Year of the Dragon
Traditionally associated with auspicious power, vitality, and authority.
- Earthly Branch
- 辰 · chén
- Sequence position
- 5 of 12
- Traditional association
- The Dragon is the sequence’s mythic animal. It carries a different cultural register from the adversarial dragon familiar in much European storytelling.
Cycle years
- 1928
- 1940
- 1952
- 1964
- 1976
- 1988
- 2000
- 2012
- 2024
- 2036
These labels name the lunisolar year that begins during the listed Gregorian year. January and early-February births may belong to the preceding animal.
What this does—and does not—tell you
The annual animal is one calendar layer. A fuller Chinese astrology reading may also consider the Heavenly Stem and element, month, day, and hour. A year animal alone cannot determine a personality or predict an outcome.
All twelve animal years
Read how Western tropical zodiac dates work · Calculate a Western tropical birth chart