1904 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Wood Dragon
Born in 1904? You’re a Wood Dragon — but only if your birthday falls on February 16, 1904 or later. The Dragon year ran from February 16, 1904 through February 3, 1905.
The lunar new year landed unusually late that winter — February 16 sits near the back edge of the range in which it can fall — which opens an eleven-day stretch starting from Start-of-Spring on February 5 where the solar and lunar datings disagree. We sort out the boundary first, then get to the rare connection that makes 1904 stand out: its exact 甲辰 pillar returned in 2024, the most recent Wood Dragon year.
Born in 1904? The quick answer
Still the 1903 zodiac year, which did not close until February 15. A birthday in the first six-and-a-half weeks of 1904 lands here, in Rabbit, not Dragon.
The 1904 zodiac year, stem-branch 甲辰. The far end matters too: a child born in the first days of 1905, up to February 3, is still a Wood Dragon, not yet a Wood Snake.
1904 at a glance
| Detail | 1904 |
|---|---|
| Zodiac animal | Dragon (龙 lóng) |
| Element | Wood (Yang) |
| Stem-branch | 甲辰 (jiǎ chén) |
| Exact dates | February 16, 1904 – February 3, 1905 |
| Sign before | Water Rabbit (until February 15, 1904) |
| Sign after | Wood Snake (from February 4, 1905) |
| Age if born during calendar year 1904 | No longer living — a birth during calendar year 1904 would be 121 or 122 in 2026 |
| Traditional allies | Rat, Monkey (trine), Rooster (six-harmony) |
| Clash sign | Dog |
Born in January or February 1904?
On the lunar-year convention this page uses — the standard for looking up a birth-year sign — the Dragon year runs from February 16, 1904 to February 3, 1905. Anyone born between January 1 and February 15, 1904 is a Water Rabbit carried over from 1903. The same rule holds at the closing end: a birth in the first days of 1905, up to February 3, still counts as a 1904 Wood Dragon rather than a Wood Snake.
The two boundaries are eleven days apart in 1904, but run the opposite way from most years on this site. Start of Spring (Lìchūn) fell on February 5, 1904, eleven calendar days before the lunar new year on February 16 — both dates recorded in the Hong Kong Observatory’s 1904 almanac and cross-checked against its 1903 and 1905 almanacs for the opening and closing dates. Many BaZi practitioners take Lìchūn, rather than the lunar new year, as the year boundary. Births from February 6 through February 15, 1904 therefore already count as Wood Dragon under the solar convention, while still reading as the previous Water Rabbit year under the lunar convention used on this page. Only February 5 itself needs the exact birth time and location, because Lìchūn begins at a specific moment during that day. The January–February boundary guide sets both methods side by side.
What a Wood Dragon actually is
“Dragon” fixes the animal; the element fixes the year. The twelve animals and the five elements run on separate wheels, and Wood meets Dragon only once in every sixty years. 1904 is written 甲辰 (jiǎ chén), a Yang Wood year. Tradition assigns the Dragon’s branch, 辰, to Earth as its own dominant hidden element, so a Wood-stem year landing on it puts Wood in the position of controlling Earth, rather than matching it or being generated by it.
In folklore the Dragon is the only mythical creature among the twelve zodiac animals, and it carries the heaviest weight of ambition and achievement. The idiom 望子成龙 (wàng zǐ chéng lóng), literally “hoping one’s child becomes a dragon,” is standard usage for a parent’s hope that a child will succeed (ChinesePod Chinese-English Dictionary). Wood is said to add growth and upward reach to the Dragon’s usual force — steadier and more patient than a Fire or Metal Dragon year, tradition holds, though still ambitious. Read that as the sketch tradition offers, not a finding about anyone born during the Wood Dragon year.
