Began February 10, 1948 · 354 days long
1948: year of the Earth Rat
The Rat year started on February 10, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1948 before that date is a Pig.
- Opening new moon
- Feb 10, 1948 3:03 AM UTC
- In Beijing
- 11:03 AM Tue, Feb 10 · sets the date
- Year of the Rat
- 354 days 12 lunar months
- It ends
- Jan 29, 1949 2:43 AM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1948: the new moon in your city
The Earth Rat year opened with the new moon at 3:03 AM UTC on February 10, 1948 — 11:03 AM on February 10 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 10:03 PM on February 9 in New York, 3:03 AM on February 10 in London and 1:03 PM on February 10 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Tue, Feb 10, 1948 |
| Honolulu United States | 5:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 5:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−10 |
| Los Angeles United States | 7:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 8:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 8:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 9:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 9:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 10:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 10:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 10:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 10:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 10:33 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−4:30 |
| Santiago Chile | 11:03 PM Mon, Feb 9, 1948 · UTC−4 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 12:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 12:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC−3 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 2:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC−1 |
| London United Kingdom | 3:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 4:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 4:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 4:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 5:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 5:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 5:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 5:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 6:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 6:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 6:33 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 7:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 8:33 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+5:30 |
| New Delhi India | 8:33 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 8:33 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+5:30 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 9:33 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+6:30 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 10:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 10:33 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+7:30 |
| Singapore | 10:33 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+7:30 |
| Beijing China | 11:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 11:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 11:03 AM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 12:03 PM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 12:03 PM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 12:33 PM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+9:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 1:03 PM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 1:03 PM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+10 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 3:03 PM Tue, Feb 10, 1948 · UTC+12 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1948 date as in the Hong Kong Observatory calendar. Local times: IANA time zones, to the minute.
18 pages · printable
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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 Rat personality
Anyone born from February 10, 1948 through January 28, 1949 is an Earth Rat: the yang earth stem 戊 over the 子 branch.
Earth controls the Rat's own Water in the five-element cycle, so the year's element pushes against the sign rather than with it. Earth brings steadiness, practicality and patience — traditionally the most reliable version, and the slowest to change direction.
Stem and branch
1948 is 戊子 (Wùzǐ)
Na yin — the sounding element
Thunderbolt Fire 霹靂火
Fire from lightning — sudden, powerful and short. Readings give these years bursts of energy and dramatic turns, strong at the moment of impact and harder to sustain.
1948 therefore carries earth from its stem and fire from its na yin. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
A "blind" year with no spring
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 5, 1948 and February 4, 1949, Beijing time. The Rat year spans February 10, 1948 to January 28, 1949, so neither date sits inside it: a blind year (无春年). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1948 Rat
The 子 branch puts a 1948 Rat opposite the Horse on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Horse year after it was 1954. Its harmony partner is the Ox, whose year followed straight after, in 1949. How the Rat and Horse get on →
Rats born in 1948 turn 78 in 2026 — 79 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1948
- Born January 1 – February 9, 1948: a Fire Pig, the animal of 1947.
- Born February 10, 1948 or later in the year: an Earth Rat.
A year-only calculator mislabels 40 days of 1948, everything from January 1 to February 9. That is about one US birth in 9 (10.6%, SSA records 2000–2014). Check your exact date →
The Rat across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Rat.
The lunar calendar of 1948
Why 354 days, and not 365
No leap month this time: from February 10, 1948 to January 28, 1949, 1948 ran twelve months, six of 30 days and six of 29 — 354 days.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 8th, 10th and 12th.
Festival dates in the 1948 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Tue, Feb 24, 1948 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Fri, Jun 11, 1948 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Wed, Aug 11, 1948 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Thu, Aug 19, 1948 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Fri, Sep 17, 1948 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Mon, Oct 11, 1948 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Wed, Dec 22, 1948 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Thu, Jan 6, 1949 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 1:15 AM on February 25, the day after the Lantern Festival. The festival night of September 17 fell a day before the true full moon, which came at 6:42 PM Beijing time on September 18 — 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 1948
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, 1948 sits mid-table: of the 110 new years, 72 fall earlier in the calendar and 33 later. Four other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1936 began on January 24; twelve years later, 1960 began on January 28 — both marked in lavender with the other Rat years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1948: Zodiac Year of the Earth Rat.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1948/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 1948: Zodiac Year of the Earth Rat |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1948/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}