Began February 16, 1980 · 355 days long
1980: year of the Metal Monkey
The Monkey year started on February 16, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1980 before that date is a Goat.
- Opening new moon
- Feb 16, 1980 8:51 AM UTC
- In Beijing
- 4:51 PM Sat, Feb 16 · sets the date
- Year of the Monkey
- 355 days 12 lunar months
- It ends
- Feb 4, 1981 10:14 PM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1980: the new moon in your city
The Metal Monkey year opened with the new moon at 8:51 AM UTC on February 16, 1980 — 4:51 PM on February 16 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 3:51 AM on February 16 in New York, 8:51 AM on February 16 in London and 7:51 PM on February 16 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Sat, Feb 16, 1980 |
| Honolulu United States | 10:51 PM Fri, Feb 15, 1980 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 10:51 PM Fri, Feb 15, 1980 · UTC−10 |
| Los Angeles United States | 12:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 1:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 1:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 2:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 2:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 3:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 3:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 3:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 3:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 4:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 5:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 5:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 5:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC−3 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 8:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 8:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 9:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 9:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 9:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 10:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 10:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 10:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 11:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+3 |
| Moscow Russia | 11:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 11:51 AM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 12:21 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 12:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 1:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 2:21 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 2:21 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+5:30 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 2:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 3:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 3:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 4:21 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+7:30 |
| Beijing China | 4:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 4:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 4:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 5:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 5:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 7:21 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 6:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 7:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 9:51 PM Sat, Feb 16, 1980 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1980 date as in the Hong Kong Observatory calendar. Local times: IANA time zones, to the minute.
18 pages · printable
The 2027 Sky Calendar — free PDF
Every retrograde, eclipse, new and full moon of 2027 to the minute, already converted to your city. A month to a page, ready to print.
Personality
The Metal Monkey personality
Anyone born from February 16, 1980 through February 4, 1981 is a Metal Monkey: the yang metal stem 庚 over the 申 branch.
Metal is already the Monkey's own element, so here it is doubled and everything typical of the sign runs at full strength. Of the five Monkeys this is the most inventive, and the least inclined to compromise.
Stem and branch
1980 is 庚申 (Gēngshēn)
Na yin — the sounding element
Pomegranate Wood 石榴木
The pomegranate tree, full of seeds. Long a symbol of fertility and abundance — growth that produces many results from one source.
1980 therefore carries metal from its stem and wood from its na yin. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
An ordinary single-spring year
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 5, 1980 and February 4, 1981, Beijing time. The Monkey year spans February 16, 1980 to February 4, 1981, so exactly one of them sits inside it. What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1980 Monkey
The 申 branch puts a 1980 Monkey opposite the Tiger on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Tiger year after it was 1986. Its harmony partner is the Snake, whose year came round 9 years later, in 1989. How the Monkey and Tiger get on →
Monkeys born in 1980 turn 46 in 2026 — 47 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1980
- Born January 1 – February 15, 1980: an Earth Goat, the animal of 1979.
- Born February 16, 1980 or later in the year: a Metal Monkey.
This is one of the late new years: 46 days, from New Year's Day to February 15, still belong to the Goat. That is about one US birth in 8 (12.2%, SSA records 2000–2014). Check your exact date →
The Monkey across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Monkey.
The lunar calendar of 1980
Why 355 days, and not 365
No month was doubled in 1980, so the year ended on February 4, 1981 after twelve months — seven long ones of 30 days and five short ones of 29, 355 days in all.
The 30-day months were the 1st, 4th, 6th, 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th.
Festival dates in the 1980 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Sat, Mar 1, 1980 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Tue, Jun 17, 1980 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Sun, Aug 17, 1980 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Mon, Aug 25, 1980 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Tue, Sep 23, 1980 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Fri, Oct 17, 1980 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Mon, Dec 22, 1980 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Tue, Jan 13, 1981 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 4:59 AM on March 2, the day after the Lantern Festival. The festival night of September 23 fell a day before the true full moon, which came at 8:07 PM Beijing time on September 24 — lunar day 16.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 1980
Lengths differ because a leap month is inserted every two or three years. This is what makes the new year date jump rather than drift.
Only twelve of the 110 new years in the table fall later in the calendar than February 16. Two other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 1968 began on January 30; twelve years later, 1992 began on February 4 — both marked in lavender with the other Monkey years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1980: Zodiac Year of the Metal Monkey.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1980/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 1980: Zodiac Year of the Metal Monkey |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1980/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}