1987 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Fire Rabbit

沉浸 TeamAugust 26, 20264 min read

The 1987 Chinese zodiac animal is the Rabbit. More precisely, 1987 was the Year of the Fire Rabbit (丁卯 dīngmǎo): the zodiac year ran from January 29, 1987 to February 16, 1988. If you were born in that window, your Chinese zodiac sign is the Rabbit (兔 tù).

One catch before anything else: the zodiac year follows the lunar calendar, not January 1. Born in 1987 before January 29? Then you belong to the previous animal, the Fire Tiger. The next section has the exact dates.

1987 Chinese zodiac at a glance

Animal: Rabbit (兔 tù), the fourth of the 12 zodiac animals
Element: Fire (火 huǒ)
Traditional name: 丁卯 (dīngmǎo) in the 60-year cycle
Dates: January 29, 1987 to February 16, 1988
Lucky numbers: 3, 4, 6
Lucky colors: red, pink, purple, blue

Born in January or February 1987?

Chinese New Year fell on January 29 in 1987. So:

Born January 1 to January 28, 1987: you're a Fire Tiger (tiger year 1986), not a Rabbit.
Born January 29 or later in 1987: you're a Fire Rabbit.

This is the single most common mistake people make with the Chinese zodiac. When a January or February birthday is involved, always check the new year date before assuming the animal.

The Fire Rabbit personality

Rabbits are gentle, tactful, and quietly elegant. They read a room instantly, avoid conflict when they can, and build beautiful, comfortable lives. Under the softness is real shrewdness; a Rabbit rarely ends up on the losing side of a deal.

Fire is the element of energy and visibility. It adds charisma, boldness, and a taste for the spotlight. In the 60-year cycle each animal pairs with one of five elements, so a Fire Rabbit (born 1987) reads a little different from Rabbits of other years: the fire side colors how the rabbit's core traits show up.

Strengths:

Kind and considerate
Diplomatic peacemaker
Refined taste
Quietly shrewd

Watch out for:

Avoids confrontation
Can seem detached
Overly cautious at times

Rabbits do well in design, diplomacy, law, publishing, and care work, anywhere tact and taste matter.

1987 zodiac compatibility

Traditional Chinese astrology groups the 12 animals into "trines" of three signs that share a temperament, and pairs each sign with a "secret friend" and one clash.

Best matches for the Rabbit: the Goat and the Pig (trine partners), plus the Dog, the Rabbit's secret friend.
Trickiest match: the Rooster, the Rabbit's opposite on the zodiac wheel.

Treat this as folk wisdom rather than fate. Plenty of happy couples "clash" on paper, and Chinese families today read these charts with a wink more often than a frown.

How to say it in Chinese

兔 (tù): rabbit
生肖 (shēngxiào): Chinese zodiac sign
我属兔 (wǒ shǔ tù): "I'm a Rabbit." The verb 属 (shǔ) means "to belong to"
本命年 (běnmìngnián): your own zodiac year, when your animal comes back around

Born in 1987? Your next 本命年 is 2035, the next Rabbit year after 2026. Tradition says to wear red that year for luck.

Want to go beyond the zodiac? Create a free Chenjin account to hear words like 兔 and 生肖 pronounced by native-quality audio, save them as flashcards, and start reading real Chinese stories at your level.

Other Rabbit years

1963: Water Rabbit (January 25, 1963 to February 12, 1964)
1975: Wood Rabbit (February 11, 1975 to January 30, 1976)
1999: Earth Rabbit (February 16, 1999 to February 4, 2000)
2011: Metal Rabbit (February 3, 2011 to January 22, 2012)
2023: Water Rabbit (January 22, 2023 to February 9, 2024)

Read the full Year of the Rabbit guide for the personality in depth, or look up a different birth year on the Chinese zodiac overview.

1987 Chinese zodiac FAQ

What animal is 1987 in the Chinese zodiac?

1987 is the Year of the Rabbit. Anyone born from January 29, 1987 to February 16, 1988 is a Rabbit; a birthday earlier in 1987 belongs to the Year of the Tiger.

What element is 1987?

Fire. The full sign for 1987 is the Fire Rabbit (丁卯 dīngmǎo), a combination that repeats only once every 60 years.

How old is someone born in 1987?

Someone born in 1987 turns 39 in 2026, or is still 38 if their birthday hasn't come around yet this year. In traditional Chinese age counting (虚岁 xūsuì), you'd add one more, since babies are counted as one year old at birth.