Year of the Monkey: Monkey Zodiac Years, Dates, Traits and Compatibility

The Monkey (猴) is sign number 9 of the twelve Chinese zodiac animals, and each Year of the Monkey carries a traditional image of quick thinking, curiosity and problem solving. People born in a Monkey year are traditionally described as inventive, playful and clever. Sun Wukong, the Monkey King of Journey to the West, is the best-known figure behind that image. This guide lists every Monkey year from 1932 to 2028 with exact start and end dates, then covers traits, compatibility and Tai Sui notes for 2026 and 2027.

Monkey matches the branch Shen (申), the hours of 3–5 pm.

Year of the Monkey: exact start and end dates

A Year of the Monkey begins on Chinese New Year, not on January 1. Encyclopaedia Britannica explains that the zodiac year starts with Chinese New Year, which falls on the new moon between January 21 and February 20 (Britannica: Chinese New Year). If you were born in January or early February, check the table below before deciding on your sign, or use the zodiac finder to be sure.

Zodiac year	Starts	Ends
1932	Feb 6, 1932	Jan 25, 1933
1944	Jan 25, 1944	Feb 12, 1945
1956	Feb 12, 1956	Jan 30, 1957
1968	Jan 30, 1968	Feb 16, 1969
1980	Feb 16, 1980	Feb 4, 1981
1992	Feb 4, 1992	Jan 22, 1993
2004	Jan 22, 2004	Feb 8, 2005
2016	Feb 8, 2016	Jan 27, 2017
2028	Jan 26, 2028	Feb 12, 2029

These boundaries come from the Hong Kong Observatory Gregorian-Lunar Calendar Conversion Table.

Why the boundary moves each year

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar. Britannica describes it as following the moon while keeping pace with the solar year, with twelve months of 29 or 30 days and occasional intercalary months to keep the seasons aligned (Britannica: Chinese calendar). Because of this, Chinese New Year can land anywhere in a window of about a month on the Gregorian calendar, and so the Monkey year does too.

Worked examples for borderline birthdays

The table above is the quickest way to check a birthday. These examples use the same boundary dates:

Birthday	Falls in	Reason
1 Feb 2004	Monkey year (2004)	Monkey year began Jan 22, 2004 and runs to Feb 8, 2005
21 Jan 2004	The previous zodiac year	Born before Jan 22, 2004, the start of the 2004 Monkey year
20 Feb 2016	Monkey year (2016)	Monkey year began Feb 8, 2016 and runs to Jan 27, 2017
2 Feb 2016	The previous zodiac year	Born before Feb 8, 2016
28 Jan 2017	The next zodiac year	Born after the 2016 Monkey year ended on Jan 27, 2017
26 Jan 2028	Monkey year (2028)	Monkey year begins Jan 26, 2028

A birthday on January 1 is not automatically in a Year of the Monkey just because the Monkey is the ninth sign. Always compare the birthday with the Chinese New Year start date for that year.

Monkey personality in Chinese tradition

Traditional descriptions of the Monkey focus on being inventive, playful and clever. These are cultural associations, not scientific findings, and they are shared by everyone born in the same year sign. The Victoria and Albert Museum notes that linking personality traits to each zodiac sign is a fairly recent development and is not mentioned in older Chinese texts (V&A: The 12 zodiac animals). A full Four Pillars (Bazi) chart uses much more than the year animal, including the month, day and hour.

The Monkey in the twelve-branch cycle

The twelve zodiac animals are also the twelve earthly branches (dizhi). Smith College Museum of Art explains that these branches, paired with ten heavenly stems, name the day, month and year (Smith College: Lunar Year and the Art of Chinese Cosmology). Pairing stems and branches gives 60 combinations, and Britannica notes that this ganzhi year count was adopted by the Han emperors around the 2nd century CE (Britannica: Chinese calendar).

Because there are twelve animals, each Year of the Monkey comes around every twelve years. The table above shows this clearly, moving from 1932 to 2028 in steps of twelve.

Monkey compatibility in the tradition

Compatibility in the tradition describes patterns, not scores. For the Monkey, the commonly listed pairings are:

Six Harmonies (secret friend): Snake
Three Harmonies (allies): Rat and Dragon
Clash (opposite sign): Tiger

For every pairing, including harm, break and punishment tags, see the compatibility tool. These are cultural tools for thinking about relationships, not predictions about any particular person.

Monkey and Tai Sui in 2026 and 2027

Tai Sui is the god of the year in the sixty-year cycle. The Kew Ong Yah Temple explains that sixty Tai Sui gods take turns by year, and that each person also has a birth-year natal god (Kew Ong Yah Temple: Right Hall). For background on the figure, see Wikipedia: Tai Sui.

Using the folk year-sign rule that our Tai Sui checker follows:

2026 (Horse year): no traditional Tai Sui relationship
2027 (Goat year): no traditional Tai Sui relationship

Meeting Tai Sui is a traditional reminder to be steady and considerate, not a forecast.

Do zodiac years show up in birth patterns?

Some researchers have looked at whether families choose births in favored zodiac years. A 2010 study by Ma Yan in Population Research found no zodiac birth preference at the national level in mainland China from 1949 to 2008, and reported that year-to-year fluctuations were better explained by population momentum (Population Research: Ma Yan (2010)). A Hong Kong study by Yip, Lee and Cheung (2002) found that births in Dragon years 1988 and 2000 rose 7.8% and 4.2% over the preceding year. The authors described this as a timing effect with little effect on cumulative fertility (Yip et al., Social Science & Medicine). These findings concern birth timing, not personality.

How to check your sign

To confirm your sign, find your birth year in the table, then compare your exact birthday with the Chinese New Year start and end dates. If your birthday falls near the boundary, use the zodiac finder rather than relying on the Gregorian year alone.

Frequently asked questions

When does the Year of the Monkey start?

A Year of the Monkey starts on Chinese New Year, not January 1. Chinese New Year falls on the new moon between January 21 and February 20. For example, the 2016 Monkey year began on February 8, 2016 and ended on January 27, 2017. Check the exact start date for your birth year in the table on this page.

I was born on 2 February 2016. Am I a Monkey?

No. The 2016 Year of the Monkey began on February 8, 2016, so a birthday on February 2 falls in the previous zodiac year. Births between the Chinese New Year date and the end of the year fall in the sign for that year. Use the table to compare your exact birthday with the start date.

Is a Year of the Monkey lucky or unlucky?

This site does not make fortune predictions. Traditional descriptions of the Monkey focus on traits such as being inventive, playful and clever. These are cultural associations rather than forecasts. Any year-sign reading is a traditional story, not a guarantee about what will happen.

Does the Year of the Monkey have a Tai Sui in 2026 or 2027?

Using the folk year-sign rule behind our Tai Sui checker, there is no traditional Tai Sui relationship for the Monkey in 2026 (Horse year) or 2027 (Goat year). Tai Sui is a traditional reminder to be steady and considerate, not a forecast. Tai Sui is the god of the year in the sixty-year cycle.

Do more babies get born in a Year of the Monkey?

A 2010 study of mainland China from 1949 to 2008 found no national zodiac birth preference. Some Hong Kong research found birth timing effects in Dragon years, with changes of 7.8% and 4.2% in 1988 and 2000. Nothing in this research applies specifically to the Monkey, and it does not say anything about personality.

Why do Monkey traits differ between sources?

Traits are cultural tradition that developed over time, and the Victoria and Albert Museum notes that linking personality to each sign is a fairly recent development. Descriptions also vary by region and by author. Treat them as stories to think with, and use the full Bazi chart if you want a more detailed traditional reading.