Began February 8, 2016 · 355 days long
2016: year of the Fire Monkey
The Monkey year started on February 8, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 2016 before that date is a Goat.
- Opening new moon
- Feb 8, 2016 2:39 PM UTC
- In Beijing
- 10:39 PM Mon, Feb 8 · sets the date
- Year of the Monkey
- 355 days 12 lunar months
- It ends
- Jan 28, 2017 12:07 AM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 2016: the new moon in your city
The Fire Monkey year opened with the new moon at 2:39 PM UTC on February 8, 2016 — 10:39 PM on February 8 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 9:39 AM on February 8 in New York, 2:39 PM on February 8 in London and 1:39 AM on February 9 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Mon, Feb 8, 2016 |
| Honolulu United States | 4:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 5:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−9 |
| Los Angeles United States | 6:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 7:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 7:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 8:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 8:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 9:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 9:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 9:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 9:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 10:09 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−4:30 |
| Santiago Chile | 11:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−3 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 11:39 AM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 12:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC−2 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 2:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC |
| London United Kingdom | 2:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 3:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 3:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 3:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 4:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 4:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 4:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 4:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 5:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 5:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 6:09 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 6:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 7:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 8:09 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 8:24 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+5:45 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 8:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 9:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 9:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 10:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+8 |
| Beijing China | 10:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 10:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 10:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 11:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 11:39 PM Mon, Feb 8, 2016 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 1:09 AM Tue, Feb 9, 2016 · UTC+10:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 12:39 AM Tue, Feb 9, 2016 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 1:39 AM Tue, Feb 9, 2016 · UTC+11 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 3:39 AM Tue, Feb 9, 2016 · UTC+13 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 2016 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 Fire Monkey personality
Anyone born from February 8, 2016 through January 27, 2017 is a Fire Monkey: the yang fire stem 丙 over the 申 branch.
Fire controls the Monkey's own Metal in the five-element cycle, so the year's element pushes against the sign rather than with it. Fire brings intensity, visibility and speed — traditionally the most driven version, and the quickest to burn through its own energy.
Stem and branch
2016 is 丙申 (Bǐngshēn)
Na yin — the sounding element
Fire at the Foot of the Mountain 山下火
Fire burning low, below the peak, often read as evening light. A gentler, more modest fire than the mountain-top image: warmth close at hand rather than a beacon.
2016 therefore carries fire from its stem and fire from its na yin — the same element twice. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
A "blind" year with no spring
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 4, 2016 and February 3, 2017, Beijing time. The Monkey year spans February 8, 2016 to January 27, 2017, so neither date sits inside it: a blind year (无春年). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 2016 Monkey
The 申 branch puts a 2016 Monkey opposite the Tiger on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Tiger year after it was 2022. Its harmony partner is the Snake, whose year came round 9 years later, in 2025. How the Monkey and Tiger get on →
Monkeys born in 2016 turn 10 in 2026 — 11 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 2016
- Born January 1 – February 7, 2016: a Wood Goat, the animal of 2015.
- Born February 8, 2016 or later in the year: a Fire Monkey.
A year-only calculator mislabels 38 days of 2016, everything from January 1 to February 7. That is about one US birth in 10 (10.0%, 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 2016
Why 355 days, and not 365
No month was doubled in 2016, so the year ended on January 27, 2017 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, 3rd, 6th, 8th, 9th, 11th and 12th.
Festival dates in the 2016 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Mon, Feb 22, 2016 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Thu, Jun 9, 2016 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Tue, Aug 9, 2016 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Wed, Aug 17, 2016 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Thu, Sep 15, 2016 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Sun, Oct 9, 2016 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Wed, Dec 21, 2016 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Thu, Jan 5, 2017 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 2:19 AM on February 23, the day after the Lantern Festival. The true full moon came two days after the Mid-Autumn Festival, at 3:05 AM Beijing time on September 17 — lunar day 17.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 2016
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.
By date, 2016 sits mid-table: of the 110 new years, 66 fall earlier in the calendar and 41 later. Two other years share the date. Twelve years earlier, 2004 began on January 22; twelve years later, 2028 begins on January 26 — both marked in lavender with the other Monkey years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 2016: Zodiac Year of the Fire Monkey.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2016/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 2016: Zodiac Year of the Fire Monkey |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/2016/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}