1911 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Metal Pig
Born in 1911? You’re a Metal Pig — but only from January 30, 1911 onward. That is the day the Pig year opened, and it ran all the way to February 17, 1912.
1911 is one of the years where the new moon beat the sun to it: the lunar year arrived on January 30, a full six days before Start-of-Spring on February 5. That short gap is the whole trick to reading a January-or-early-February 1911 birthday, and we come back to it below.
1911 Chinese Zodiac Sign: The Quick Answer
Still the 1910 zodiac year, which did not close until January 29. A birthday in the first four weeks of 1911 lands here, in Dog, not Pig.
The 1911 zodiac year, stem-branch 辛亥. Note the far end too: a baby born in the opening weeks of 1912, right up to February 17, is still a Metal Pig, not yet a Rat.
1911 at a glance
| Detail | 1911 |
|---|---|
| Zodiac animal | Pig (猪 zhū) |
| Element | Metal (Yin) |
| Stem-branch | 辛亥 (xīn hài) |
| Exact dates | January 30, 1911 – February 17, 1912 |
| Sign before | Metal Dog (until January 29, 1911) |
| Sign after | Water Rat (from February 18, 1912) |
| Age in 2026 (if born in calendar-year 1911) | 114 or 115 |
| Traditional allies | Rabbit, Goat (trine), Tiger (six-harmony) |
| Clash sign | Snake |
Born in January or early February 1911?
On the lunar-year convention this page uses — the standard for looking up a birth-year sign — anyone born between January 1 and January 29, 1911 is a Metal Dog held over from 1910, the year that opened on February 10, 1910. The same rule runs at the other end: a birth in early 1912, up to February 17, still counts as a 1911 Metal Pig, not a Water Rat.
There is also a second way to date the year. Many BaZi practitioners use Lìchūn, the Start-of-Spring solar term, as the year boundary. In 1911, the lunar new year came first: the Pig year opened on January 30, while Lìchūn followed on February 5, a date recorded in the Hong Kong Observatory’s 1911 almanac. That leaves the six days from January 30 through February 4 where the two methods produce different year signs — Pig by the lunar reckoning, still Dog by the solar one. The January–February boundary guide lays both methods side by side.
What a Metal Pig actually is
“Pig” fixes the animal; it takes the element to fix the year. The twelve animals and the five elements turn on separate wheels, and any one pairing — Metal with Pig — only comes round once in sixty years. 1911 is written 辛亥 (xīn hài), a Yin Metal year. The stem 辛 is metal in its finer register: not the 庚 of blade and axe-head, but the worked kind — a needle, a coin, the edge of a chisel. Paired with 亥, the last of the twelve branches, it sits at the very end of the animal round.
In folklore the Pig is read as the easy-going one — honest, unhurried, generous to a fault, the sign least interested in scheming. Metal is said to lend that softness a firmer spine: the same open nature, but with more resolve holding it up. Take that as the portrait tradition paints, not a fact about any person. Plenty of people born in 1911 fit none of it.
The year that gave a revolution its name
Here is the detail that sets 1911 apart from every other Pig year. The sexagenary name of the year, 辛亥 (xīn hài), is also the name history gave to the event that ended two thousand years of dynastic rule. The uprising that began at Wuchang in October 1911 and brought down the Qing is known in Chinese as the Xinhai Revolution — 辛亥革命 — taking its name straight from the stem-branch of the Metal Pig year in which it fell.
It is an unusual naming pattern: the event is filed in Chinese not by a place or a leader, but by the two-character stem-branch year in which it occurred. The Republic of China was declared on January 1, 1912 — still, by the calendar on this page, inside the 辛亥 Pig year, which did not close until February 17.
Traditional Pig pairings
In traditional zodiac groupings, the Pig forms a three-harmony trine with the Rabbit and Goat, pairs with the Tiger in six-harmony, and clashes with the Snake. These fixed animal relationships do not change with the Metal element; the Pig compatibility guide explains each pairing in full.
The 60-year Metal Pig cycle
Because 辛亥 comes back just once in sixty years, the Metal Pig years fall in a thin, even column:
| Metal Pig year | Who they are in 2026 |
|---|---|
| 1851 | A historical cohort; no longer living |
| 1911 | 114 or 115 years old |
| 1971 | 54 or 55 years old |
| 2031 | The next one — just ahead |
The link between the rows is exact, not loose: a person born during the 1911 Metal Pig year and one born during the 1971 Metal Pig year carry the identical 辛亥 pillar, Metal and all, sixty years apart to the year. Pig years themselves come round every twelve — 2019 was the most recent one of any element — but only these four carry the Metal stem. The Metal Pig element page follows what that pairing is traditionally said to mean.
The years on either side
| Year | Sign | Zodiac dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1910 | Metal Dog | Feb 10, 1910 – Jan 29, 1911 |
| 1911 | Metal Pig | Jan 30, 1911 – Feb 17, 1912 |
| 1912 | Water Rat | from Feb 18, 1912 |
Watch how the opening date walks: February 10 one year, January 30 the next, February 18 the year after. The lunar new year drifts across a three-week span, and 1911 sat near the early edge of it — which is exactly why a plain birth-year lookup slips so easily around the turn of the year. The Pig animal guide collects the Pig years and follows the five elements through them.
1911 Chinese zodiac: common questions
What is the Chinese zodiac sign for 1911?
1911 is a Pig year — the Metal Pig — for anyone born on or after January 30, 1911.
What are the exact 1911 Metal Pig dates?
January 30, 1911 to February 17, 1912. Anything earlier in 1911 belongs to the Metal Dog year of 1910.
What element is 1911 in the Chinese zodiac?
Metal. The full stem-branch name is 辛亥 (xīn hài), a Yin Metal year.
Is everyone born in 1911 a Metal Pig?
No. Births from January 1 to January 29, 1911 fall in the previous Metal Dog year. And someone born in early 1912, up to February 17, is still a 1911 Metal Pig.
Why is 1911 called the Xinhai year?
Xinhai (辛亥) is the sexagenary stem-branch name of the 1911 year. The 1911 revolution that ended the Qing dynasty is named after it — the Xinhai Revolution, 辛亥革命.
Who is the 1911 Metal Pig compatible with?
Tradition places the Pig in a trine with the Rabbit and Goat, and pairs it with the Tiger as its six-harmony partner. The Snake is the clash sign. This is folklore, not a rule about real relationships.
How old is someone born in 1911 in 2026?
114 or 115 in 2026, depending on whether their birthday has passed.
Looking this up for someone born in 1911?
A public page stops at the general facts. If what brought you here is a family tree, a headstone date, or a name in an old register, two things carry further than a page like this can:
Where to go next
Editorial note
The calendar side of this page — the January 30, 1911 start, the February 17, 1912 close, the February 5 Start of Spring, and the 辛亥 (xīn hài) stem-branch — can be checked against the Hong Kong Observatory almanac or any sexagenary table. Everything about 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.