Chinese zodiac · 申 Shen
Year of the Monkey in the Chinese zodiac
The Monkey (申, Shen) is one of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac — the Earthly Branch of the year pillar. The Year of the Monkey returns every twelve years: here are all its years from 1924 to 2031 with the exact start of each, its five elements, its traditional image and how the 2027 year meets it.
The branch 申 at a glance
- Earthly Branch
- 申 · Shen
- Phase
- Metal · 金
- Polarity
- Yang
- Two-hour period
- 15:00–17:00
- Solar month
- from Li Qiu (Start of Autumn)
- Hidden stems
- 庚 Yang Metal, 壬 Yang Water, 戊 Yang Earth
The traditional image of the Monkey
The tradition pictures the Monkey as clever, playful and inventive; its best-known image is the Monkey King Sun Wukong of the novel Journey to the West. Its branch opens autumn, the season of Metal.
How the tradition pictures the animal — a symbol, not a description of every person born in its years.
2027 and the Monkey
2027 is the year of 丁未 Ding Wei — Yin Fire over the Goat. This is how the traditional tables read the bond between its branch 未 and the Monkey’s branch 申.
- no basic combination
None of the basic combinations or clashes joins 申 and 未. The tradition then reads the year through the rest of the chart rather than through the animal.
This is how a traditional symbolic system describes two branches, not a forecast. In BaZi a year is read against all four pillars of a chart, not against the animal alone.
Chinese zodiac 2027: the year of the Goat →
Chinese zodiac compatibility chart: the twelve animals pair by pair →
Years of the Monkey
A BaZi year runs from Li Chun to Li Chun, a lunar-calendar year from Chinese New Year to the eve of the next one. Times are China Standard Time (UTC+8); born close to Li Chun, check your exact birth moment in the calculator.
| Year | Stem | BaZi year (Li Chun to Li Chun) | Lunar year |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Yang Water 壬申 | 5 February 1932, 08:29 – 4 February 1933, 14:09 | 6 February 1932 – 25 January 1933 |
| 1944 | Yang Wood 甲申 | 5 February 1944, 06:22 – 4 February 1945, 12:19 | 25 January 1944 – 12 February 1945 |
| 1956 | Yang Fire 丙申 | 5 February 1956, 04:11 – 4 February 1957, 09:54 | 12 February 1956 – 30 January 1957 |
| 1968 | Yang Earth 戊申 | 5 February 1968, 02:07 – 4 February 1969, 07:58 | 30 January 1968 – 16 February 1969 |
| 1980 | Yang Metal 庚申 | 5 February 1980, 00:09 – 4 February 1981, 05:55 | 16 February 1980 – 4 February 1981 |
| 1992 | Yang Water 壬申 | 4 February 1992, 21:48 – 4 February 1993, 03:37 | 4 February 1992 – 22 January 1993 |
| 2004 | Yang Wood 甲申 | 4 February 2004, 19:56 – 4 February 2005, 01:43 | 22 January 2004 – 8 February 2005 |
| 2016 | Yang Fire 丙申 | 4 February 2016, 17:46 – 3 February 2017, 23:34 | 8 February 2016 – 27 January 2017 |
| 2028 | Yang Earth 戊申 | 4 February 2028, 15:31 – 3 February 2029, 21:20 | 26 January 2028 – 12 February 2029 |
The five Monkey years
Every Monkey year pairs the branch 申 with one of five Heavenly Stems of the same polarity, so each pairing of the Monkey with an element returns every sixty years.
- WaterYang Water · 壬申 Ren Shen1932, 1992
- WoodYang Wood · 甲申 Jia Shen1944, 2004
- FireYang Fire · 丙申 Bing Shen1956, 2016
- EarthYang Earth · 戊申 Wu Shen1968, 2028
- MetalYang Metal · 庚申 Geng Shen1980
The animal is one sign of eight
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Calculate my BaZi chartBaZi and the Chinese zodiac are a traditional symbolic system. These pages describe how the tradition reads a sign; they do not predict events and do not replace medical, psychological, legal or financial advice.