1950 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Metal Tiger

By Astrolivo editorial team

In the Chinese lunisolar calendar, 1950 is the Year of the Metal Tiger (Geng-yin), running from February 17, 1950 to February 5, 1951 (inclusive). Because Lunar New Year fell in mid-February in 1950, anyone born from January 1 through February 16, 1950 belongs to the preceding year of the Ox rather than the Tiger.

1950 Birth Date Lookup

Match your exact birth date against the inclusive ranges below to find the right Lunar New Year animal:

Gregorian Birth Date Range (Inclusive)	Chinese Zodiac Animal	Year Designation
January 1, 1950 – February 16, 1950	Ox	Previous lunar year (ending prior to 1950 Lunar New Year)
February 17, 1950 – February 5, 1951	Tiger	Geng-yin (Metal Tiger)

Why the Gregorian Year Alone Is Not Enough

Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar—tracking both lunar phases and the solar year—the start of the year moves between late January and mid-February on the Gregorian calendar. In 1950, the transition happened relatively late, on February 17, meaning more than six weeks of early 1950 fall in the previous zodiac year.

For a concrete hypothetical comparison: a person born on February 3, 1950 falls before Lunar New Year and belongs to the Ox year. A person born on February 22, 1950 falls after the February 17 transition and belongs to the Metal Tiger year.

Stem, Branch, and Five-Phase Element

Traditional Chinese year names follow a 60-year cycle (sexagenary cycle) created by pairing ten heavenly stems with twelve earthly branches. Although the Tiger returns every 12 years, it does not share the same element every 12 years—the full Metal Tiger (Geng-yin) designation recurs only once every 60 years.

For the lunar year beginning February 17, 1950:

Heavenly stem: Geng, which corresponds to the Metal phase in traditional five-phase (Wu Xing) mapping.
Earthly branch: Yin, which corresponds to the Tiger.

Historically, animal-year labels originated as a calendar naming system rather than a measure of individual personality.

How This Differs from Western Sun Signs and Four Pillars

This date lookup is distinct from both Western astrology and Four Pillars charting:

Western Sun signs: Western astrology divides the solar year into twelve roughly month-long signs based on the Sun's ecliptic longitude, while this reference tracks full lunisolar calendar years.
Four Pillars (BaZi): In Four Pillars practice, the year pillar changes at the solar term Li Chun (start of spring) and is interpreted together with the month, day, and hour pillars. This page applies the civil Lunar New Year boundary for standard year-animal lookup and is not a Four Pillars calculation.

You can browse all twelve zodiac animals and the 60-year stem-branch structure on the Chinese Zodiac overview.

Methodology and Sources

Exact start and end dates and the Geng-yin header are sourced from the official Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) civil Gregorian-lunar conversion tables for 1950 and 1951. The stem-to-element mapping (Geng = Metal) follows HKO stem-and-branch references and academic verification of the traditional five-phase convention (Yoo & Yoon, 2019, JKMC, DOI: 10.14369/jkmc.2019.32.2.017). Historical and calendar background comes from the Victoria and Albert Museum and Royal Museums Greenwich.