly stem 壬 gives the element and the earthly branch 戌 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1982 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 Wednesday, February 3, 1982 at 10:45 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 9 days after Chinese New Year, so anyone born between January 25 and that moment already has the Water Dog sign in the lunar calendar but still the Metal Rooster sign in Ba Zi.

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

The Dog is the sign of loyalty and honesty. It is faithful to the people close to it, has a strong sense of justice and stands up for anyone who is being wronged.

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, 1982 (yang) and 1983 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1972–1973, next in 1992–1993.

Water eases the Dog's distrust. The Water Dog is flexible and empathetic, connects with people more easily and better understands their motives, so it judges less hastily. It is loyal, caring and sharp. It still hasn't shaken off the Dog's habit of worrying, and its moods can swing hard.

In 2026, people born in 1982 turn 44 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 Dog. People born in 1982 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2030, when they turn 48 years old.

The Dog comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1982, the Water Dog, returns every 60 years: in 1922, 1982 and 2042.