2008 Chinese zodiac sign: Earth Rat

Chinese year 2008 begins on Thursday, February 7, 2008, and ends on Sunday, January 25, 2009, the day before the Year of the Earth Ox 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 2009.

The year opens with the new moon on Wednesday, February 6, 2008 at 10:45 p.m. ET. In Beijing it is already February 7, 11:45 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on February 7. 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 Thursday, February 21, 2008. The year's first full moon falls on Wednesday, February 20, 2008 at 10:31 p.m. ET. The total lunar eclipse takes place at this same full moon.

It is year 25 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 戊子 (wùzǐ): the heavenly stem 戊 gives the element and the earthly branch 子 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 2008 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 4, 2008 at 6:00 a.m. Eastern Time. That is 3 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 6 still has the Fire Pig sign in the lunar calendar but already the Earth Rat sign in Ba Zi.

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

The Rat opens the twelve-year cycle, and legend says it won the Great Race by cunning: it rode across the river on the Ox's back and jumped off just before the finish line. The sign is known for intelligence, resourcefulness and quick reflexes.

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, 2008 (yang) and 2009 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1998–1999, next in 2018–2019.

The Earth Rat is the most sensible version of the sign. Instead of grabbing every opportunity, it builds slowly on solid ground and rarely loses what it has gathered. Its family can rely on it, because it watches the budget and never decides blindly. The price is excessive caution and a reluctance to let go of tried-and-true ways.

In 2026, people born in 2008 turn 18 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as an opposite sign's year for the Rat. People born in 2008 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2032, when they turn 24 years old.

The Rat comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 2008, the Earth Rat, returns every 60 years: in 1948, 2008 and 2068.