2016 Chinese zodiac sign: Fire Monkey

Chinese year 2016 begins on Monday, February 8, 2016, and ends on Friday, January 27, 2017, the day before the Year of the Fire 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 2017.

The year opens with the new moon on Monday, February 8, 2016 at 9:39 a.m. ET, which is 10:39 p.m. China Standard Time, so the date is the same in New York and in Beijing.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Monday, February 22, 2016. The year's first full moon falls on Monday, February 22, 2016 at 1:20 p.m. ET.

It is year 33 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1984 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 丙申 (bǐngshēn): the heavenly stem 丙 gives the element and the earthly branch 申 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 2016 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 Thursday, February 4, 2016 at 4:45 a.m. Eastern Time. That is 4 days before Chinese New Year, so anyone born between that moment and February 7 still has the Wood Goat sign in the lunar calendar but already the Fire Monkey sign in Ba Zi.

This page and the calculator give your sign by the lunar calendar.

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.

Passion, courage and a need for action. Fire adds temperament and charisma, along with a tendency to flare up.

The Fire element covers two years in a row, 2016 (yang) and 2017 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 2006–2007, next in 2026–2027.

The Fire Monkey loves to win. Fire gives it confidence, charisma and ambition, so it enjoys competition and feels great in the spotlight. It has tons of ideas and plenty of drive. When it wants something badly, it can bend the rules and play on other people's emotions.

In 2026, people born in 2016 turn 10 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 2016 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2028, when they turn 12 years old.

The Monkey comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 2016, the Fire Monkey, returns every 60 years: in 1956, 2016 and 2076.