1990 Chinese zodiac sign: Metal Horse

Chinese year 1990 begins on Saturday, January 27, 1990, and ends on Thursday, February 14, 1991, the day before the Year of the Metal Goat begins. It has a full 384 days, because it is a leap year with 13 lunar months; the next one comes in 1993. 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 Friday, January 26, 1990 at 2:20 p.m. ET. In Beijing it is already January 27, 3:20 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on January 27. 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 Saturday, February 10, 1990. The year's first full moon falls on Friday, February 9, 1990 at 2:16 p.m. ET. The total lunar eclipse takes place at this same full moon.

It is year 7 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 庚午 (gēngwǔ): the heavenly stem 庚 gives the element and the earthly branch 午 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1990 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 Saturday, February 3, 1990 at 9:13 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 7 days after Chinese New Year, so anyone born between January 27 and that moment already has the Metal Horse sign in the lunar calendar but still the Earth Snake sign in Ba Zi.

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

The Horse is the sign of freedom and energy. It is sociable, honest and enthusiastic, and it loves movement, travel and new experiences.

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, 1990 (yang) and 1991 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1980–1981, next in 2000–2001.

The Metal Horse goes its own way and doesn't like being told what to do. Metal strengthens its determination and self-confidence, so it pushes hard and isn't afraid of risk. It is honest and independent to the core. It puts up with long commitments and other people's rules worse than any other Horse.

In 2026, people born in 1990 turn 36 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, so for people born in the Year of the Metal Horse it is their third běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign. Tradition sees it as a time of tests and change, and a touch of red in what you wear is meant to keep bad luck away.

The Horse comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1990, the Metal Horse, returns every 60 years: in 1930, 1990 and 2050.