Someone born in January 2004 — Goat or Monkey?

Goat. The Monkey year did not begin until Lichun (立春), 4 Feb 2004, 19:56 (Beijing time, UTC+8), so every birthday from 1 January up to that instant still belongs to the Water Goat year 癸未. Chinese New Year 2004 fell on 22 January 2004, which is a different boundary again; classical chart work uses Lichun. Convert your birth moment to Beijing time before comparing it, because the Chinese calendar is defined on that meridian.

Is 2004 a Wood Monkey or a Metal Monkey?

Wood Monkey, and both labels are describing something real. The element in the popular name comes from the year's heavenly stem, which for 2004 is 甲 — Yang Wood. The Metal belongs to the branch 申, the Monkey's own fixed element, and it does not change from one Monkey year to the next. So 2004 is a Wood stem sitting over a metal branch; its na yin, a third system again, is 泉中水.

How old is someone born in 2004 in 2027?

22–23 by the ordinary count at Lichun 2027, and 24 by the nominal count (虚岁) that starts at one and rises at each Chinese New Year. The two answers differ because the ordinary count waits for the birthday and the nominal one does not. 2004 is one of 8 Monkey years between 1924 and 2027; in 2027 all of them stand in the same relationship to the Tai Sui — None — but each is a different age.

2004 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Wood Monkey (甲申)

甲申 Jia Shen · Yang Wood over the Monkey's Metal branch · number 21 of 60

2004 was a 甲申 (Jia Shen) year — the 21st of the sixty stem-and-branch combinations, and in everyday English a Wood Monkey year. The element in that name comes from the heavenly stem 甲 (Yang Wood); the branch 申, the Monkey itself, carries Metal whatever the stem above it says. Its na yin, the older sixty-part scheme, reads 泉中水 — a Water na yin.

The 2004 zodiac year did not start on 1 January. It started at Lichun (立春), 4 Feb 2004, 19:56 (Beijing time, UTC+8), and ran until the instant before Lichun 2005, 4 Feb 2005, 01:43 (Beijing time, UTC+8). Chinese New Year 2004 fell on 22 January 2004, a separate boundary that festivals use; between the two dates the popular and the classical conventions disagree. Anyone born in January or early February 2004 should check the table below before claiming a sign.

2004 is one of 8 Monkey years between 1924 and 2027, and one of 2 Wood Monkey years in that span (1944 and 2004), because stem and branch only line up again after sixty years: the same 甲申 pillar last stood in 1944 and returns in 2064.

Which sign a 2004 birthday belongs to

Two rows, one boundary: the zodiac year turns at Lichun, not at midnight on 1 January and not at Chinese New Year.
Born between (Beijing time)	Stem and branch	Sign	Why
1 January 2004, 00:00 → 4 February 2004, 19:56	癸未	Water Goat	Still the Goat year that opened in 2003.
4 February 2004, 19:56 → 31 December 2004, 23:59	甲申	Wood Monkey	The Monkey year proper; it runs on past 31 December until Lichun 2005.

Born on 1 January 2004? That is a Goat, not a Monkey: the Water Goat year 癸未 ran on until 4 February 2004 at 19:56 Beijing time.

Lichun is an astronomical instant, not a date: in 2004 it fell at 19:56 Beijing time (UTC+8). The instant itself starts the Monkey year, so a birth at 19:56 on that day is already a Monkey. Convert your own birth moment to Beijing time first — a birth in the Americas on the previous evening can already be past Lichun in Beijing. Check an exact birth date and time.

The 甲申 pillar

Every row is computed: the stem and branch from the Lichun boundary, the na yin from the sixty-cycle table, both dates from the Chinese calendar itself.
	2004
Stem and branch	甲申 (Jia Shen)
Place in the sixty-year cycle	21 of 60
Heavenly stem	甲 — Yang Wood 木
Earthly branch	申 — the Monkey 猴, fixed element Metal 金
Na yin (纳音)	泉中水 — a Water na yin
Lichun (start of the zodiac year)	4 Feb 2004, 19:56 (Beijing time, UTC+8)
Chinese New Year	22 January 2004
Same pillar last seen / next seen	1944 / 2064

Ten stems and twelve branches only return to the same pairing after sixty years, so 甲申 belongs to 1944, 2004 and 2064 and to no year in between. That is why a sixtieth birthday is traditionally marked: it is the year the whole pillar comes back.

The Wood Monkey

Wood Monkey (Jia Shen) puts Wood over a Metal branch, so the branch controls the stem — the tradition's image of a plan being cut to size. The reading is invention with discipline forced on it from outside, and the variant is associated with engineering, law and anything where a good idea must survive a specification. The caution is frustration when the constraint is arbitrary.

Five stems above one branch: the animal returns every twelve years, the exact pillar only every sixty, so the five variants are not evenly spread across any span shorter than that.
Variant	Stem and branch	Monkey years 1924–2027
Wood Monkey	甲申	1944, 2004
Fire Monkey	丙申	1956, 2016
Earth Monkey	戊申	1968
Metal Monkey	庚申	1980
Water Monkey	壬申	1932, 1992

Every Monkey year from 1924 to 2027

Born in 2004: the 2027 Goat year

The Tai Sui relationship and the lucky element belong to the sign, not to the birth year, so every Goat year on this site reads the same here; the ages do not.
	Monkey born 2004
Age at Lichun 2027	22–23
Nominal age 虚岁	24
Relationship with the 2027 Tai Sui	None
Traditional reading	Steady — no direct relationship with the Tai Sui
Ben Ming Nian 本命年	No — 2027 is a Goat year
Lucky element for the year	Water · black, blue · 1, 6 · North

At Lichun 2027 someone born in 2004 is 22 if their birthday has not yet come round and 23 if it has. The nominal age (虚岁), counted as one at birth and raised at each Chinese New Year, is 24 once New Year 2027 has passed.

The full reading — the month-by-month table, the five-element relationship with the year stem and the traditional remedies — is on Monkey in 2027. For the part of the sign that does not move with the year, see the Monkey profile.

Frequently asked questions

Someone born in January 2004 — Goat or Monkey?: Goat. The Monkey year did not begin until Lichun (立春), 4 Feb 2004, 19:56 (Beijing time, UTC+8), so every birthday from 1 January up to that instant still belongs to the Water Goat year 癸未. Chinese New Year 2004 fell on 22 January 2004, which is a different boundary again; classical chart work uses Lichun. Convert your birth moment to Beijing time before comparing it, because the Chinese calendar is defined on that meridian.
Is 2004 a Wood Monkey or a Metal Monkey?: Wood Monkey, and both labels are describing something real. The element in the popular name comes from the year's heavenly stem, which for 2004 is 甲 — Yang Wood. The Metal belongs to the branch 申, the Monkey's own fixed element, and it does not change from one Monkey year to the next. So 2004 is a Wood stem sitting over a metal branch; its na yin, a third system again, is 泉中水.
How old is someone born in 2004 in 2027?: 22–23 by the ordinary count at Lichun 2027, and 24 by the nominal count (虚岁) that starts at one and rises at each Chinese New Year. The two answers differ because the ordinary count waits for the birthday and the nominal one does not. 2004 is one of 8 Monkey years between 1924 and 2027; in 2027 all of them stand in the same relationship to the Tai Sui — None — but each is a different age.