Year of the Metal Monkey
1980 Chinese zodiac sign: Metal Monkey
If you were born from February 16, 1980 to February 4, 1981, your Chinese zodiac sign is the Metal Monkey. A birthday in 1980 before February 16 still belongs to the Earth Goat of 1979.
Metal Monkey
- Element: Metal
- Yang
- First day
- Saturday, February 16, 1980
- Last day
- Wednesday, February 4, 1981
- Place in the animal cycle
- 9 of 12
January and February: if you were born from January 1 to February 15, 1980, your sign is still the Earth Goat of 1979; if you were born from January 1 to February 4, 1981, you still belong to the Year of the Metal Monkey.
Check your birth date in the calculator1980 in the Chinese calendar
Chinese year 1980 begins on Saturday, February 16, 1980, and ends on Wednesday, February 4, 1981, the day before the Year of the Metal Rooster begins. It has 355 days, or 12 lunar months: each month starts on a new moon, so it is 29 or 30 days long. The next leap year, with a thirteenth month, comes in 1982.
The year opens with the new moon on Saturday, February 16, 1980 at 3:51 a.m. ET, which is 4:51 p.m. China Standard Time, so the date is the same in New York and in Beijing. The total solar eclipse takes place at this same new moon.
The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Saturday, March 1, 1980. The year's first full moon falls on Saturday, March 1, 1980 at 4:00 p.m. ET. The penumbral lunar eclipse takes place at this same full moon.
It is year 57 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1924 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 庚申 (gēngshēn): the heavenly stem 庚 gives the element and the earthly branch 申 the animal.
Lìchūn 1980: when the year begins in Ba Zi astrology
In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1980 begins not at the lunar New Year but at the moment of lìchūn (立春, “start of spring”), when the Sun reaches 315° of ecliptic longitude: on Monday, February 4, 1980 at 11:09 a.m. Eastern Time. That is 12 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 15 still has the Earth Goat sign in the lunar calendar but already the Metal Monkey sign in Ba Zi.
This page and the calculator give your sign by the lunar calendar.
Monkey personality traits
The Monkey is the sign of intelligence and inventiveness. It is brilliant, curious about the world and quick to learn, and it solves problems in unconventional ways.
The element of 1980: Metal
Determination, principles and a clear goal. Metal tempers a sign: it adds willpower, but can make it unbending.
The Metal element covers two years in a row, 1980 (yang) and 1981 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1970–1971, next in 1990–1991.
The Metal Monkey: animal and element together
Metal is the Monkey's fixed element, and the Metal Monkey has its talents in their purest form. It is highly intelligent, independent and ambitious, and it handles money with ease, along with problems others shy away from. It knows its worth. That can make it proud and stubborn, and slow to admit a mistake.
Monkey compatibility
Trine
The Rat and the Dragon share the Monkey's energy and ambition. With the Rat it shares cleverness and a head for business, with the Dragon big thinking and courage.
Secret friend
The Snake gives the Monkey depth and calm, and the Monkey brings humor and lightness into its life. They understand each other well, despite their different temperaments.
Opposite sign
The Tiger stands opposite the Monkey. The Monkey's teasing grates on the Tiger's pride, and the Tiger's directness looks naive to the Monkey, so rivalry comes easily.
Born in 1980: your age and your own sign's year
In 2026, people born in 1980 turn 46 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as a year with no special tie for the Monkey. People born in 1980 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2028, when they turn 48 years old.
Other Monkey years
The Monkey comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1980, the Metal Monkey, returns every 60 years: in 1920, 1980 and 2040.
| Year | Sign | Dates |
|---|---|---|
| 1932 | Water Monkey | 02/06/1932 – 01/25/1933 |
| 1944 | Wood Monkey | 01/25/1944 – 02/12/1945 |
| 1956 | Fire Monkey | 02/12/1956 – 01/30/1957 |
| 1968 | Earth Monkey | 01/30/1968 – 02/16/1969 |
| 1980 | Metal Monkey | 02/16/1980 – 02/04/1981 |
| 1992 | Water Monkey | 02/04/1992 – 01/22/1993 |
| 2004 | Wood Monkey | 01/22/2004 – 02/08/2005 |
| 2016 | Fire Monkey | 02/08/2016 – 01/27/2017 |
| 2028 | Earth Monkey | 01/26/2028 – 02/12/2029 |
The year before and the year after
The Chinese zodiac is a cultural tradition more than two thousand years old, not a science. We calculate the dates and signs precisely, but read the personality descriptions as food for thought, not as a prophecy.
Frequently asked questions
What Chinese zodiac sign is 1980?
In the Chinese calendar 1980 is the Year of the Metal Monkey: a yang sign with the Metal element. That Chinese year runs from February 16, 1980 to February 4, 1981, so anyone born in that window has the Metal Monkey sign.
What is my Chinese zodiac sign if I was born in January or February 1980?
The date of Chinese New Year decides it, and in 1980 that date is February 16. If you were born from January 1 to February 15, 1980, your sign is still the Earth Goat of 1979; from February 16 on, your sign is the Metal Monkey.
When does 1980 begin in Ba Zi astrology?
At the moment of lìchūn, when the Sun reaches 315° of ecliptic longitude: on Monday, February 4, 1980 at 11:09 a.m. Eastern Time. That is 12 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 15 still has the Earth Goat sign in the lunar calendar but already the Metal Monkey sign in Ba Zi.
When is Chinese New Year 1980?
Chinese New Year 1980 falls on Saturday, February 16, 1980, the day of the new moon by the date in Beijing. The new moon comes at 4:51 p.m. China Standard Time; in New York it falls on Saturday, February 16, 1980 at 3:51 a.m. ET. The next New Year, which opens the Year of the Metal Rooster, falls on Thursday, February 5, 1981.
Is 1980 a yin or yang year?
1980 is a yang year, because Chinese tradition gives yang to even years and yin to odd ones. Yang is outward energy: active, direct and quick to get things started. The Monkey is always yang, and from one Monkey year to the next only the element changes: after the Year of the Metal Monkey comes the Year of the Water Monkey in 1992.
Your AI forecast for the Year of the Fire Horse
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