1981: Year of the Metal Rooster
The 1981 Chinese zodiac year is the Yin Metal Rooster, and it runs from 5 February 1981 to 24 January 1982 — not from 1 January.
- Animal
- Rooster 鸡
- Element and polarity
- Yin Metal
- Gan-Zhi
- Xin You 辛酉
- Age this zodiac year
- Born in 1981, a person turns 45 during the 2026 year
Born early in 1981? You may be Monkey, not Rooster
Chinese New Year 1981 fell on 5 February 1981. Anyone born between 1 January 1981 and 4 February 1981 — a window of 35 days — belongs to the 1980 zodiac year, the Yang Metal Monkey, and not to the Rooster.
Check an exact birth date against the 5 February 1981 boundary.
Exact 1981 zodiac year dates
The 1981 lunar year ran its ordinary twelve months, 354 days in total.
Other Rooster years around 1981
| Rooster year | Complete name | Begins |
|---|---|---|
| 1945 | Yin Wood Rooster | 13 February 1945 |
| 1957 | Yin Fire Rooster | 31 January 1957 |
| 1969 | Yin Earth Rooster | 17 February 1969 |
| 1993 | Yin Water Rooster | 23 January 1993 |
| 2005 | Yin Wood Rooster | 9 February 2005 |
| 2017 | Yin Fire Rooster | 28 January 2017 |
The exact pairing 辛酉 — Yin Metal Rooster — returns only once every sixty years: 1921, 2041.