What Chinese year is 1974?

As an expert in Chinese culture and the Chinese zodiac, I can tell you that the Chinese zodiac operates on a 12-year cycle, with each year associated with a specific animal sign. To determine the Chinese zodiac animal for a given Gregorian year, we can use the known starting point of the cycle, which is the year 1900, the year of the Rat.

Given that 1974 is 74 years after 1900, we can calculate the zodiac animal by dividing 74 by 12, which gives us a remainder of 10. This means that 1974 is the 10th year into the cycle from 1900. Since the cycle starts with the Rat, we count ten animals from the Rat to find the corresponding animal for 1974.

Rat (1900)
Ox (1901)
Tiger (1902)
Rabbit (1903)
Dragon (1904)
Snake (1905)
Horse (1906)
Goat (1907)
Monkey (1908)
Rooster (1909)
Dog (1910)
Pig (1911)

Starting from the Pig (1911) and counting forward ten more animals in the cycle, we arrive at:

Pig (1911)
Rat (1912)
Ox (1913)
Tiger (1914)
Rabbit (1915)
Dragon (1916)
Snake (1917)
Horse (1918)
Goat (1919)
Monkey (1920)
Rooster (1921)

Continuing the count:

Chicken/Rooster (1921)
Dog (1922)
Pig (1923)
Rat (1924)
Ox (1925)
Tiger (1926)
Rabbit (1927)
Dragon (1928)
Snake (1929)
Horse (1930)
Goat (1931)
Monkey (1932)
Rooster (1933)
Dog (1934)
Pig (1935)
Rat (1936)
Ox (1937)
Tiger (1938)
Rabbit (1939)
Dragon (1940)
Snake (1941)
Horse (1942)
Goat (1943)
Monkey (1944)
Rooster (1945)
Dog (1946)
Pig (1947)
Rat (1948)
Ox (1949)
Tiger (1950)
Rabbit (1951)
Dragon (1952)
Snake (1953)
Horse (1954)
Goat (1955)
Monkey (1956)
Rooster (1957)
Dog (1958)
Pig (1959)
Rat (1960)
Ox (1961)
Tiger (1962)
Rabbit (1963)
Dragon (1964)
Snake (1965)
Horse (1966)
Goat (1967)
Monkey (1968)
Rooster (1969)
Dog (1970)
Pig (1971)
Rat (1972)
Ox (1973)
Tiger (1974)

So, the year 1974 corresponds to the Tiger in the Chinese zodiac.

Tiger is the third in the 12-year cycle of Chinese zodiac sign. The Years of the Tiger include 1914, 1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, 1998, 2010, 2022, 2034...