2010 Chinese zodiac sign: Metal Tiger

Chinese year 2010 begins on Sunday, February 14, 2010, and ends on Wednesday, February 2, 2011, the day before the Year of the Metal Rabbit 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 2012.

The year opens with the new moon on Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 9:52 p.m. ET. In Beijing it is already February 14, 10:52 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on February 14.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Sunday, February 28, 2010. The year's first full moon falls on Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 11:38 a.m. ET.

It is year 27 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 庚寅 (gēngyín): the heavenly stem 庚 gives the element and the earthly branch 寅 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 2010 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 Wednesday, February 3, 2010 at 5:47 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 11 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 13 still has the Earth Ox sign in the lunar calendar but already the Metal Tiger sign in Ba Zi.

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

The Tiger is the sign of courage and energy. It loves a challenge, has a strong sense of justice and stands up for the underdog, even when it costs it.

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, 2010 (yang) and 2011 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 2000–2001, next in 2020–2021.

The Metal Tiger combines courage with an iron will. It is ambitious, self-assured and unyielding, unafraid of confrontation and steady in going after what it wants. It has strong opinions and a strong sense of justice. Compromise doesn't come easily, and in an argument it can be domineering.

In 2026, people born in 2010 turn 16 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 Tiger. People born in 2010 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2034, when they turn 24 years old.

The Tiger comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 2010, the Metal Tiger, returns every 60 years: in 1950, 2010 and 2070.