1999 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Earth Rabbit (己卯)

1999 was a 己卯 (Ji Mao) year — the 16th of the sixty stem-and-branch combinations, and in everyday English a Earth Rabbit year. The element in that name comes from the heavenly stem 己 (Yin Earth); the branch 卯, the Rabbit itself, carries Wood whatever the stem above it says. Its na yin, the older sixty-part scheme, reads 城头土 — an Earth na yin.

The 1999 zodiac year did not start on 1 January. It started at Lichun (立春), 4 Feb 1999, 14:57 (Beijing time, UTC+8), and ran until the instant before Lichun 2000, 4 Feb 2000, 20:40 (Beijing time, UTC+8). Chinese New Year 1999 fell on 16 February 1999, a separate boundary that festivals use; between the two dates the popular and the classical conventions disagree. Anyone born in January or early February 1999 should check the table below before claiming a sign.

1999 is one of 9 Rabbit years between 1924 and 2027, and one of 2 Earth Rabbit years in that span (1939 and 1999), because stem and branch only line up again after sixty years: the same 己卯 pillar last stood in 1939 and returns in 2059.

Born on 1 January 1999? That is a Tiger, not a Rabbit: the Earth Tiger year 戊寅 ran on until 4 February 1999 at 14:57 Beijing time.

Lichun is an astronomical instant, not a date: in 1999 it fell at 14:57 Beijing time (UTC+8). The instant itself starts the Rabbit year, so a birth at 14:57 on that day is already a Rabbit. 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.

Ten stems and twelve branches only return to the same pairing after sixty years, so 己卯 belongs to 1939, 1999 and 2059 and to no year in between. That is why a sixtieth birthday is traditionally marked: it is the year the whole pillar comes back.

Earth Rabbit (Ji Mao) sets Earth under Wood, the element the branch controls, which the texts read as a Rabbit with a practical target for its diplomacy. It is the variant linked with property, hospitality and steady household management, and the one most likely to convert social skill into assets. The caution is a tendency to measure relationships by what they secure.

At Lichun 2027 someone born in 1999 is 27 if their birthday has not yet come round and 28 if it has. The nominal age (虚岁), counted as one at birth and raised at each Chinese New Year, is 29 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 Rabbit in 2027. For the part of the sign that does not move with the year, see the Rabbit profile.