Year of the Monkey

The Monkey is the ninth animal in the Chinese zodiac, and it’s the one sign that comes with its own celebrity: Sun Wukong, the Monkey King from Journey to the West — the cleverest, most rebellious trickster in Chinese literature, and a creature folk readers have long pegged as a Monkey himself. The next Year of the Monkey is 2028, an Earth Monkey. If you were born in a Monkey year, here’s what the sign actually means in Chinese tradition — and how to check whether you really are one.

Which years are the Year of the Monkey?

The Monkey comes around every 12 years. Recent and upcoming Monkey years, with the element each one carries (the element runs on a longer 60-year cycle, so no two consecutive Monkey years share one):

Monkey year	Element	Runs from → to (lunar)
1932	Water	—
1944	Wood	—
1956	Fire	—
1968	Earth	—
1980	Metal	—
1992	Water	—
2004	Wood	—
2016	Fire	—
2028	Earth	Feb 17, 2028 → Feb 5, 2029
2040	Metal	—

One catch that trips people up: the zodiac year starts at Chinese New Year, not January 1. So if you were born in January or early February, you might belong to the previous animal (Goat), not the Monkey. Don’t guess — run your exact birth date through our Chinese zodiac calculator, which handles that boundary for you.

Is 2028 a Year of the Monkey?

Yes — it’s the next one. The Monkey year runs from Chinese New Year on February 17, 2028 to February 5, 2029 (the day before the following New Year). Specifically it’s an Earth Monkey (戊申 wùshēn) year, the steadier, more grounded flavour of the sign. A baby born in, say, March 2028 is an Earth Monkey; a baby born in late January 2028 is still a Goat from the 2027 year. Note that 2028 is not the dramatic “double” pairing that some animal-years get — it’s a plain Earth Monkey, which tradition reads as the most level-headed Monkey of the bunch.

The Monkey personality

In the zodiac’s character sheet, the Monkey is the bright spark: clever, quick-witted, playful, curious, and sociable, with a gift for improvising a way out of any corner. Monkeys are said to be the problem-solvers of the cycle — the ones who’ll find the loophole, crack the joke, and charm the room while doing it.

The flip side of all that cleverness: Monkeys are described as restless, impatient, and a little mischievous, prone to cutting corners, getting bored fast, and trusting their own wits a touch too much. The one-line version: a Monkey would rather outsmart a problem than out-work it — which usually pays off, until the one time it doesn’t.

The five types of Monkey

Because each Monkey year carries one of the five elements, the “type” shades the base personality:

Element	Monkey years	What it adds
Wood	1944 · 2004	Cooperative, easier-going, team-minded
Fire	1956 · 2016	The most intense — bold, magnetic, headstrong
Earth	1968 · 2028	Steadier, more grounded and reliable
Metal	1980 · 2040	Driven, ambitious, blunt
Water	1932 · 1992	Adaptable, restless, a fast talker

2028 is 戊申 — an Earth Monkey, the most grounded type of the sign.

Monkey compatibility: best and worst matches

Traditionally, the Monkey forms a harmonious trine with the Rat and the Dragon, and a classic “six-harmony” pairing with the Snake. Its hardest match is its direct opposite on the wheel, the Tiger.

Match	Animals	Why
Best	Rat, Dragon, Snake	Shared wit and ambition; trine + six-harmony
Tricky	Tiger, Pig	Tiger is the direct clash (寅申冲); the Pig finds the Monkey too slippery

As with all zodiac compatibility, treat this as cultural folklore and a fun icebreaker, not a relationship verdict — plenty of happy couples are “incompatible” on paper.

Lucky numbers, colours and things for the Monkey

By tradition, the Monkey’s lucky signals are:

• Lucky numbers: 4 and 9
• Lucky colours: white, blue and gold
• Lucky flowers: chrysanthemum and crepe myrtle
• Best avoided: the numbers 2 and 7, and the colours red and pink

These show up in everyday ways during a Monkey year — you’ll see gold-and-white New Year décor and Monkey King motifs on everything from red envelopes to limited-edition snack tins.

Famous people born in the Year of the Monkey

A spread of Monkey-year births across the decades — scroll the timeline:

A roster heavy on entertainers, performers and quick-on-their-feet improvisers fits the Monkey’s clever, crowd-pleasing reputation.

If you’re a Monkey, watch for your běnmìngnián

Here’s the counterintuitive part: the year of your own animal is considered one of the riskier years, not the luckiest. This is your 本命年 (běnmìngnián) — tradition holds you’ve come full circle and “offended” Tai Sui, the god of the year, leaving you more exposed to bad luck. For Monkeys, the next běnmìngnián is 2028.

The standard remedy is to wear red worn next to the skin — red underwear, socks or a belt, classically given to you by an older relative. By custom you put it on from New Year’s Eve and keep it on through at least the first days of the new year (many keep it up all year). And it isn’t only Monkeys on edge in a Monkey year: by the folk reckoning, the Tiger, Snake and Pig are also said to “offend Tai Sui” (犯太岁) in 2028. If you’re in China around the 2028 New Year and notice racks of red undergarments by every supermarket checkout, this is why.

Sun Wukong: the Monkey King who made the sign famous

No zodiac animal has a more famous ambassador than the Monkey. Sun Wukong (孙悟空), the Monkey King, is the breakout star of the 16th-century novel Journey to the West — a stone-born monkey who learns 72 transformations, wields a magic staff he can shrink to the size of a needle, storms the heavens, and is eventually pressed into escorting the monk Tang Sanzang to India for the Buddhist scriptures. Britannica calls him “one of the most enduring and beloved figures in Chinese literature.”

The reason he matters here: Chinese readers don’t just admire Sun Wukong, they classify him as a Monkey in the zodiac sense. Fan exegesis of the original text places his birth in a 壬申 (Water Monkey) year, and Chinese cultural writing routinely uses 属猴 (“born under the Monkey”) to describe him. He has become the sign’s mascot — and a near-perfect distillation of its traits:

• Cleverness over brawn. Sun Wukong wins by outsmarting opponents, not out-muscling them — the Monkey’s signature move.
• The trickster streak. He cheats, shape-shifts, talks his way past gatekeepers, and bristles at authority — exactly the “mischievous, can’t-be-pinned-down” reputation the zodiac Monkey carries.
• Restless and freedom-loving. Even crowned the “Great Sage Equal to Heaven,” he chafes at rank and rules — a trait Chinese commentators tie directly to people born in Monkey years.

So when Monkey-year décor goes up around Spring Festival, the figure you’ll see most isn’t a literal monkey — it’s the Monkey King, staff in hand, mid-somersault. In opera and street parades, performers in Sun Wukong costume are said both to entertain and to ward off evil spirits, which is why the character turns up far beyond the years that bear his sign.

What the Monkey year means when you travel China

If you visit China during a Monkey year, the animal — and especially the Monkey King — is unavoidable: monkey figures and the character 猴 (hóu) appear on shop windows, lanterns, stamps and mooncake tins, peaking around Chinese New Year. Wondering when to actually go? The weeks bracketing the New Year are the most festive and the most crowded — see our best time to visit China guide before you book, and sort out visas and an eSIM ahead of time.

Find your exact Chinese zodiac sign

Not sure if you’re a Monkey — or curious what element and stem-branch year you were born under? Enter your birth date in our Chinese zodiac calculator; it accounts for the New Year boundary so you get the right animal, even for a January birthday.

Sources

• Encyclopædia Britannica — Chinese zodiac
• Encyclopædia Britannica — Sun Wukong
• China Highlights — Year of the Monkey
• Wikipedia — Sun Wukong