Year of the Fire Monkey
The Year of the Fire Monkey falls in 1956, 2016 and 2076. The animal sets the character, and the Fire element colors it: inventiveness and curiosity, plus brilliance, passion and a public profile. It is considered a yang year, meaning more active and outward-facing.
Who Was Born in This Year
People born in 2016 (as well as in 1956 and, in the future, 2076) belong to the “Monkey” sign with the “Fire” element.
Note: the Chinese year begins around February 4. People born in January or early February 2016 belong to the previous year of the cycle — check with the calculator.
Personality
The sign’s core quality is inventiveness and curiosity. Strength: the ability to solve a problem in an unexpected way. Weak spot: a tendency to scheme where a straightforward agreement would be easier.
The Fire element adds brilliance, passion and a public profile, but at the same time it feeds impulsiveness and speeds up burnout. The result is a person whose inventiveness plays out openly and outwardly: they act first and get noticed.
The same combination applies to the year itself: it brings unconventional solutions and rapid change, so it won’t be boring. Fire also heightens overall impulsiveness and speeds up burnout.
The Year's Element and Color
The year’s element is Fire, and its colors are red and crimson. Polarity: yang (active; even-numbered years of the cycle).
In Chinese tradition, the color of a year is the color of its element, not a “trendy shade”: it is fixed unambiguously and nobody chooses it. More on the element’s properties is on its own page.
Compatibility
Compatibility is determined by the animal, not the element. The best partners for the “Monkey” sign are the signs of its trine; the most difficult match is the opposite sign.
All 78 pairs are covered in Chinese zodiac compatibility, and the sign’s own profile is on its own page.
Years of This Sign
Each combination of animal and element repeats once every 60 years; this is the full Chinese cycle, known as jiazi. That is why the Fire Monkey year falls in 1956, 2016 and 2076, and the next one will come only sixty years after the last.
The full 60-year table, with years and elements.