1980: Year of the Metal Monkey
The 1980 Chinese zodiac year is the Yang Metal Monkey, and it runs from 16 February 1980 to 4 February 1981 — not from 1 January.
- Animal
- Monkey 猴
- Element and polarity
- Yang Metal
- Gan-Zhi
- Geng Shen 庚申
- Age this zodiac year
- Born in 1980, a person turns 46 during the 2026 year
Born early in 1980? You may be Goat, not Monkey
Chinese New Year 1980 fell on 16 February 1980. Anyone born between 1 January 1980 and 15 February 1980 — a window of 46 days — belongs to the 1979 zodiac year, the Yin Earth Goat, and not to the Monkey.
Check an exact birth date against the 16 February 1980 boundary.
Exact 1980 zodiac year dates
The 1980 lunar year ran its ordinary twelve months, 355 days in total.
Other Monkey years around 1980
| Monkey year | Complete name | Begins |
|---|---|---|
| 1944 | Yang Wood Monkey | 25 January 1944 |
| 1956 | Yang Fire Monkey | 12 February 1956 |
| 1968 | Yang Earth Monkey | 30 January 1968 |
| 1992 | Yang Water Monkey | 4 February 1992 |
| 2004 | Yang Wood Monkey | 22 January 2004 |
| 2016 | Yang Fire Monkey | 8 February 2016 |
The exact pairing 庚申 — Yang Metal Monkey — returns only once every sixty years: 1920, 2040.