Lucky numbers
1 6 7
Most recent year
2024
Branch position
5
The dragon in the cycle
The Year of the Dragon is the fifth year of the twelve-year Chinese zodiac cycle, covering 1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024 and 2036. Its branch is 辰 (chén), fixed element Earth, polarity yang. The Dragon is the one animal of the twelve that never existed, and that is much of why it carries the weight it does. Zodiac years follow the lunar calendar, so the 2024 Dragon year did not open until 10 February. A baby born on 2 February 2024 was still a Rabbit.
辰 is the fifth earthly branch. It covers the double hour from 7am to 9am and the last month of spring. In the Jade Emperor's race the Dragon could fly and should have won without effort. The usual telling has it arriving fifth because it stopped to send rain to farmers whose crops were failing, then blew a floating log to the bank and put the Rabbit into fourth place. The word helps too: 龙 (lóng) shares its syllable with 隆 (lóng), prosperous, the character in 生意兴隆, may your business thrive.
The year's element turns separately from the branch's fixed Earth, on a ten-year cycle keyed to the last digit. 4 or 5 is Wood, 6 or 7 Fire, 8 or 9 Earth, 0 or 1 Metal, 2 or 3 Water. So 2024 was a Wood Dragon, 2012 a Water Dragon, and 1988 an Earth Dragon that repeated the branch's own element. The preference for dragon babies is not folklore alone. Economists studying Singapore birth records from 1960 to 2007 found births among Chinese families ran roughly 9% higher in dragon years.
- 龙 · lóng
- 5 of 12
- Earth
- Yang
- 1, 6, 7
- 3, 8
- Gold, Silver, Greyish white
- Bleeding-heart glory bower, Dragon flower
- East, North, South
- Aries — unrelated systems, see below
Dragon years, and the date each one starts
1928
from 23 Jan
1940
from 8 Feb
1952
from 27 Jan
1964
from 13 Feb
1976
from 31 Jan
1988
from 17 Feb
2000
from 5 Feb
2012
from 23 Jan
2024
from 10 Feb
2036
from 28 Jan
Each dragon year runs from the date shown until the day before the next lunar new year. Born on 10 January 2024? You are not a dragon; that year had not started yet. The full year table covers 1924 to 2044 if you need to check a different year.
What the tradition says about dragon people
Chinese astrology reads Dragon people as confident, ambitious and untroubled by risk, with enough drive to pull other people along. The tradition credits them with courage and a refusal to accept that something cannot be done, and describes them as natural centres of attention who never have to work at it. Almanacs pair this with generosity: a Dragon is said to spend on other people without keeping score, and to defend a friend loudly and in public.
The downside in those same sources is proportionate. A sign described as certain of itself is also described as impatient with anyone slower, dismissive of advice it did not ask for, and prone to promising more than the schedule allows. Traditional readings warn that a Dragon can mistake momentum for a plan and be genuinely surprised when a thing collapses. There is one pressure the other eleven signs do not carry, and almanacs name it directly. A lot is expected of a Dragon, and the expecting starts early.
Why 1, 6, 7
Chinese sources give the Dragon 1, 6 and 7. Six is the clearest of the three: 六 (liù) sits close to 溜 (liū), smooth or free-running, the sense behind the toast 六六大顺 (liù liù dà shùn), may everything go smoothly. Seven is genuinely mixed in Chinese numerology. It echoes 齊 (qí), together or even, which reads well for partnership, but the seventh lunar month is the ghost month and 七 (qī) also brushes against 欺 (qī), to cheat.
One is neither auspicious nor inauspicious in ordinary Chinese usage. It stands for a beginning or for first place, which fits a sign the tradition already casts as a leader. The unlucky pair is where the Dragon list turns strange, because it names 3 and 8. Eight is the most sought-after number in Chinese culture, since 八 (bā) is close to 發 (fā), to prosper, and people pay real money for it in phone numbers. The Dragon lists exclude it and give no reason. Rival lists disagree even about that: chinesenewyear.net puts 6 and 8 in the Dragon's lucky column.
Lucky
1 6 7
Chinese number luck runs largely on homophones. 八 bā (8) sits close to 發 fā, to prosper; 四 sì (4) sits close to 死 sǐ, death. The Chinese numbers page works through the whole set.
Dragon compatibility
Dragon at work and in love
Dragon — work and money
Traditional career readings put the Dragon where the work is visible and the stakes are public. The standard Chinese lists name journalism, law, teaching, engineering, architecture, broking and sales, trades where somebody has to speak first and be wrong in front of people occasionally. Almanacs describe a Dragon as bored by maintenance and sharpest at the beginning of something, which is why those same lists rarely mention roles built on repetition.
The tradition also flags what goes wrong. A Dragon is described as reluctant to report to anyone whose judgement they doubt, and older readings say that costs the sign more jobs than any shortage of ability. The money advice in the almanacs is blunt. A Dragon is said to earn well, spend faster, and underestimate how long a lean stretch runs. Read all of it as a description of a sign rather than a forecast for a person.
Dragon — love and family
Chinese astrology describes the Dragon as an intense and generous partner who is not especially good at being managed. Almanacs say a Dragon courts openly and fast, and that the risk is a partner who ends up feeling more like an audience than an equal. The pairings the tradition expects to hold are the ones where the other person has their own centre of gravity and says no when they mean it.
The Dragon's trine (三合) is Rat and Monkey, the branches four places away on either side: 申子辰, the Water group. Branches spaced four apart are read as pushing in the same direction from different angles, which is the whole idea behind a trine. The clash (六冲) is the Dog, six places away and therefore straight across the twelve-point circle, 辰 against 戌. Opposite branches sit at opposite hours and opposite compass points, and the tradition calls that friction rather than a verdict.
The Aries question
Charts that pair the dragon with Aries are matching the dragon's earthly branch to the solar month it governs in the traditional calendar. That is a real correspondence inside Chinese timekeeping. It is not a claim that the two astrologies agree, because they were built in different places for different purposes and neither borrowed from the other. Treat it as a curiosity rather than a second opinion on your western sign.
Year of the Dragon — frequently asked
In some places, yes, and it has been measured. Economists Agarwal, Qian, Sing and Tan studied Singapore birth records from 1960 to 2007 and found births among Chinese families ran about 9% higher in dragon years, with no matching shift among non-Chinese families. Mainland China's own figures are messier: birth rates there fell in the dragon years of 1988, 2000 and 2012, along with a broader downward trend.
1928, 1940, 1952, 1964, 1976, 1988, 2000, 2012, 2024 and 2036.
No source we checked explains it. Eight is the most prized number in Chinese culture because 八 (bā) is close to 發 (fā), to prosper. The Dragon correspondence lists put 3 and 8 in the unlucky column anyway and leave it at that.
本命年 is your own zodiac year, the one that comes round every twelfth birthday. Tradition treats it as an unsettled year rather than a fortunate one, and the standard countermeasure is red: red cord, red socks, red underwear, usually given by an older relative rather than bought for yourself. For Dragons the next one is 2036.
Not necessarily. The 2024 lunar year began on 10 February, so a birth on 2 February 2024 falls inside the Rabbit year that started on 22 January 2023.