Began January 29, 1987 · 384 days long
1987: year of the Fire Rabbit
The Rabbit year started on January 29, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1987 before that date is a Tiger.
- Opening new moon
- Jan 29, 1987 1:45 PM UTC
- In Beijing
- 9:45 PM Thu, Jan 29 · sets the date
- Year of the Rabbit
- 384 days 13 lunar months, one of them leap
- It ends
- Feb 17, 1988 3:54 PM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1987: the new moon in your city
The Fire Rabbit year opened with the new moon at 1:45 PM UTC on January 29, 1987 — 9:45 PM on January 29 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 8:45 AM on January 29 in New York, 1:45 PM on January 29 in London and 12:45 AM on January 30 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Thu, Jan 29, 1987 |
| Honolulu United States | 3:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 4:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−9 |
| Los Angeles United States | 5:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 6:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 6:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 7:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 7:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 8:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 8:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 8:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 9:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−4 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 9:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 10:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 10:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 11:45 AM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC−2 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 1:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 1:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 2:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 2:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 2:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 3:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 3:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 3:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 3:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 4:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 4:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 5:15 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 5:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 6:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 7:15 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 7:30 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+5:45 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 7:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 8:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 8:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 9:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+8 |
| Beijing China | 9:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 9:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 9:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 10:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 10:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 12:15 AM Fri, Jan 30, 1987 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 11:45 PM Thu, Jan 29, 1987 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 12:45 AM Fri, Jan 30, 1987 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 2:45 AM Fri, Jan 30, 1987 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1987 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 Fire Rabbit personality
Anyone born from January 29, 1987 through February 16, 1988 is a Fire Rabbit: the yin fire stem 丁 over the 卯 branch.
The Rabbit's own Wood feeds Fire here, which drains as much as it gives: productive, but inclined to spend itself. Fire brings intensity, visibility and speed — traditionally the most driven version, and the quickest to burn through its own energy.
Stem and branch
1987 is 丁卯 (Dīngmǎo)
Na yin — the sounding element
Fire in the Furnace 爐中火
Fire contained and put to work. The image is heat with a purpose — energy that shapes things when it is directed, and burns out when it has nothing to act on. Associated with craft, effort and transformation.
1987 therefore carries fire from its stem and fire 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, 1987 and February 4, 1988, Beijing time. The Rabbit year spans January 29, 1987 to February 16, 1988, so both dates sit inside it: a double spring year (双春). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1987 Rabbit
The 卯 branch puts a 1987 Rabbit opposite the Rooster on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Rooster year after it was 1993. Its harmony partner is the Dog, whose year came round 7 years later, in 1994. How the Rabbit and Rooster get on →
Rabbits born in 1987 turn 39 in 2026 — 40 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1987
- Born January 1 – January 28, 1987: a Fire Tiger, the animal of 1986.
- Born January 29, 1987 or later in the year: a Fire Rabbit.
A year-only calculator mislabels 28 days of 1987, everything from January 1 to January 28. Those dates hold 7.4% of US births (SSA, 2000–2014). Check your exact date →
The Rabbit across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Rabbit.
The lunar calendar of 1987
Why 384 days, and not 365
1987 repeated its sixth month: the leap month 闰六月 ran from July 26 to August 23 and stretched the year to 384 days. Seven of the 13 months had 30 days.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 6th, 7th, 8th and 10th.
Festival dates in the 1987 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Thu, Feb 12, 1987 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Sun, May 31, 1987 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Sun, Aug 30, 1987 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Mon, Sep 7, 1987 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Wed, Oct 7, 1987 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Sat, Oct 31, 1987 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Tue, Dec 22, 1987 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Tue, Jan 26, 1988 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 4:57 AM on February 14, two days after the Lantern Festival. This time the calendar and the sky agreed: the Moon was exactly full on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, at 12:12 PM Beijing time on October 7.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 1987
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, 1975 began on February 11; twelve years later, 1999 began on February 16 — both marked in lavender with the other Rabbit years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1987: Zodiac Year of the Fire Rabbit.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1987/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 1987: Zodiac Year of the Fire Rabbit |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1987/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}