1989 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Earth Snake (and Early-Year Dragon Dates)
By Astrolivo editorial team
In the Chinese lunisolar calendar, most of 1989 is the Year of the Earth Snake (Ji-si), which runs inclusively from February 6, 1989, to January 26, 1990. If you were born between January 1, 1989, and February 5, 1989, your birthday falls before the Lunar New Year, meaning you belong to the preceding Dragon year (Wu-chen, Earth Dragon).
1989 Birth-Date Lookup
Use your exact birth date to check which zodiac sign applies under the civil Lunar New Year convention:
Why the Gregorian Year 1989 Is Not Enough
Because the Chinese calendar is lunisolar—tracking both lunar phases and the solar year—its New Year does not align with January 1. Anyone born in January or the first five days of February 1989 falls into the final weeks of the 1988 lunar year.
Compare two hypothetical births in early 1989:
- Hypothetical Example A: A person born on January 25, 1989, was born twelve days before the Lunar New Year. Under the civil lunar-year convention, their zodiac animal is the Earth Dragon.
- Hypothetical Example B: A person born on February 10, 1989, was born four days after Lunar New Year and belongs to the Earth Snake year.
How the Earth Element and 60-Year Cycle Work
Traditional Chinese timekeeping pairs ten Heavenly Stems with twelve Earthly Branches (represented by the twelve zodiac animals) across a 60-year sexagenary cycle starting at Jia-zi (1984).
In 1989, the stem-branch pairing is Ji-si:
- Stem (Ji): Maps to the Earth phase in traditional five-phase correspondence (Wu and Ji both correspond to Earth).
- Branch (Si): Corresponds to the Snake.
Although the Snake returns every 12 years, each 12-year cycle pairs the Snake with a different stem element. The specific Earth Snake (Ji-si) year repeats only once every 60 years.
How This Differs from Western Sun Signs and Four Pillars (BaZi)
This lookup reflects a traditional calendar-naming convention (attested in Chinese history since the Han period) rather than a personal horoscope:
- Western Tropical Sun Signs: Western astrology tracks the Sun's position through twelve roughly month-long ecliptic signs, whereas the Chinese zodiac assigns one animal and stem element to an entire lunisolar year.
- Four Pillars (BaZi): This reference uses the civil Lunar New Year date. Traditional Four Pillars (BaZi) calculations instead switch the year pillar at the solar term Li Chun (around February 4) and also calculate pillars for the birth month, day, and hour.
To explore all twelve animals and other birth years, visit the Chinese Zodiac overview.
Methodology and Sources
Exact start and end dates and the Ji-si year designation are sourced from the Hong Kong Observatory (HKO) civil Gregorian-lunar conversion tables (T1989e.txt and T1990e.txt) and HKO Stems and Branches documentation. The cultural five-phase stem mapping (Ji = Earth) follows standard traditional correspondence (documented in Yoo & Yoon, 2019, JKMC, DOI: 10.14369/jkmc.2019.32.2.017). Historical and calendar context draws on the Victoria and Albert Museum and Royal Museums Greenwich.