1 What the Year of the Monkey 申 means in BaZi 🐒
When someone says "I was born in the Year of the Monkey," in BaZi terms this means that the yearly earthly branch is 申 (shēn — Monkey). It is the ninth of the twelve earthly branches (地支 — dì zhī, "earthly branches"). Unlike pop horoscope, BaZi does not see in the Monkey a "person's character" — it sees energy: the Yang Metal of early autumn.
The year sets the pillar of ancestors and origin — where you "came from," and the atmosphere of the first 16 years of life. A Monkey in the year means your lineage carries a "metallic" note: rationality, sharpness of mind, the ability to find solutions quickly. But once again: this is only a backdrop, not you in full.
In the Chinese tradition, 申 is linked to the hours from 3 to 5 p.m. — the "hour of the Monkey," when daytime activity reaches its business peak and the metallic energy of autumn is already gathering strength. This connection to the "mature day" describes the nature of the year well: practical, active, results-driven. The Monkey is the last of the "active" daytime branches before dusk, and within it you feel the rush to make it, to finish, to lock things in.
It is important to immediately separate two concepts. Pop horoscope takes the year of birth and produces a "forecast for all Monkeys" — the same for roughly 1/12 of the planet's population. Authentic BaZi treats 申 as one element within a living structure of eight characters, where each branch interacts with the stems, the season and the luck pillars. The difference is roughly like that between "you were born in August" and a full reading of the personality. So everything you read below is the "sound of a single note," not the whole melody of your destiny.
2 The Hidden Stems 藏干 of the Monkey
Each earthly branch conceals within itself one or more heavenly stems — this is called 藏干 (cáng gān — "hidden stems"). They reveal the true "contents" of the branch. The Monkey 申 is one of the "richest" branches: three stems are hidden inside it.
- 庚 (gēng — Yang Metal) — the main, dominant stem. This is "pure metal": a sword, a blade, resolve, straight logic, the ability to cut the complex down to the simple.
- 壬 (rén — Yang Water) — the secondary stem. Metal gives birth to Water, so the Monkey carries a current: a mobile mind, curiosity, a gift for communication and strategic thinking.
- 戊 (wù — Yang Earth) — the "root" stem, giving the Monkey support and practicality beneath all its liveliness.
This trio 庚壬戊 explains why the Monkey is at once sharp (Metal), fluid and quick-witted (Water) and yet has solid ground underfoot (Earth). In terms of the ten gods, this gives the person of the Monkey year a natural pull toward craft, technology, negotiation and schemes.
The link 庚→壬 inside the branch is especially interesting. According to the generating cycle of Wu Xing (五行 — wǔ xíng, "five elements"), Metal gives birth to Water: 庚 (gēng — Metal) feeds 壬 (rén — Water). This means the Monkey has a built-in mechanism of "a mind that turns into communication." The sharp logic of Metal does not stay dry — it flows into speech, contacts, ideas, movement. Hence the Monkey year's characteristic ability not merely to understand something, but to immediately explain it, sell it, apply it.
The third stem, 戊 (wù — Earth), plays the role of a "root." Earth gives birth to Metal, so 戊 is the source that nourishes 庚. At the level of the year's character, this gives a trait unexpected for such a mobile branch — a need for a stable base: a home, a resource, a reliable rear from which to launch its swift maneuvers. Without this root, the Monkey risks "scattering itself."
3 The Monkey's Character — but only the yearly layer
Let us stress once more: what follows is not a portrait of the personality, but a characterization of the yearly layer of the Monkey's energy. This is how "metallic autumn" manifests in the pillar of ancestors and in the early period of life.
- Quick wit — instant processing of information, fast conclusions (the work of 壬 — the Water within).
- Ingenuity — the Monkey finds workarounds where others see a wall.
- Humor — lightness, irony, the knack of defusing tension.
- Agility — both physical and social: able to adapt to any environment.
- Cunning — the flip side of intelligence: sometimes a tendency toward manipulation and "cutting corners."
The Monkey is a master of tools and tricks. It is the "engineer" of the zodiac: curious about how everything works and how it can be improved, taken apart, reassembled. Beneath the Yang Metal lies a need for constant mental stimulation — boredom is worse for the Monkey than overload.
The word "cunning" deserves a separate note. In the Western worldview this word is almost always negative, but in BaZi it is a neutral facet of metallic sharpness: the ability to see a shortcut, to bypass an obstacle, to use leverage. In a balanced chart this trait shows up as resourcefulness and diplomacy; in a strained one — as a tendency toward tricks and inconstancy. Which side prevails is determined not by the year, but by the balance of the whole chart and the current luck pillar.
