The tables
Why the pair is rated this way
The Rat and the Monkey sit four steps apart and belong to the same trine (三合), the water trio they share with the Dragon. Two members of a trine are read as a half harmony: they pull toward the same element even without the third.
The Monkey is a metal sign and the Rat a water sign. In the generating cycle metal carries water, so the Monkey is read as the one who supports and the Rat as the one who grows from it.
The Rat rules the winter month that starts around Dec 7 and the hours from 11 pm to 1 am; the Monkey rules the autumn month that starts around Aug 8 and the hours from 3 pm to 5 pm.
For comparison, the Rat's harmony partner is the Ox and its trine partners are the Monkey and the Dragon; the Monkey's harmony partner is the Snake and its trine partners are the Rat and the Dragon.
Reading
In love, friendship and work
Traditionally the Rat is quick-witted, resourceful and careful with money, and the Monkey is clever, playful and inventive. The Rat tends to bring sharp planning and look for security; the Monkey tends to bring fresh solutions and look for variety.
In love, trine partners tend to want the same things from life, so they tend to forgive each other's different styles more easily.
As friends or co-workers the support tends to run one way, so it helps when the one who gets it gives something back.
Years
Which years are these animals?
Rat years: 1948 (Earth Rat), 1960 (Metal Rat), 1972 (Water Rat), 1984 (Wood Rat), 1996 (Fire Rat), 2008 (Earth Rat), 2020 (Metal Rat).
Monkey years: 1956 (Fire Monkey), 1968 (Earth Monkey), 1980 (Metal Monkey), 1992 (Water Monkey), 2004 (Wood Monkey), 2016 (Fire Monkey), 2028 (Earth Monkey).
9 of the idols with a Bias Match idol page were born in Rat years.
23 of the idols with a Bias Match idol page were born in Monkey years.
Your pair
Check two birth years
A zodiac year starts in late January or February, not on January 1: Chinese New Year calendars switch at Lunar New Year, and saju switches at Lichun, around February 4. If you were born in January or early February, you may belong to the year before.
Beyond the birth year
On Bias Match the animal that counts most is not the birth year but the day branch, the animal in each person's day pillar. If two people's day branches are Rat (子) and Monkey (申), the compatibility calculator scores that check as half a plus, next to five other checks.
The text is fixed sentence templates filled in with the classical relation tables built into the Bias Match engine; no AI model generates or rewrites it. For entertainment only: the zodiac describes old patterns, not what will happen between two people.