Tiger personality
Tradition sees the Tiger as the zodiac's bold one: brave, confident and competitive, a natural leader who acts first and asks questions later. People born in Tiger years are read as generous and magnetic, protective of the people they love and quick to stand up to anyone who picks on the weak. Folklore says the stripes on a tiger's forehead form the character 王 (wáng), "king".
The shadow side is impulsiveness. Tigers are read as restless, rebellious when told what to do, and quick to anger, and their appetite for risk can outrun their planning. Tradition's advice to the Tiger is to count to ten before the leap, and to let others lead now and then.
The Tiger in love and friendship
A Tiger is read as a passionate, wholehearted partner who loves intensely and expects the same in return. Tradition's best matches are the Horse and the Dog, the Tiger's partners in the trio of animals four years apart: the Horse shares its love of adventure, and the Dog its sense of justice and loyalty. The Pig is the Tiger's secret friend, one of the six harmonious pairs, read as the easygoing warmth that softens a Tiger's edges.
The Monkey sits opposite the Tiger, six years away, and the pair is read as the classic clash: the Tiger charges while the Monkey outwits. The Snake, one of the six harming pairs, is read as too guarded and calculating for a straightforward Tiger. These readings go by animal alone. Tradition also weighs each person's element, and the grid further down links to every other animal's page.
The Tiger at work
Tradition expects Tigers to do well wherever courage and leadership count: running a business, the military, law, politics, sport, exploration and campaigning for a cause. They are read as inspiring bosses and fearless advocates. Slow, cautious organizations and being micromanaged are what tradition expects a Tiger to find hardest.
When is the next Year of the Tiger?
The next Year of the Tiger begins on February 19, 2034 and runs until February 7, 2035. It will be a Wood Tiger year, 甲寅 jiǎyín, the fifty-first year of the sixty-year cycle; Wood is also the Tiger's own element, so tradition reads it as the Tiger doubled. The last Year of the Tiger was a Water Tiger year, from February 1, 2022 to January 21, 2023.
The Tiger has a special place in the calendar. The first month of the traditional Chinese year is the Tiger's month, 寅月 yínyuè, and in Four Pillars astrology the year itself begins at Lichun, the start of spring, when the Tiger's month starts.
The Tiger in the Great Race
In the best-known story of how the zodiac got its order, the Jade Emperor held a race across a wide river, and the animals took their places in the order they finished. The Tiger was one of the strongest in the race, but the river's current kept pushing it downstream, and it had to fight its way across. It dragged itself up the bank in third place, behind the Rat and the Ox.
When does the Year of the Tiger begin?
Each Year of the Tiger starts at the Lunar New Year, the new moon that begins the first month of the Chinese calendar, which falls between January 21 and February 20. So Tiger years don't line up with calendar years: someone born on February 1, 1986 is a Wood Ox, because the Fire Tiger year began eight days later, on February 9. The checker at the top of this page and the Chinese zodiac calculator both allow for this, and the table above gives the first and last day of every Tiger year since 1902.
Four Pillars astrology (BaZi) counts the year differently, from Lichun, the start of spring in the solar calendar, around February 4. Its Tiger years begin on that day instead, so for a few days either side of the Lunar New Year the two systems can disagree.