Another important trait of the Monkey's yearly layer is social flexibility. Thanks to the Water 壬 within, a person of the Monkey year enters any environment with ease, adjusting speech and manner to the listener and forging connections. This makes the Monkey a born negotiator and networker. The downside — it is sometimes hard to tell where the "real" Monkey is and where its latest adaptive mask is.
4 Element and season: Yang Metal 庚 of early autumn
The Monkey 申 opens autumn — this is the beginning of the Metal season (August in the BaZi solar calendar, month 申). The year's energy turns from the summer expansion of Fire to the autumnal contraction of Metal: the air becomes crisper, thought sharper, and the time comes to "harvest" and take stock.
Yang Metal 庚 is not a piece of jewelry (that would be Yin Metal 辛 — xīn), but raw, rough metal: ore, an axe, a sword. So the Monkey year's energy is direct, decisive, sometimes harsh. The Water 壬 within adds mobility to this metal — hence the characteristic blend of strength and flexibility.
| Parameter | Meaning for 申 Monkey |
|---|---|
| Earthly branch | 申 (shēn) |
| Element | Yang Metal 庚 (gēng) |
| Polarity | Yang (陽 — yáng) |
| Season | Early autumn, the month of August |
| Hidden stems | 庚 (gēng — Metal), 壬 (rén — Water), 戊 (wù — Earth) |
| Triple combination | 申子辰 → Water |
| Clash | 寅申冲 (with the Tiger) |
🐒 Find out what the Monkey means in your own chart
The yearly sign is just 1 of the 8 characters. Build your full BaZi chart following the canon of the Joey Yap school: Day Master, four pillars, hidden stems, luck pillars across 80 years.
Personal Forecast · from 1000 RUB5 Compatibility 三合 and 沖 of the Monkey
In BaZi, "sign compatibility" is the interaction of earthly branches: harmonious combinations and clashes. For the Monkey 申 there are three key combinations.
The triple combination 三合 — 申子辰
三合 (sān hé — "triple combination") unites three branches into one powerful element. The Monkey belongs to the water combination 申子辰 (Monkey — Rat — Dragon → Water). This is the "water family": the Monkey 申 gives birth to Water, the Rat 子 (zǐ — Rat) is its peak, and the Dragon 辰 (chén — Dragon) is its storehouse. With the Rat and the Dragon, the Monkey finds its most natural allies — in friendship, marriage, partnership.
The six combination 六合 — 巳申合
Besides the triple combination, there is the paired 六合 (liù hé — "six combinations"). The Monkey forms a pair with 巳申合 (the Snake 巳 — sì — Snake, and the Monkey) → Water/Metal. This is a "binding" combination: an attraction and mutual bond arises between the Monkey and the Snake 巳. But there is a nuance in this pair — it also contains an element of punishment, so the bond can be intense and ambiguous.
The clash 沖 — 寅申冲
沖 (chōng — "clash") 寅申冲 is the conflict of the Monkey 申 with the Tiger 寅 (yín — Tiger). Metal against Wood: the Monkey "chops" the Tiger. This is not a verdict but an axis of movement and change: couples and periods on the Tiger–Monkey axis are full of dynamism, relocations, sharp turns. Sometimes destructive, sometimes a powerful engine of growth.
It is worth knowing about a subtler interaction too: within the pair 巳申 (Snake–Monkey) there is not only a combination but also a punishment 刑 (xíng — "punishment"), as well as an element of destruction. This means the Monkey's relationship with the Snake is rarely "smooth": it holds both a strong attraction and a hidden friction at once. An experienced BaZi master always looks at what outweighs what in a specific chart — the combination or the punishment. For pop horoscope, such nuances simply do not exist; it knows only "compatible / incompatible."
6 Birth Years of the Monkey
The Year of the Monkey recurs every 12 years. But remember: "Monkey 2016" and "Monkey 1980" are different stem–branch pairs, that is, different "versions" of the Monkey (Fire, Earth, and so on). Below are the yearly 申 branches.
| Year | Stem+branch | Type of Monkey |
|---|---|---|
| 1980 | 庚申 (Gēng-Shēn) | Metal Monkey |
| 1992 | 壬申 (Rén-Shēn) | Water Monkey |
| 2004 | 甲申 (Jiǎ-Shēn) | Wood Monkey |
| 2016 | 丙申 (Bǐng-Shēn) | Fire Monkey |
| 2028 | 戊申 (Wù-Shēn) | Earth Monkey |
The exact boundary of the year is defined not by January 1 and not by the Lunar New Year, but by the solar term 立春 (lì chūn — "the start of spring"), around February 4. Those born in late January or early February should check their year against the exact date and hour.
