1999 Chinese zodiac sign: Earth Rabbit

Chinese year 1999 begins on Tuesday, February 16, 1999, and ends on Friday, February 4, 2000, the day before the Year of the Metal Dragon 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 2001.

The year opens with the new moon on Tuesday, February 16, 1999 at 1:39 a.m. ET, which is 2:39 p.m. China Standard Time, so the date is the same in New York and in Beijing. 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 Tuesday, March 2, 1999. The year's first full moon falls on Tuesday, March 2, 1999 at 1:59 a.m. ET.

It is year 16 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 己卯 (jǐmǎo): the heavenly stem 己 gives the element and the earthly branch 卯 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1999 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 4, 1999 at 1:57 a.m. Eastern Time. That is 12 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 15 still has the Earth Tiger sign in the lunar calendar but already the Earth Rabbit 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.

Stability, common sense and care for the people close to you. Earth steadies every sign and makes it more realistic.

The Earth element covers two years in a row, 1998 (yang) and 1999 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1988–1989, next in 2008–2009.

The Earth Rabbit has both feet on the ground. It is practical, patient and plans well, so it rarely makes rash decisions, and it takes great care of its home and loved ones. It feels best among things and people it knows well. That is exactly why it holds on to what is safe for too long.

In 2026, people born in 1999 turn 27 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 1999 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2035, when they turn 36 years old.

The Rabbit comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1999, the Earth Rabbit, returns every 60 years: in 1939, 1999 and 2059.