1989 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Earth Snake

沉浸 TeamAugust 26, 20264 min read

The 1989 Chinese zodiac animal is the Snake. More precisely, 1989 was the Year of the Earth Snake (己巳 jǐsì): the zodiac year ran from February 6, 1989 to January 26, 1990. If you were born in that window, your Chinese zodiac sign is the Snake (蛇 shé).

One catch before anything else: the zodiac year follows the lunar calendar, not January 1. Born in 1989 before February 6? Then you belong to the previous animal, the Earth Dragon. The next section has the exact dates.

1989 Chinese zodiac at a glance

Animal: Snake (蛇 shé), the sixth of the 12 zodiac animals
Element: Earth (土 tǔ)
Traditional name: 己巳 (jǐsì) in the 60-year cycle
Dates: February 6, 1989 to January 26, 1990
Lucky numbers: 2, 8, 9
Lucky colors: black, red, yellow

Born in January or February 1989?

Chinese New Year fell on February 6 in 1989. So:

Born January 1 to February 5, 1989: you're a Earth Dragon (dragon year 1988), not a Snake.
Born February 6 or later in 1989: you're a Earth Snake.

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 Earth Snake personality

Snakes are the zodiac's deep thinkers: wise, composed, and intensely private. They speak less and notice more, trust their intuition over the crowd, and play long games beautifully. Getting to know one takes years; it's worth it.

Earth is the element of stability. It adds patience, reliability, and a practical, grounded streak. In the 60-year cycle each animal pairs with one of five elements, so a Earth Snake (born 1989) reads a little different from Snakes of other years: the earth side colors how the snake's core traits show up.

Strengths:

Wise and perceptive
Calm and composed
Determined under the surface
Excellent judge of people

Watch out for:

Secretive and hard to read
Jealous when insecure
Slow to trust

Snakes excel in research, psychology, finance, strategy, and art, in work with depth over noise.

1989 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 Snake: the Ox and the Rooster (trine partners), plus the Monkey, the Snake's secret friend.
Trickiest match: the Pig, the Snake'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

蛇 (shé): snake
生肖 (shēngxiào): Chinese zodiac sign
我属蛇 (wǒ shǔ shé): "I'm a Snake." The verb 属 (shǔ) means "to belong to"
本命年 (běnmìngnián): your own zodiac year, when your animal comes back around

Born in 1989? Your next 本命年 is 2037, the next Snake 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 蛇 and 生肖 pronounced by native-quality audio, save them as flashcards, and start reading real Chinese stories at your level.

Other Snake years

1965: Wood Snake (February 2, 1965 to January 20, 1966)
1977: Fire Snake (February 18, 1977 to February 6, 1978)
2001: Metal Snake (January 24, 2001 to February 11, 2002)
2013: Water Snake (February 10, 2013 to January 30, 2014)
2025: Wood Snake (January 29, 2025 to February 16, 2026)

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

1989 Chinese zodiac FAQ

What animal is 1989 in the Chinese zodiac?

1989 is the Year of the Snake. Anyone born from February 6, 1989 to January 26, 1990 is a Snake; a birthday earlier in 1989 belongs to the Year of the Dragon.

What element is 1989?

Earth. The full sign for 1989 is the Earth Snake (己巳 jǐsì), a combination that repeats only once every 60 years.

How old is someone born in 1989?

Someone born in 1989 turns 37 in 2026, or is still 36 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.