7 Strengths and Weaknesses
The main inner conflict of the Monkey's yearly layer is between the sharpness of Metal and the fluidity of Water. When the two are in balance, the person is brilliant and productive. When the Water 壬 "erodes" the Metal 庚, scatteredness appears: many ideas, few brought to completion. The full chart shows which way this balance leans for you specifically.
8 Career and Money 💰
The yearly energy of Metal 庚 with Water 壬 inside gravitates toward fields that value intellect, tools and communication:
- Technology and engineering — IT, development, mechanics, anything that needs to be "taken apart and reassembled."
- Finance and trading — Metal-Water gives a feel for flows, numbers, strategy.
- Negotiation, sales, media — Water 壬 is communication, a gift for words and connections.
- Science and research — the Monkey's curiosity feeds analytics.
- Entrepreneurship — ingenuity plus the ability to find workarounds.
With money, the Monkey is a speculator and strategist, not a "piggy bank." It earns through speed, schemes and connections, not through patient accumulation. But real financial potential is visible only through the wealth star (財星 — cái xīng) and the Yong Shen (用神 — yòng shén, "useful element") of the whole chart, not through the year.
The typical career dynamic of the yearly Monkey is a fast start and many twists. It picks up new things easily and often changes projects, niches, and at times even professions, chasing stimulation. The strength here is the speed of adapting to a shifting market; the risk is that depth is sacrificed to variety. It serves the Monkey well to consciously "polish to a shine" at least some of what it starts, otherwise its brilliant ideas remain mere prototypes.
On a team, the Monkey often becomes the "problem solver" and the link between technical specialists and people "outside" — clients, partners, investors. This is a rare combination: few can both grasp a complex system (Metal) and explain it clearly (Water). That is exactly why the Monkey's yearly energy fits so well the roles of product manager, technical entrepreneur, consultant.
9 Love and Relationships ❤️
In romance, the yearly Monkey is a fascinating, witty, unpredictable partner. It needs intellectual contact: it cannot endure a dull union. It is drawn most strongly to the Rat 子 and the Dragon 辰 (the water combination 申子辰) and to the Snake 巳 (the combination 巳申合) — though with the latter the bond can be passionate yet tense.
The axis of 沖 with the Tiger 寅 in relationships means passion-through-conflict: many sparks, much movement, the risk of "burning out." But let us recall the main point: compatibility in BaZi is determined not by the year, but by the day pillars of both partners — the Day Master, the spouse palace, and the interaction of all the branches. Two "Monkey years" may not suit each other, while those "incompatible by horoscope" may match perfectly.
❤️ Check the real compatibility of two charts
Not "sign with sign," but a full reading of two BaZi charts: Day Master, spouse palaces, combinations and clashes of all branches, the useful elements of both.
Build My Chart →10 Why You Need the Full Chart, Not the Year
We have walked through the Monkey's yearly layer — but it is only 1 character out of 8. Authentic BaZi is four pillars (year, month, day, hour), and the year among them is the most "distant," the pillar of ancestors. Personality and destiny are determined by:
- The Day Master (日主 — rì zhǔ) — the day stem, this is "you yourself." For two Monkeys it can be entirely different.
- The month branch — the strongest in the chart, it sets the season and the strength of the Day Master.
- The day branch — the palace of marriage and partner.
- The hour pillar — old age, children, hidden talents.
- 大運 (dà yùn — "luck pillars") — 10-year cycles that change destiny more strongly than the year.
Here is a vivid example of why the year does not decide everything. Take two people born in the same Monkey year 庚申. The first has a Day Master of 甲 (jiǎ — Yang Wood). For him, the Monkey's metal 庚 is 七殺 (qī shā — "seven killings," pressure): a harsh, demanding energy that tempers but also weighs down. The second has a Day Master of 壬 (rén — Yang Water). For him, that same metal 庚 is 印 (yìn — "the seal," resource and support): a source of nourishment, protection, wisdom. The very same "Monkey year" works in their lives in exactly opposite ways — and no pop horoscope will ever see this.
If you are a Monkey by year — that is an interesting detail, but only an overture. To hear the whole symphony of your destiny, you need the full chart based on the exact date, hour and place of birth. Then the "metal and water" of the Monkey fall into their place within the overall structure — and you will see not a generic portrait for 1/12 of the world, but a chart for you personally.