Year of the Monkey: Years List, Traits & Compatibility

Recent Years of the Monkey: 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028. The sign returns every 12 years; the next one after 2016 is 2028. Each occurrence pairs the Shen (申) branch with a different Heavenly Stem, so the same animal appears as Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water versions across a 60-year cycle.

A zodiac year starts at Lunar New Year, not on January 1. Lunar New Year falls between January 21 and February 20, so anyone born in that window should check the exact start date in the table below before assuming the sign.

The 2016 Year of the Monkey (Fire Monkey, Bing-Shen 丙申) runs from February 8, 2016 to January 27, 2017, while Li Chun, the year-pillar boundary used by many Bazi schools, falls on February 4, 2016. The next Year of the Monkey begins on January 26, 2028. A Chinese zodiac year does not start on January 1. The popular zodiac year begins at Lunar New Year (late January to mid-February), while many Bazi schools change the year pillar at the Li Chun solar term (around February 4). Use the table to check a January or February birthday against both boundaries.

In the Chinese calendar the Monkey is a label for Shen (申), the 9th of the twelve Earthly Branches. Shen is Yang Metal. It marks the two-hour period of 3–5 pm, the west-southwest direction, and early autumn.

In a Bazi chart Shen is also the branch of the 7th solar month, which begins at the Li Qiu (立秋, Start of Autumn) solar term. Its hidden stems are Geng 庚 (Yang Metal), Ren 壬 (Yang Water), Wu 戊 (Yang Earth). Those hidden stems are why the same animal can read differently from one chart to another: they interact with the Day Master in ways the animal symbol does not show.

The traditional relationships are fixed by branch position rather than by personality:

• Six combination (Liu He): Monkey and Snake.
• Triad (San He): Monkey, Rat, Dragon, which together form a Water frame.
• Clash (Chong): Monkey and Tiger, the branch six places away.
• Six harm (Liu Hai): Monkey and Pig.

These pairings describe how the branches interact in a calendar or chart. They are not a verdict on any relationship, and a full Bazi comparison looks at all four pillars of both people. The compatibility chart lists the same patterns for every sign.

Popular zodiac writing describes Monkey people as inventive, witty, and versatile. Treat that as cultural symbolism attached to the Shen branch, not as a personality test: the year animal is one of eight characters in a birth chart, and the Day Master (the stem of the day pillar) carries more weight in a Bazi reading.

2026 is a Bing-Wu (丙午) Fire Horse year. For the Monkey, Wu is neither a traditional harmony nor a clash pair. The 2026 forecast explains how that relationship is usually read, and why it should be checked against the full chart.