Began February 1, 2003 · 355 days long
2003: year of the Water Goat
The Goat year started on February 1, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 2003 before that date is a Horse.
- Opening new moon
- Feb 1, 2003 10:48 AM UTC
- In Beijing
- 6:48 PM Sat, Feb 1 · sets the date
- Year of the Goat
- 355 days 12 lunar months
- It ends
- Jan 21, 2004 9:05 PM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 2003: the new moon in your city
The Water Goat year opened with the new moon at 10:48 AM UTC on February 1, 2003 — 6:48 PM on February 1 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 5:48 AM on February 1 in New York, 10:48 AM on February 1 in London and 9:48 PM on February 1 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Sat, Feb 1, 2003 |
| Honolulu United States | 12:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 1:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−9 |
| Los Angeles United States | 2:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 3:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 3:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 4:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 4:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 5:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 5:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 5:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 5:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 6:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 7:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 7:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 8:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC−2 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 10:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 10:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 11:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 11:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 11:48 AM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 12:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 12:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 12:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 12:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 1:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 1:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 2:18 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 2:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 3:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 4:18 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 4:33 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+5:45 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 4:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 5:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 5:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 6:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+8 |
| Beijing China | 6:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 6:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 6:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 7:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 7:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 9:18 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 8:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 9:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 11:48 PM Sat, Feb 1, 2003 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 2003 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 Water Goat personality
Anyone born from February 1, 2003 through January 21, 2004 is a Water Goat: the yin water stem 癸 over the 未 branch.
The Goat's own Earth controls Water here, so the sign keeps the upper hand over the year's element. Water brings adaptability, perception and diplomacy — traditionally the most intuitive version, and the most easily influenced.
Stem and branch
2003 is 癸未 (Guǐwèi)
Na yin — the sounding element
Willow Wood 楊柳木
The willow bends in wind and water without breaking. The image is flexibility, grace and adaptability — strength that comes from yielding rather than resisting.
2003 therefore carries water 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, 2003 and February 4, 2004, Beijing time. The Goat year spans February 1, 2003 to January 21, 2004, so exactly one of them sits inside it. What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 2003 Goat
The 未 branch puts a 2003 Goat opposite the Ox on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Ox year after it was 2009. Its harmony partner is the Horse, whose year came round 11 years later, in 2014. How the Goat and Ox get on →
Goats born in 2003 turn 23 in 2026 — 24 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 2003
- Born January 1 – January 31, 2003: a Water Horse, the animal of 2002.
- Born February 1, 2003 or later in the year: a Water Goat.
A year-only calculator mislabels 31 days of 2003, everything from January 1 to January 31. Roughly one US birth in 12 falls on those dates — 8.2% in SSA records for 2000–2014. Check your exact date →
The Goat across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Goat.
The lunar calendar of 2003
Why 355 days, and not 365
No month was doubled in 2003, so the year ended on January 21, 2004 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, 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 10th and 12th.
Festival dates in the 2003 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Sat, Feb 15, 2003 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Wed, Jun 4, 2003 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Mon, Aug 4, 2003 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Tue, Aug 12, 2003 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Thu, Sep 11, 2003 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Sat, Oct 4, 2003 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Mon, Dec 22, 2003 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Tue, Dec 30, 2003 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 7:51 AM on February 17, 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 12:36 AM Beijing time on September 11.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 2003
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, 2003 sits mid-table: of the 110 new years, 40 fall earlier in the calendar and 68 later. One other year shares the date. Twelve years earlier, 1991 began on February 15; twelve years later, 2015 began on February 19 — both marked in lavender with the other Goat years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 2003: Zodiac Year of the Water Goat.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2003/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 2003: Zodiac Year of the Water Goat |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2003/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}