1986 Chinese zodiac sign: Fire Tiger

Chinese year 1986 begins on Sunday, February 9, 1986, and ends on Wednesday, January 28, 1987, the day before the Year of the Fire 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 1987.

The year opens with the new moon on Saturday, February 8, 1986 at 7:55 p.m. ET. In Beijing it is already February 9, 8:55 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on February 9.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Sunday, February 23, 1986. The year's first full moon falls on Monday, February 24, 1986 at 10:02 a.m. ET.

It is year 3 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 丙寅 (bǐngyín): the heavenly stem 丙 gives the element and the earthly branch 寅 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1986 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 Monday, February 3, 1986 at 10:07 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 6 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 8 still has the Wood Ox sign in the lunar calendar but already the Fire 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.

Passion, courage and a need for action. Fire adds temperament and charisma, along with a tendency to flare up.

The Fire element covers two years in a row, 1986 (yang) and 1987 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1976–1977, next in 1996–1997.

The Fire Tiger is a Tiger with a double dose of energy. It is bold, charismatic and unpredictable, and once it believes in something it carries others along. It has a strong need for independence and handles any form of control badly. But Fire has its price: impulsive decisions and outbursts that someone has to clean up afterward.

In 2026, people born in 1986 turn 40 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 1986 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2034, when they turn 48 years old.

The Tiger comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1986, the Fire Tiger, returns every 60 years: in 1926, 1986 and 2046.