Began January 29, 1949 · 384 days long
1949: year of the Earth Ox
The Ox year started on January 29, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1949 before that date is a Rat.
- Opening new moon
- Jan 29, 1949 2:43 AM UTC
- In Beijing
- 10:43 AM Sat, Jan 29 · sets the date
- Year of the Ox
- 384 days 13 lunar months, one of them leap
- It ends
- Feb 16, 1950 10:54 PM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1949: the new moon in your city
The Earth Ox year opened with the new moon at 2:43 AM UTC on January 29, 1949 — 10:43 AM on January 29 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 9:43 PM on January 28 in New York, 2:43 AM on January 29 in London and 12:43 PM on January 29 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Sat, Jan 29, 1949 |
| Honolulu United States | 4:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 4:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−10 |
| Los Angeles United States | 6:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 7:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 7:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 8:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 8:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 9:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 9:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 9:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 9:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 10:13 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−4:30 |
| Santiago Chile | 10:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−4 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 11:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 11:43 PM Fri, Jan 28, 1949 · UTC−3 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 1:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC−1 |
| London United Kingdom | 2:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 3:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 3:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 3:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 4:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 4:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 4:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 4:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 5:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 5:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 6:13 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 6:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 8:13 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+5:30 |
| New Delhi India | 8:13 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 8:13 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+5:30 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 9:13 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+6:30 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 9:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 10:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+8 |
| Singapore | 10:13 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+7:30 |
| Beijing China | 10:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 10:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 10:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 11:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 11:43 AM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 12:13 PM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+9:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 12:43 PM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 12:43 PM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+10 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 2:43 PM Sat, Jan 29, 1949 · UTC+12 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1949 date as in the Hong Kong Observatory calendar. Local times: IANA time zones, to the minute.
18 pages · printable
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Personality
The Earth Ox personality
Anyone born from January 29, 1949 through February 16, 1950 is an Earth Ox: the yin earth stem 己 over the 丑 branch.
Earth is already the Ox's own element, so here it is doubled and everything typical of the sign runs at full strength. Of the five Oxen this is the most dependable, and the least inclined to compromise.
Stem and branch
1949 is 己丑 (Jǐchǒu)
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.
1949 therefore carries earth from its stem and fire from its na yin. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
A double spring year
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 4, 1949 and February 4, 1950, Beijing time. The Ox year spans January 29, 1949 to February 16, 1950, so both dates sit inside it: a double spring year (双春). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1949 Ox
The 丑 branch puts a 1949 Ox opposite the Goat on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Goat year after it was 1955. Its harmony partner is the Rat, whose year came round 11 years later, in 1960. How the Ox and Goat get on →
Oxen born in 1949 turn 77 in 2026 — 78 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1949
- Born January 1 – January 28, 1949: an Earth Rat, the animal of 1948.
- Born January 29, 1949 or later in the year: an Earth Ox.
A year-only calculator mislabels 28 days of 1949, everything from January 1 to January 28. Those dates hold 7.4% of US births (SSA, 2000–2014). Check your exact date →
The Ox across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Ox.
The lunar calendar of 1949
Why 384 days, and not 365
1949 repeated its seventh month: the leap month 闰七月 ran from August 24 to September 21 and stretched the year to 384 days. Seven of the 13 months had 30 days.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 3rd, 4th, 6th, 8th, 10th and 12th.
Festival dates in the 1949 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Sat, Feb 12, 1949 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Wed, Jun 1, 1949 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Mon, Aug 1, 1949 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Tue, Aug 9, 1949 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Thu, Oct 6, 1949 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Sun, Oct 30, 1949 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Thu, Dec 22, 1949 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Wed, Jan 25, 1950 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 5:08 PM on February 13, the day after the Lantern Festival. The festival night of October 6 fell a day before the true full moon, which came at 10:52 AM Beijing time on October 7 — 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 1949
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.
Only 28 of the 110 new years in the table fall earlier in the calendar than January 29. Three other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1937 began on February 11; twelve years later, 1961 began on February 15 — both marked in lavender with the other Ox years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1949: Zodiac Year of the Earth Ox.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1949/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 1949: Zodiac Year of the Earth Ox |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1949/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}