The pillar 1904 shares with 2024
The stem-branch of 1904, 甲辰, is one of the sixty combinations on the sexagenary cycle, and it comes round on a fixed sixty-year beat — which put its most recent recurrence on 2024:
| Wood Dragon year | Status |
|---|---|
| 1844 | A nineteenth-century cohort; no longer living |
| 1904 | No longer living |
| 1964 | 61 or 62 years old in 2026 |
| 2024 | The most recent Wood Dragon recurrence |
1904 and 2024 are exactly 120 years apart, so the two zodiac years carry the same 甲辰 pillar — the same Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch, two complete sixty-year cycles apart. 2024 also drew unusual attention to the English name for 龙: Chinese state media and Hong Kong’s Chief Executive promoted “loong” over the conventional “dragon,” to separate the Chinese creature from Western myth (CNN). The 2024 Wood Dragon page and the Wood Dragon element page cover the pairing in more detail.
Traditional Dragon pairings
In the traditional groupings, the Dragon forms a three-harmony trine with the Rat and Monkey, pairs with the Rooster in six-harmony, and stands opposite the Dog in the clash. These animal relationships are fixed, and the Wood element does not change them; the Dragon compatibility guide works through each pairing in full.
The years on either side
| Year | Sign | Zodiac dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1903 | Water Rabbit | Jan 29, 1903 – Feb 15, 1904 |
| 1904 | Wood Dragon | Feb 16, 1904 – Feb 3, 1905 |
| 1905 | Wood Snake | from Feb 4, 1905 |
Notice how the opening date swings: January 29 in 1903, February 16 in 1904, February 4 in 1905 — back and forth across nearly three weeks around 1904 alone. That drift is exactly why a plain birth-year lookup slips so easily around January and early February. Both neighbours have their own pages — the 1903 Water Rabbit before it and the 1905 Wood Snake after — and the Dragon animal guide follows the five elements through every Dragon year.
1904 Chinese zodiac: common questions
What is the Chinese zodiac sign for 1904?
1904 is a Dragon year — the Wood Dragon — for anyone born on or after February 16, 1904.
What are the exact 1904 Wood Dragon dates?
February 16, 1904 to February 3, 1905. Anything earlier belongs to the Water Rabbit year of 1903.
What element is 1904 in the Chinese zodiac?
Wood. The full stem-branch name is 甲辰 (jiǎ chén), a Yang Wood year.
Is everyone born in 1904 a Wood Dragon?
No. Births from January 1 to February 15, 1904 fall in the previous Water Rabbit year. And someone born in the first days of 1905, up to February 3, is still a 1904 Wood Dragon.
How does Start of Spring affect the 1904 boundary?
Start of Spring fell on February 5, 1904, eleven days before the lunar new year on February 16. Births from February 6 through February 15 already count as Wood Dragon under the solar convention, but still read as Water Rabbit under the lunar convention used on this page. Only February 5 itself needs the exact birth time and location, because Lìchūn begins at a specific moment during that day.
What years share the 1904 Wood Dragon pillar?
The 甲辰 Wood Dragon pillar returns every sixty years: 1844, 1904, 1964 and 2024. A person born during the 2024 Wood Dragon year shares the exact stem-branch with someone born during the 1904 Wood Dragon year, two full cycles apart.
How old would someone born in 1904 be in 2026?
121 or 122, depending on the month — older than any verified human lifespan on record, so no one born in 1904 is still living.
Looking this up for someone born in 1904?
A public page stops at the shared facts. If what brought you here is an ancestor’s record — a date in an old register, a name on a family tree you are trying to fill in — two things carry a birth year further than a page like this can:
Where to go next
Editorial note
The calendar side of this page — the February 16, 1904 start, the February 3, 1905 close, the February 5 Start of Spring, and the 甲辰 (jiǎ chén) stem-branch — can be checked against the Hong Kong Observatory’s 1904 almanac or any sexagenary table. The idiom 望子成龙 and the 2024 “loong” naming discussion are documented usage, cited above. Everything touching character, compatibility and fortune is symbolic tradition, shared for cultural interest. It is not a prediction, and it is not medical, financial or relationship advice.