Began February 17, 1988 · 355 days long
1988: year of the Earth Dragon
The Dragon year started on February 17, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1988 before that date is a Rabbit.
- Opening new moon
- Feb 17, 1988 3:54 PM UTC
- In Beijing
- 11:54 PM Wed, Feb 17 · sets the date
- Year of the Dragon
- 355 days 12 lunar months
- It ends
- Feb 6, 1989 7:37 AM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1988: the new moon in your city
The Earth Dragon year opened with the new moon at 3:54 PM UTC on February 17, 1988 — 11:54 PM on February 17 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 10:54 AM on February 17 in New York, 3:54 PM on February 17 in London and 2:54 AM on February 18 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Wed, Feb 17, 1988 |
| Honolulu United States | 5:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 6:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−9 |
| Los Angeles United States | 7:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 8:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 8:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 9:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 9:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 10:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 10:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 10:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 10:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 11:54 AM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 12:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 12:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 12:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC−3 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 3:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 3:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 4:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 4:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 4:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 5:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 5:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 5:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 5:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 6:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 6:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 7:24 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 7:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 8:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 9:24 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 9:39 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+5:45 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 9:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 10:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 10:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 11:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+8 |
| Beijing China | 11:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 11:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 11:54 PM Wed, Feb 17, 1988 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 12:54 AM Thu, Feb 18, 1988 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 12:54 AM Thu, Feb 18, 1988 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 2:24 AM Thu, Feb 18, 1988 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 1:54 AM Thu, Feb 18, 1988 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 2:54 AM Thu, Feb 18, 1988 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 4:54 AM Thu, Feb 18, 1988 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1988 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 Dragon personality
Anyone born from February 17, 1988 through February 5, 1989 is an Earth Dragon: the yang earth stem 戊 over the 辰 branch.
Earth is already the Dragon's own element, so here it is doubled and everything typical of the sign runs at full strength. Of the five Dragons this is the most confident, and the least inclined to compromise.
Stem and branch
1988 is 戊辰 (Wùchén)
Na yin — the sounding element
Wood of the Great Forest 大林木
Not one tree but a whole forest. Readings describe strength in numbers and slow, broad growth: people and projects that do best as part of something larger, sheltering others as they grow.
1988 therefore carries earth from its stem and wood from its na yin. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
An ordinary single-spring year
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 4, 1988 and February 4, 1989, Beijing time. The Dragon year spans February 17, 1988 to February 5, 1989, so exactly one of them sits inside it. What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1988 Dragon
The 辰 branch puts a 1988 Dragon opposite the Dog on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Dog year after it was 1994. Its harmony partner is the Rooster, whose year came round 5 years later, in 1993. How the Dragon and Dog get on →
Dragons born in 1988 turn 38 in 2026 — 39 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1988
- Born January 1 – February 16, 1988: a Fire Rabbit, the animal of 1987.
- Born February 17, 1988 or later in the year: an Earth Dragon.
This is one of the late new years: 47 days, from New Year's Day to February 16, still belong to the Rabbit. That is about one US birth in 8 (12.5%, SSA records 2000–2014). Check your exact date →
The Dragon across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Dragon.
The lunar calendar of 1988
Why 355 days, and not 365
No month was doubled in 1988, so the year ended on February 5, 1989 after twelve months — seven long ones of 30 days and five short ones of 29, 355 days in all.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 3rd, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th and 11th.
Festival dates in the 1988 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Wed, Mar 2, 1988 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Sat, Jun 18, 1988 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Thu, Aug 18, 1988 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Fri, Aug 26, 1988 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Sun, Sep 25, 1988 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Wed, Oct 19, 1988 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Wed, Dec 21, 1988 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Sun, Jan 15, 1989 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 12:01 AM on March 4, two days after the Lantern Festival. The festival night of September 25 fell a day before the true full moon, which came at 3:07 AM Beijing time on September 26 — 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 1988
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 seven of the 110 new years in the table fall later in the calendar than February 17. Four other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1976 began on January 31; twelve years later, 2000 began on February 5 — both marked in lavender with the other Dragon years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1988: Zodiac Year of the Earth Dragon.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1988/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 1988: Zodiac Year of the Earth Dragon |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1988/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}