1997 Chinese zodiac sign: Fire Ox

Chinese year 1997 begins on Friday, February 7, 1997, and ends on Tuesday, January 27, 1998, the day before the Year of the Earth Tiger 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 1998.

The year opens with the new moon on Friday, February 7, 1997 at 10:06 a.m. ET, which is 11:06 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 Friday, February 21, 1997. The year's first full moon falls on Saturday, February 22, 1997 at 5:27 a.m. ET.

It is year 14 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 丁丑 (dīngchǒu): the heavenly stem 丁 gives the element and the earthly branch 丑 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1997 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, 1997 at 2:02 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 4 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 6 still has the Fire Rat sign in the lunar calendar but already the Fire Ox sign in Ba Zi.

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

The Ox, called the Buffalo in some sources, is the sign of perseverance. It works patiently, keeps its word and doesn't quit halfway, even when everyone else gave up long ago.

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, 1996 (yang) and 1997 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1986–1987, next in 2006–2007.

Fire gives the Ox the assertiveness it usually lacks. The Fire Ox is self-assured, has a talent for leadership and readily takes responsibility for others. It works with zeal but can be hot-tempered and proud. Admitting someone else is right costs it more effort than the whole project.

In 2026, people born in 1997 turn 29 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as a year with no special tie for the Ox. People born in 1997 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2033, when they turn 36 years old.

The Ox comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1997, the Fire Ox, returns every 60 years: in 1937, 1997 and 2057.