What Chinese Zodiac Is 2028? Year of the Earth Monkey

2028 Lunar New Year: start and end dates

Lunar New Year opened the Earth Monkey year on January 26, 2028, and the year ran to February 12, 2029. So a birth date of Jan 26, 2028 or later counts as Earth Monkey, and so do early 2029 birthdays through Feb 12; births in 2028 before Jan 26 still belong to the Fire 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: 1968 are Earth Monkey years too. That Wednesday new year arrived with the Sun in Aquarius in the Western zodiac.

What the Earth Monkey is like

Brilliance with both feet on the ground: that is the classic image of this Monkey year. With Earth generating Metal, readings describe dependable, intelligent people who excel at mentoring and practical innovation. Those born now are trusted to deliver. Saying no occasionally and making room for pure play keep their nimble spirit alive. Puzzles, games and travel keep their minds playful as well as productive.

In classical thought, Earth belongs to the centre and to the late-summer pause between seasons, the point where things ripen and settle. As a year stem, it tends to slow an animal down in a useful way, adding prudence, loyalty and a strong sense of responsibility. People born under an Earth stem are often described as dependable, sensible and protective of the people they love. They value security and tend to build carefully. The caution traditionally attached to Earth is caution itself: overthinking, clinging to the familiar and carrying other people's problems as though they were their own.

2028 in the animal cycle and in numerology

In numerology the digits of this year reduce to 3, associated with expression, creativity and sociability, so a 3 year is described as lively and communicative. The digits of 2028 add up to 12, which reduces to 3. The Monkey holds the ninth place among the twelve animals and its fixed element is Metal. Set beside the year's Earth stem, earth generates Metal, which readings use to describe how settled or stretched the combination feels. The year before was the Fire Goat and the year after is the Earth Rooster.

Chinese almanacs name 2028 Wu-Shen, pairing the Earth stem Wu 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.