--- title: "What Chinese Zodiac Is 2004? Year of the Wood Monkey" description: "2004 is the Year of the Wood Monkey in the Chinese zodiac, from January 22, 2004 to February 8, 2005. Personality, Lunar New Year dates and numerology." canonical: https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac/2004 last-updated: 2026-10-23 reviewed: false author: Unified Reading editorial --- # What Chinese Zodiac Is 2004? Year of the Wood Monkey In Chinese astrology, 2004 is the Year of the Wood Monkey, a Yang year. It began at Lunar New Year on January 22, 2004 and ended on February 8, 2005, so people born in 2004 before Jan 22 belong to the Water Goat year. ## Key facts | Fact | Value | | --- | --- | | Animal · element · polarity | Monkey · Wood · Yang | | Starts (Lunar New Year) | January 22, 2004 | | Ends | February 8, 2005 | | Born in 2004 before Jan 22 | Water Goat (the 2003 year) | | Monkey's fixed element | Metal (Metal controls Wood) | | Other Wood Monkey years (1924-2044) | 1944 | | Stem-branch name | Jia-Shen | | Lunar New Year weekday · Sun sign | Thursday · Aquarius | | Numerology year number | 6 | ## 2004 Lunar New Year: start and end dates Lunar New Year opened the Wood Monkey year on January 22, 2004, and the year ran to February 8, 2005. So a birth date of Jan 22, 2004 or later counts as Wood Monkey, and so do early 2005 birthdays through Feb 8; births in 2004 before Jan 22 still belong to the Water Goat. That moving boundary comes from the lunisolar calendar, in which the new year starts with the second new moon after the winter solstice in most years, so its Gregorian date shifts by up to a month from one year to the next. Look sixty years either side and the pairing repeats: 1944 are Wood Monkey years too. That Thursday new year arrived with the Sun in Aquarius in the Western zodiac. ## What the Wood Monkey is like In a Wood Monkey year, the Monkey's ingenuity turns towards practical, helpful projects. Classical readings describe people born now as curious, collaborative and fond of teaching and inventing. Metal controlling Wood can create a push-and-pull between play and purpose. Mastering one skill at a time, and checking how jokes land, are the suggestions most often given. Their laughter tends to make workshops and classrooms livelier places. In the five-element scheme, Wood belongs to the east and to the green energy of early spring, and that seasonal image shapes how it colours an animal sign. A Wood stem tends to soften sharp edges and add warmth, curiosity and a cooperative instinct. Traditional texts associate it with benevolence, growth and the wish to build something that lasts beyond the self. People born under a Wood stem are often portrayed as principled, open-handed and hopeful about others. The caution usually attached to Wood is a habit of spreading energy thinly, saying yes to every request and feeling quietly hurt when generosity is not returned in kind. ## 2004 in the animal cycle and in numerology In numerology the year's digits come to 6, linked with home, care and responsibility, so a 6 year is read as one centred on family and commitments. The digits of 2004 add up to 6. The Monkey holds the ninth place among the twelve animals and its fixed element is Metal. Set beside the year's Wood stem, metal controls Wood, which readings use to describe how settled or stretched the combination feels. The year before was the Water Goat and the year after is the Wood Rooster. Chinese almanacs name 2004 Jia-Shen, pairing the Wood stem Jia with the branch Shen. Both are Yang, as stem and branch always share a polarity, so of the hundred and twenty possible pairings only sixty ever occur, and each one names a single year in every cycle. ## Frequently asked questions ### What Chinese zodiac is 2004? 2004 is the Year of the Wood Monkey. It started on January 22, 2004 and ended on February 8, 2005. ### What if I was born in January or February 2004? Check the date against Jan 22. Born before January 22, 2004, you are a Water Goat; born on or after it, you are a Wood Monkey. ### What element is 2004 in the Chinese zodiac? Wood, a Yang year. The Monkey's own fixed element is Metal; the year element changes every two years, while the fixed element stays with the animal. ### What is the traditional Chinese name for 2004? Jia-Shen. The first part is the heavenly stem, which carries the year's element and polarity; the second is the earthly branch, which carries the animal. Almanacs, calendars and Four Pillars charts identify years this way rather than by animal alone. ### When is the next Wood Monkey year? 2064, sixty years later, when the five elements and twelve animals line up again; the table also has 1944. ## Related pages - [Wood Monkey](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac/wood-monkey) - [Monkey](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac/monkey) - [Chinese zodiac years](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac/years) - [2003 (Water Goat)](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac/2003) - [2005 (Wood Rooster)](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac/2005) - [1992 (Water Monkey)](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac/1992) - [2016 (Fire Monkey)](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac/2016) - [1944 (Wood Monkey)](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac/1944) - [1980 (Metal Monkey)](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac/1980) - [2028 (Earth Monkey)](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac/2028) - [Chinese zodiac calculator](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac-calculator) - [Chinese zodiac](https://unifiedreading.com/chinese-zodiac) ## About Unified Reading Unified Reading combines Pythagorean numerology, the Western Sun sign (Moon and rising with a birth time), the Chinese zodiac and life-stage context in one reading. The preview is free at https://unifiedreading.com/#details; the full reading is $4.99, paid once through Stripe, with no subscription. A fictional sample is at https://unifiedreading.com/sample. With a birth time and place it adds whole sign houses and the chart ruler; it does not calculate planetary aspects or transits, and it is a framework for reflection, not a prediction.