1987 Chinese zodiac sign: Fire Rabbit

Chinese year 1987 begins on Thursday, January 29, 1987, and ends on Tuesday, February 16, 1988, the day before the Year of the Earth Dragon begins. It has a full 384 days, because it is a leap year with 13 lunar months; the next one comes in 1990. 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 Thursday, January 29, 1987 at 8:45 a.m. ET, which is 9:45 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 12, 1987. The year's first full moon falls on Friday, February 13, 1987 at 3:58 p.m. ET.

It is year 4 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 丁卯 (dīngmǎo): the heavenly stem 丁 gives the element and the earthly branch 卯 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1987 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 4, 1987 at 3:51 a.m. Eastern Time. That is 6 days after Chinese New Year, so anyone born between January 29 and that moment already has the Fire Rabbit sign in the lunar calendar but still the Fire Tiger sign in Ba Zi.

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

The Rabbit is the sign of gentleness and finesse. It has good taste, tact and a gift for smoothing over disputes, so it feels best wherever there is harmony.

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 Rabbit has more courage than this sign is usually credited with. Fire gives it charisma, warmth and expressiveness, so it speaks up about what it wants and is more willing to take the lead. In company it is witty and well liked. Its emotions sit closer to the surface, though, and it takes hurts harder than other Rabbits.

In 2026, people born in 1987 turn 39 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as a year with no special tie for the Rabbit. People born in 1987 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2035, when they turn 48 years old.

The Rabbit comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1987, the Fire Rabbit, returns every 60 years: in 1927, 1987 and 2047.