Began January 31, 1938 · 384 days long
1938: year of the Earth Tiger
The Tiger year started on January 31, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1938 before that date is an Ox.
- Opening new moon
- Jan 31, 1938 1:36 PM UTC
- In Beijing
- 9:36 PM Mon, Jan 31 · sets the date
- Year of the Tiger
- 384 days 13 lunar months, one of them leap
- It ends
- Feb 19, 1939 8:29 AM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1938: the new moon in your city
The Earth Tiger year opened with the new moon at 1:36 PM UTC on January 31, 1938 — 9:36 PM on January 31 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 8:36 AM on January 31 in New York, 1:36 PM on January 31 in London and 11:36 PM on January 31 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Mon, Jan 31, 1938 |
| Honolulu United States | 3:06 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−10:30 |
| Anchorage United States | 3:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−10 |
| Los Angeles United States | 5:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 6:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 6:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 7:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 7:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 8:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 8:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 8:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 9:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−4 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 9:06 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−4:30 |
| Santiago Chile | 9:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−4 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 10:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 10:36 AM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−3 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 12:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC−1 |
| London United Kingdom | 1:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 2:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 1:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC |
| Berlin Germany | 2:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 3:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 3:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 3:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 3:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 4:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 4:21 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+2:45 |
| Tehran Iran | 5:06 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 5:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 7:06 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+5:30 |
| New Delhi India | 7:06 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 7:06 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+5:30 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 7:29 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+5:53 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 8:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 9:06 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+7:30 |
| Singapore | 8:56 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+7:20 |
| Beijing China | 9:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 9:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 9:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 10:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 10:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 11:06 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+9:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 11:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 11:36 PM Mon, Jan 31, 1938 · UTC+10 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 1:36 AM Tue, Feb 1, 1938 · UTC+12 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1938 date as in the Hong Kong Observatory calendar. Local times: IANA time zones, to the minute.
18 pages · printable
The 2027 Sky Calendar — free PDF
Every retrograde, eclipse, new and full moon of 2027 to the minute, already converted to your city. A month to a page, ready to print.
Personality
The Earth Tiger personality
Anyone born from January 31, 1938 through February 18, 1939 is an Earth Tiger: the yang earth stem 戊 over the 寅 branch.
The Tiger's own Wood controls Earth here, so the sign keeps the upper hand over the year's element. Earth brings steadiness, practicality and patience — traditionally the most reliable version, and the slowest to change direction.
Stem and branch
1938 is 戊寅 (Wùyín)
Na yin — the sounding element
Earth on the City Wall 城頭土
Packed earth forming a city's defenses. Associated with protection, structure and responsibility for others — the kind of strength that exists to keep something safe.
1938 therefore carries earth from its stem and earth from its na yin — the same element twice. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
A double spring year
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 4, 1938 and February 5, 1939, Beijing time. The Tiger year spans January 31, 1938 to February 18, 1939, so both dates sit inside it: a double spring year (双春). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1938 Tiger
The 寅 branch puts a 1938 Tiger opposite the Monkey on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Monkey year after it was 1944. Its harmony partner is the Pig, whose year came round 9 years later, in 1947. How the Tiger and Monkey get on →
Tigers born in 1938 turn 88 in 2026 — 89 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1938
- Born January 1 – January 30, 1938: a Fire Ox, the animal of 1937.
- Born January 31, 1938 or later in the year: an Earth Tiger.
A year-only calculator mislabels 30 days of 1938, everything from January 1 to January 30. Roughly one US birth in 13 falls on those dates — 7.9% in SSA records for 2000–2014. Check your exact date →
The Tiger across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Tiger.
The lunar calendar of 1938
Why 384 days, and not 365
1938 repeated its seventh month: the leap month 闰七月 ran from August 25 to September 23 and stretched the year to 384 days. Seven of the 13 months had 30 days.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 2nd, 5th, leap 7th, 9th, 10th and 12th.
Festival dates in the 1938 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Mon, Feb 14, 1938 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Thu, Jun 2, 1938 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Tue, Aug 2, 1938 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Wed, Aug 10, 1938 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Sat, Oct 8, 1938 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Mon, Oct 31, 1938 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Thu, Dec 22, 1938 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Fri, Jan 27, 1939 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 1:14 AM on February 15, the day after the Lantern Festival. The festival night of October 8 fell a day before the true full moon, which came at 5:36 PM Beijing time on October 9 — lunar day 16.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 1938
Lengths differ because a leap month is inserted every two or three years. This is what makes the new year date jump rather than drift.
By date, 1938 sits mid-table: of the 110 new years, 34 fall earlier in the calendar and 70 later. Five other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1926 began on February 13; twelve years later, 1950 began on February 17 — both marked in lavender with the other Tiger years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1938: Zodiac Year of the Earth Tiger.” Accessed October 29, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1938/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 1938: Zodiac Year of the Earth Tiger |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1938/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-29}}