The exact dates of the 1982 lunar year
The Water Dog year ran from January 25, 1982 to February 12, 1983. Those 384 days are longer than a Gregorian year because a leap fourth month was inserted: 1982 carried thirteen lunar months rather than twelve, the same month number falling twice.
The 1982 new year fell 11 days earlier in the Gregorian year than the 1981 one, January 25, 1982 against February 5, 1981. Why the 1982 boundary sits where it does, rather than on any fixed date, is worked through in how the Chinese calendar works.
What the Water Dog pairing is taken to mean
The stem for 1982 is Ren and the branch is the Dog, which the tradition reads as one unit rather than two. In 1982 that branch is taken to mean someone loyal and principled, with a low tolerance for anything that looks unfair. Water, the element attached to 1982, adds adaptability, depth and a way of getting around obstacles rather than through.
1982 is a yang year, the outward half of the Water pair: 1983 carries the same element in its yin form, and the two are read as the same material handled differently. Taken together, 1982 is described as the dog temperament working through adaptability.
Born in January or early February 1982
From 1 January 1982 to January 24, 1982 the animal in force was still the Rooster, not the Dog — 24 days of 1982 that most zodiac tables hand to the wrong animal. Someone born on 15 January 1982 is a Rooster.
The first Dog of 1982 is anyone born on January 25, 1982 or later, and the last one anyone born on February 12, 1983. Against the 21 January to 20 February window the new year can occupy, January 25, 1982 is at the early end.
Where 1982 sits in the sixty-year cycle
1982 is position 59 of sixty in the sexagenary cycle, the Ren stem against the Dog branch. Ten stems and twelve branches only realign after sixty years, so the previous Water Dog year was 1922 and the next is 2042.
Someone born in 1922 therefore returned to their own pillar in 1982, at sixty, which the tradition marks as a full turn rather than a birthday. A child born in 1982 meets the pairing again in 2042.
Compatibility, and what it rests on
The Dog of 1982 is grouped with the Tiger and the Horse, four years either side: in this stretch of the calendar that is 1978 and 1986. Its opposition is the Dragon, six years on from 1982 in 1988.
Those distances are arithmetic, not observation. Nothing about people born in 1982 was measured to produce them; 1982 stands four years from 1978 and six from 1988, and a twelve-part circle makes those the trine and the opposition just as it does in the western zodiac.
The western comparison for 1982
Because the 1982 lunar year opened on January 25, 1982, its first day falls under Aquarius in the western zodiac, and its last, February 12, 1983, under Aquarius — while the animal for the whole of 1982 stays the Dog.
Handbooks equate the Dog of 1982 with Libra, a pairing that lines up two twelve-part divisions rather than two claims about people. A western sign covers about thirty days, so 1982 holds twelve of them under one animal, and reading the 1982 Water Dog as a year-long version of Libra flattens both systems.
Questions people ask about this
When did the 1982 Chinese new year start?
January 25, 1982, and the year ran on to February 12, 1983 — 384 days.
What animal is 1982?
The Dog, in its Water form, from January 25, 1982 onward; a birth earlier in 1982 is a Rooster.
Was 1982 a leap year in the Chinese calendar?
Yes — a leap fourth month made 1982 thirteen months and 384 days long.
I was born in January 1982 — which animal am I?
The Rooster, unless you were born on January 25, 1982 or later, which is when the 1982 year began.