1999 Chinese Zodiac Year: Earth Rabbit (and Early-1999 Tiger Dates)

By Astrolivo editorial team

In the Chinese lunisolar calendar convention, the Earth Rabbit (Ji-mao) year runs from February 16, 1999 through February 4, 2000 (inclusive). Anyone born in early 1999 from January 1, 1999 through February 15, 1999 (inclusive) was born before Lunar New Year and belongs to the preceding Tiger year.

1999 Birth-Date Lookup Table

Because Lunar New Year fell in mid-February in 1999, use your exact birth date to check your animal sign in the Chinese zodiac reference:

Gregorian Birth Date Range (Inclusive)	Chinese Zodiac Animal	1999 Lunar Year Status
January 1, 1999 – February 15, 1999	Tiger	Final weeks of the 1998 lunar year
February 16, 1999 – February 4, 2000	Rabbit	Earth Rabbit (Ji-mao) lunar year

Why the Gregorian Year Alone Is Not Enough

The civil Gregorian year begins on January 1, whereas the traditional Chinese calendar is lunisolar—tracking lunar phases alongside the solar year—so Lunar New Year moves between late January and mid-February. In 1999, the lunar year transition occurred on February 16, placing the first forty-six days of 1999 inside the prior lunar year.

For a hypothetical comparison, imagine two classmates born in February 1999: someone born on February 12, 1999 was born four days before Lunar New Year and belongs to the Tiger year, while someone born on February 16, 1999 starts the Earth Rabbit year.

The 1999 Stem and Element Convention (Ji-Mao)

Traditional Chinese year names pair ten heavenly stems with twelve earthly branches to form a 60-year sexagenary cycle anchored in modern reference tables at 1984 (Jia-zi). Although the Rabbit branch (mao) repeats every 12 years, it does not carry the same element each time; the complete Ji-mao Earth Rabbit designation repeats only once every 60 years.

For the lunar year starting February 16, 1999, the stem-branch designation is Ji-mao. In traditional five-phase (wu xing) stem mapping, the sixth stem Ji corresponds to Earth (just as Wu did in 1998, as each element covers two consecutive stems), and mao corresponds to the Rabbit. This stem-and-branch name is a traditional calendar label rather than a scientific personality indicator.

How This Differs from Western Sun Signs and Four Pillars (BaZi)

Western Sun signs: Western tropical astrology divides the year into twelve approximately month-long solar segments, whereas this Chinese zodiac lookup assigns an animal and stem to a full lunisolar year.
Four Pillars (BaZi): This lookup uses the civil Lunar New Year boundary. Classical Four Pillars systems generally change the year pillar at Li Chun (the solar term for the start of spring, around early February) and evaluate four pillars across the year, month, day, and hour of birth.

Methodology and Sources

Inclusive start and end dates and the Ji-mao year header are taken from the official Hong Kong Observatory Gregorian-Lunar Calendar Conversion Tables for 1999 and 2000, along with the Observatory's 60-year stem-branch reference. The five-phase correspondence linking the Ji stem to Earth is verified in Yoo and Yoon (2019, DOI: 10.14369/jkmc.2019.32.2.017). Background on lunisolar calendar timekeeping and the history of the animal cycle draws on the Victoria and Albert Museum and Royal Museums Greenwich.