1998 Year of the Tiger (Earth): Dates & Li Chun

1998 is an Earth Tiger year (Wu-Yin, 戊寅) in the Chinese zodiac calendar. The name comes from the year’s stem-branch pair: the Heavenly Stem Wu supplies the earth element, and the Yin Earthly Branch supplies the Tiger. The same pair returns once every 60 years.

Earth adds stability, authority, and grounding. An Earth Tiger year tends to be steady, determined, and focused on long-term impact. For people born in this year, the earth modifier shapes how the Tiger’s traditional traits (bold, protective, and independent) express themselves.

In a Bazi chart, Wu-Yin (戊寅)would be only the year pillar, one of four. The day pillar’s stem (the Day Master) is the reference point of the reading, so two people born in 1998 can have very different charts.

Read the Tiger zodiac page for the base Tiger personality, or use the Bazi calculator to see how this year pillar interacts with your full chart.

The 1998 Year of the Tiger (Earth Tiger, Wu-Yin 戊寅) runs from January 28, 1998 to February 15, 1999, while Li Chun, the year-pillar boundary used by many Bazi schools, falls on February 4, 1998.

If your birthday falls before January 28, 1998, the popular zodiac places you in the previous sign, the Ox. Many Bazi schools use Li Chun (February 4, 1998, 08:56 China Standard Time) as the year-pillar boundary instead, so a birth between Li Chun and Lunar New Year can have a Tiger year pillar in a Li Chun-based chart but is usually listed as an Ox in popular zodiac charts. Check which boundary a calculator uses before comparing results. The Lunar New Year date can fall one day earlier in the Americas because of time zones.

The Tiger repeats every 12 years in the zodiac cycle. Each occurrence carries a different Heavenly Stem that modifies the year energy. Recent Tiger years include 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022. The full sexagenary cycle produces five Tiger types — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

In Five Element theory, the earth element generates Metal, controls Water, and is controlled by Wood. In a Bazi reading, whether more earth helps or strains a chart depends on the balance of the other seven characters, which the year label alone does not show.

By branch, Tiger combines with Pig, shares a Fire triad with Horse and Dog, and clashes with Monkey. Those patterns are the same in every Tiger year; the earth stem does not change them.

For a complete compatibility check, use the zodiac compatibility tool or generate a full Bazi chart.