1968 Chinese zodiac sign: Earth Monkey

Chinese year 1968 begins on Tuesday, January 30, 1968, and ends on Sunday, February 16, 1969, the day before the Year of the Earth Rooster begins. It has a full 384 days, because it is a leap year with 13 lunar months; the next one comes in 1971. The Chinese calendar adds the extra month roughly every two or three years so that it doesn't drift away from the seasons.

The year opens with the new moon on Monday, January 29, 1968 at 11:29 a.m. ET. In Beijing it is already January 30, 12:29 a.m. China Standard Time, and the Beijing date sets New Year's Day, so the new year begins on January 30.

The Lantern Festival, which closes the New Year celebrations, comes on the fifteenth day of the first month, so on Tuesday, February 13, 1968. The year's first full moon falls on Wednesday, February 14, 1968 at 1:43 a.m. ET.

It is year 45 of the sixty-year cycle that began in 1924 with the Wood Rat. In Chinese this year is called 戊申 (wùshēn): the heavenly stem 戊 gives the element and the earthly branch 申 the animal.

In Ba Zi astrology, the Four Pillars of Destiny, the year 1968 begins not at the lunar New Year but at the moment of lìchūn (立春, “start of spring”), when the Sun reaches 315° of ecliptic longitude: on Sunday, February 4, 1968 at 1:07 p.m. Eastern Time. That is 5 days after Chinese New Year, so anyone born between January 30 and that moment already has the Earth Monkey sign in the lunar calendar but still the Fire Goat sign in Ba Zi.

This page and the calculator give your sign by the lunar calendar.

The Monkey is the sign of intelligence and inventiveness. It is brilliant, curious about the world and quick to learn, and it solves problems in unconventional ways.

Stability, common sense and care for the people close to you. Earth steadies every sign and makes it more realistic.

The Earth element covers two years in a row, 1968 (yang) and 1969 (yin), and comes back every ten years: before that in 1958–1959, next in 1978–1979.

The Earth Monkey is the calmest and most responsible of its family. Earth channels its cleverness toward practical goals: instead of mischief, there is solid work and care for its loved ones. It is generous and loyal. But it demands a lot of itself and others, and takes criticism worse than it shows.

In 2026, people born in 1968 turn 58 years old. The Year of the Fire Horse is running now, which tradition counts as a year with no special tie for the Monkey. People born in 1968 reach their next běnmìngnián, the year of their own sign, in 2028, when they turn 60 years old.

The Monkey comes back every 12 years, each time with a different element. The exact combination of 1968, the Earth Monkey, returns every 60 years: in 1908, 1968 and 2028.