Quickness, and the trouble it gets you into.
Shen holds the middle of the afternoon, the hour when concentration has started to go and cleverness takes over from patience. The monkey is the sign of the mind that finds the shortcut — which is a compliment and a warning in the same breath, and the cycle has never separated them.
Is this your sign?
The Monkey years are 1968, 1980, 1992, 2004, 2016 and 2028.
But the zodiac year begins at Chinese New Year, not on 1 January, and that date moves between 21 January and 20 February. A birthday in January or the first half of February usually belongs to the animal before. The box on the product page does that sum for you — type in your birth year and it picks the right pendant.
The pendant
- Branch Shen 申 · the double hour 15:00–17:00 · fixed element metal
- Set with natural African opal, with a small nano garnet accent, picked by hand for your order
- Solid 925 sterling silver, gold plating on the animal and the mount
- White cubic zirconia accent stones — laboratory-made, not mined, and we say so
- Pendant roughly 25 mm across, on a box chain. No size to choose
- Made after you order it, up to 10 days. Free tracked delivery
See the Monkey pendant — £189 →
Your own zodiac year
Every twelfth year is your own animal's year again — běnmìngnián. Traditionally it is the year people wear their own sign, and it is the usual reason one of these is bought as a gift. The next Monkey year is 2028.
All twelve signs · How the Chinese zodiac became jewellery
Carried as a mark of when you started. Some people feel something when they put one on. Some don't. Either way it is an old idea, accurately made. We make no medical or health claims.