1970 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Metal Dog (庚戌)
庚戌 Geng Xu · Yang Metal over the Dog's Earth branch · number 47 of 60
1970 was a 庚戌 (Geng Xu) year — the 47th of the sixty stem-and-branch combinations, and in everyday English a Metal Dog year. The element in that name comes from the heavenly stem 庚 (Yang Metal); the branch 戌, the Dog itself, carries Earth whatever the stem above it says. Its na yin, the older sixty-part scheme, reads 钗钏金 — a Metal na yin.
The 1970 zodiac year did not start on 1 January. It started at Lichun (立春), 4 Feb 1970, 13:45 (Beijing time, UTC+8), and ran until the instant before Lichun 1971, 4 Feb 1971, 19:25 (Beijing time, UTC+8). Chinese New Year 1970 fell on 6 February 1970, a separate boundary that festivals use; between the two dates the popular and the classical conventions disagree. Anyone born in January or early February 1970 should check the table below before claiming a sign.
1970 is one of 8 Dog years between 1924 and 2027, and the only Metal Dog year in that span, because stem and branch only line up again after sixty years: the same 庚戌 pillar last stood in 1910 and returns in 2030.
Which sign a 1970 birthday belongs to
| Born between (Beijing time) | Stem and branch | Sign | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 January 1970, 00:00 → 4 February 1970, 13:45 | 己酉 | Earth Rooster | Still the Rooster year that opened in 1969. |
| 4 February 1970, 13:45 → 31 December 1970, 23:59 | 庚戌 | Metal Dog | The Dog year proper; it runs on past 31 December until Lichun 1971. |
Born on 1 January 1970? That is a Rooster, not a Dog: the Earth Rooster year 己酉 ran on until 4 February 1970 at 13:45 Beijing time.
Lichun is an astronomical instant, not a date: in 1970 it fell at 13:45 Beijing time (UTC+8). The instant itself starts the Dog year, so a birth at 13:45 on that day is already a Dog. Convert your own birth moment to Beijing time first — a birth in the Americas on the previous evening can already be past Lichun in Beijing. Check an exact birth date and time.
The 庚戌 pillar
| 1970 | |
|---|---|
| Stem and branch | 庚戌 (Geng Xu) |
| Place in the sixty-year cycle | 47 of 60 |
| Heavenly stem | 庚 — Yang Metal 金 |
| Earthly branch | 戌 — the Dog 狗, fixed element Earth 土 |
| Na yin (纳音) | 钗钏金 — a Metal na yin |
| Lichun (start of the zodiac year) | 4 Feb 1970, 13:45 (Beijing time, UTC+8) |
| Chinese New Year | 6 February 1970 |
| Same pillar last seen / next seen | 1910 / 2030 |
Ten stems and twelve branches only return to the same pairing after sixty years, so 庚戌 belongs to 1910, 1970 and 2030 and to no year in between. That is why a sixtieth birthday is traditionally marked: it is the year the whole pillar comes back.
The Metal Dog
Metal Dog (Geng Xu) has Earth producing Metal, so the branch feeds the stem, and the reading is duty sharpened into judgement: standards, enforcement, an unflinching assessment of who is not pulling their weight. Geng Xu appears in the texts as the most formidable of the five in a dispute, with the matching warning that the verdicts are delivered once and rarely revisited.
| Variant | Stem and branch | Dog years 1924–2027 |
|---|---|---|
| Wood Dog | 甲戌 | 1934, 1994 |
| Fire Dog | 丙戌 | 1946, 2006 |
| Earth Dog | 戊戌 | 1958, 2018 |
| Metal Dog | 庚戌 | 1970 |
| Water Dog | 壬戌 | 1982 |
Every Dog year from 1924 to 2027
- 1934Wood Dog
- 1946Fire Dog
- 1958Earth Dog
- 1970Metal Dog · this page
- 1982Water Dog
- 1994Wood Dog
- 2006Fire Dog
- 2018Earth Dog
Born in 1970: the 2027 Goat year
| Dog born 1970 | |
|---|---|
| Age at Lichun 2027 | 56–57 |
| Nominal age 虚岁 | 58 |
| Relationship with the 2027 Tai Sui | Punishment 刑太岁 + Destruction 破太岁 |
| Traditional reading | Mixed — a minor Tai Sui affliction |
| Ben Ming Nian 本命年 | No — 2027 is a Goat year |
| Lucky element for the year | Water · black, blue · 1, 6 · North |
At Lichun 2027 someone born in 1970 is 56 if their birthday has not yet come round and 57 if it has. The nominal age (虚岁), counted as one at birth and raised at each Chinese New Year, is 58 once New Year 2027 has passed.
The full reading — the month-by-month table, the five-element relationship with the year stem and the traditional remedies — is on Dog in 2027. For the part of the sign that does not move with the year, see the Dog profile.
Frequently asked questions
- Someone born in January 1970 — Rooster or Dog?
- Rooster. The Dog year did not begin until Lichun (立春), 4 Feb 1970, 13:45 (Beijing time, UTC+8), so every birthday from 1 January up to that instant still belongs to the Earth Rooster year 己酉. Chinese New Year 1970 fell on 6 February 1970, which is a different boundary again; classical chart work uses Lichun. Convert your birth moment to Beijing time before comparing it, because the Chinese calendar is defined on that meridian.
- Is 1970 a Metal Dog or an Earth Dog?
- Metal Dog, and both labels are describing something real. The element in the popular name comes from the year's heavenly stem, which for 1970 is 庚 — Yang Metal. The Earth belongs to the branch 戌, the Dog's own fixed element, and it does not change from one Dog year to the next. So 1970 is a Metal stem sitting over an earth branch; its na yin, a third system again, is 钗钏金.
- How old is someone born in 1970 in 2027?
- 56–57 by the ordinary count at Lichun 2027, and 58 by the nominal count (虚岁) that starts at one and rises at each Chinese New Year. The two answers differ because the ordinary count waits for the birthday and the nominal one does not. 1970 is one of 8 Dog years between 1924 and 2027; in 2027 all of them stand in the same relationship to the Tai Sui — Punishment 刑太岁 + Destruction 破太岁 — but each is a different age.