1994 Chinese zodiac sign: Wood Dog

Chinese year 1994 begins on Thursday, February 10, 1994, and ends on Monday, January 30, 1995, the day before the Year of the Wood Pig begins. It has 355 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 1995.

The year opens with the new moon on Thursday, February 10, 1994 at 9:30 a.m. ET, which is 10:30 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 24, 1994. The year's first full moon falls on Friday, February 25, 1994 at 8:15 p.m. ET.

It is year 11 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 甲戌 (jiǎxū): the heavenly stem 甲 gives the element and the earthly branch 戌 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1994 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 Thursday, February 3, 1994 at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 7 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 9 still has the Water Rooster sign in the lunar calendar but already the Wood Dog 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.

Growth, curiosity and cooperation. Wood brings a gardener's patience: it builds slowly, with an eye on what will grow in the years ahead.

The Wood element covers two years in a row, 1994 (yang) and 1995 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1984–1985, next in 2004–2005.

The Wood Dog is the warmest of its family. Wood adds openness and generosity, so it trusts people more easily and feels at home in a group. It is loyal, honest and glad to help. But it cares too much about what others think and has trouble saying no.

In 2026, people born in 1994 turn 32 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 1994 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2030, when they turn 36 years old.

The Dog comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1994, the Wood Dog, returns every 60 years: in 1934, 1994 and 2054.