Chinese zodiac 2016
Year of the Fire Monkey
8 February 2016 to 27 January 2017
Born in 2016? Your sign depends on the day
The animal changes at Lunar New Year, not on 1 January. In 2016 it falls on 8 February 2016.
- 8 February to 31 December 2016
- π Fire Monkey
- and on to 27 Jan 2017
Check an exact birth date
The Fire Monkey at a glance
Animal
π Monkey
Said to be clever, curious, playful.
Element
η« Yang Fire
Linked with passion and drive. Each element rules two years in a row.
Length
355 days
A regular year of twelve lunar months.
Other Monkey years
The 60-year cycle
Animal and element line up again only every 60 years. The Fire Monkey years nearest to this one are 1956 and 2076.
Who gets on with the Monkey
Allies
Four years apart. The three animals of a trine are said to share a temperament.
Secret friend
One of six fixed pairs said to complement each other.
Opposite
Six years apart, directly across the wheel. Tradition calls this the hardest pairing.
Friction
One of six fixed pairs said to rub each other the wrong way.
Bonds come from each animal's position among the twelve, as tradition sets them. They describe the Monkey sign in general, not any one person.
Dates are computed estimates from the Hong Kong Observatory's calendar tables, counted in China's time zone. Some traditions change the animal at the start of spring (around 4 February) instead of at Lunar New Year.