2016 Year of the Monkey (Fire): Dates & Li Chun

2016 is a Fire Monkey year (Bing-Shen, 丙申) in the Chinese zodiac calendar. The name comes from the year’s stem-branch pair: the Heavenly Stem Bing supplies the fire element, and the Shen Earthly Branch supplies the Monkey. The same pair returns once every 60 years.

Fire adds charisma, visibility, and inventive energy. A Fire Monkey year tends to be clever, opportunity-rich, and dynamically expressive. For people born in this year, the fire modifier shapes how the Monkey’s traditional traits (inventive, witty, and versatile) express themselves.

In a Bazi chart, Bing-Shen (丙申)would be only the year pillar, one of four. The day pillar’s stem (the Day Master) is the reference point of the reading, so two people born in 2016 can have very different charts.

Read the Monkey zodiac page for the base Monkey personality, or use the Bazi calculator to see how this year pillar interacts with your full chart.

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.

If your birthday falls before February 8, 2016, the popular zodiac places you in the previous sign, the Goat. Many Bazi schools use Li Chun (February 4, 2016, 17:46 China Standard Time) as the year-pillar boundary instead, so a birth between Li Chun and Lunar New Year can have a Monkey year pillar in a Li Chun-based chart but is usually listed as a Goat in popular zodiac charts. Check which boundary a calculator uses before comparing results. The Lunar New Year date can fall one day earlier in the Americas because of time zones.

The Monkey repeats every 12 years in the zodiac cycle. Each occurrence carries a different Heavenly Stem that modifies the year energy. Recent Monkey years include 1956, 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016, 2028. The full sexagenary cycle produces five Monkey types — Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water.

In Five Element theory, the fire element generates Earth, controls Metal, and is controlled by Water. In a Bazi reading, whether more fire helps or strains a chart depends on the balance of the other seven characters, which the year label alone does not show.

By branch, Monkey combines with Snake, shares a Water triad with Rat and Dragon, and clashes with Tiger. Those patterns are the same in every Monkey year; the fire stem does not change them.

For a complete compatibility check, use the zodiac compatibility tool or generate a full Bazi chart.