Began January 30, 1968 · 384 days long
1968: year of the Earth Monkey
The Monkey year started on January 30, not on January 1 — so anyone born in 1968 before that date is a Goat.
- Opening new moon
- Jan 29, 1968 4:30 PM UTC
- In Beijing
- 12:30 AM Tue, Jan 30 · sets the date
- Year of the Monkey
- 384 days 13 lunar months, one of them leap
- It ends
- Feb 16, 1969 4:26 PM UTC
New moons: NASA JPL DE440. New-year dates: Hong Kong Observatory.
Exact times
Chinese New Year 1968: the new moon in your city
The Earth Monkey year opened with the new moon at 4:30 PM UTC on January 29, 1968 — 12:30 AM on January 30 in Beijing, the time the calendar reckons by, and 11:30 AM on January 29 in New York, 4:30 PM on January 29 in London and 2:30 AM on January 30 in Sydney.
| City | New moon that opens the year |
|---|---|
| UTC | Mon, Jan 29, 1968 |
| Honolulu United States | 6:30 AM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−10 |
| Anchorage United States | 6:30 AM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−10 |
| Los Angeles United States | 8:30 AM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−8 |
| Phoenix United States | 9:30 AM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−7 |
| Denver United States | 9:30 AM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−7 |
| Chicago United States | 10:30 AM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−6 |
| Mexico City Mexico | 10:30 AM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−6 |
| New York United States | 11:30 AM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−5 |
| Toronto Canada | 11:30 AM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−5 |
| Bogotá Colombia | 11:30 AM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−5 |
| Lima Peru | 11:30 AM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−5 |
| Caracas Venezuela | 12:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−4 |
| Santiago Chile | 12:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−4 |
| Buenos Aires Argentina | 1:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−3 |
| São Paulo Brazil | 2:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−2 |
| Reykjavík Iceland | 3:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC−1 |
| London United Kingdom | 4:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC |
| Lagos Nigeria | 5:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+1 |
| Paris France | 5:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+1 |
| Berlin Germany | 5:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+1 |
| Johannesburg South Africa | 6:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+2 |
| Cairo Egypt | 6:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+2 |
| Athens Greece | 6:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+2 |
| Istanbul Turkey | 6:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+2 |
| Moscow Russia | 7:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+3 |
| Nairobi Kenya | 7:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+3 |
| Tehran Iran | 8:00 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+3:30 |
| Dubai United Arab Emirates | 8:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+4 |
| Karachi Pakistan | 9:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+5 |
| New Delhi India | 10:00 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+5:30 |
| Kathmandu Nepal | 10:00 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+5:30 |
| Dhaka Bangladesh | 10:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+6 |
| Bangkok Thailand | 11:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+7 |
| Jakarta Indonesia | 11:30 PM Mon, Jan 29, 1968 · UTC+7 |
| Singapore | 12:00 AM Tue, Jan 30, 1968 · UTC+7:30 |
| Beijing China | 12:30 AM Tue, Jan 30, 1968 · UTC+8 |
| Manila Philippines | 12:30 AM Tue, Jan 30, 1968 · UTC+8 |
| Perth Australia | 12:30 AM Tue, Jan 30, 1968 · UTC+8 |
| Seoul South Korea | 1:30 AM Tue, Jan 30, 1968 · UTC+9 |
| Tokyo Japan | 1:30 AM Tue, Jan 30, 1968 · UTC+9 |
| Adelaide Australia | 2:00 AM Tue, Jan 30, 1968 · UTC+9:30 |
| Brisbane Australia | 2:30 AM Tue, Jan 30, 1968 · UTC+10 |
| Sydney Australia | 2:30 AM Tue, Jan 30, 1968 · UTC+10 |
| Auckland New Zealand | 4:30 AM Tue, Jan 30, 1968 · UTC+12 |
New moon: JPL DE440 (Swiss Ephemeris within 8 s); 1968 date as in the Hong Kong Observatory calendar. Local times: IANA time zones, to the minute.
18 pages · printable
The 2027 Sky Calendar — free PDF
Every retrograde, eclipse, new and full moon of 2027 to the minute, already converted to your city. A month to a page, ready to print.
Personality
The Earth Monkey personality
Anyone born from January 30, 1968 through February 16, 1969 is an Earth Monkey: the yang earth stem 戊 over the 申 branch.
Earth feeds the Monkey's own Metal in the five-element cycle, so this Monkey is the best supported of the five. Earth brings steadiness, practicality and patience — traditionally the most reliable version, and the slowest to change direction.
Stem and branch
1968 is 戊申 (Wùshēn)
Na yin — the sounding element
Earth of the Great Post Road 大驛土
The broad road of the imperial courier system. Associated with connection, travel and carrying messages — ground that links distant places.
1968 therefore carries earth from its stem and earth from its na yin — the same element twice. What na yin is →
Li Chun inside the year
A double spring year
The two Li Chun dates around it are February 5, 1968 and February 4, 1969, Beijing time. The Monkey year spans January 30, 1968 to February 16, 1969, so both dates sit inside it: a double spring year (双春). What double spring and blind years mean →
Who clashes with a 1968 Monkey
The 申 branch puts a 1968 Monkey opposite the Tiger on the wheel, the traditional clash; the nearest Tiger year after it was 1974. Its harmony partner is the Snake, whose year came round 9 years later, in 1977. How the Monkey and Tiger get on →
Monkeys born in 1968 turn 58 in 2026 — 59 by the traditional count, which starts at one.
If you were born in 1968
- Born January 1 – January 29, 1968: a Fire Goat, the animal of 1967.
- Born January 30, 1968 or later in the year: an Earth Monkey.
A year-only calculator mislabels 29 days of 1968, everything from January 1 to January 29. Roughly one US birth in 13 falls on those dates — 7.6% in SSA records for 2000–2014. Check your exact date →
The Monkey across the cycle
The animal returns every 12 years but the element every 60, so each of these years is a different Monkey.
The lunar calendar of 1968
Why 384 days, and not 365
1968 repeated its seventh month: the leap month 闰七月 ran from August 24 to September 21 and stretched the year to 384 days. Seven of the 13 months had 30 days.
The 30-day months were the 2nd, 4th, 5th, 7th, 8th, 10th and 12th.
Festival dates in the 1968 lunar year
| Festival | Lunar date | Date |
|---|---|---|
| Lantern Festival 元宵节 | first month, day 15 | Tue, Feb 13, 1968 |
| Dragon Boat Festival 端午节 | fifth month, day 5 | Fri, May 31, 1968 |
| Qixi, the Double Seventh 七夕 | seventh month, day 7 | Wed, Jul 31, 1968 |
| Ghost Festival 中元节 | seventh month, day 15 | Thu, Aug 8, 1968 |
| Mid-Autumn Festival 中秋节 | eighth month, day 15 | Sun, Oct 6, 1968 |
| Double Ninth Festival 重阳节 | ninth month, day 9 | Wed, Oct 30, 1968 |
| Winter solstice 冬至 | solar term, Sun at 270° | Sun, Dec 22, 1968 |
| Laba Festival 腊八节 | twelfth month, day 8 | Sat, Jan 25, 1969 |
The year's first full moon arrived at 2:42 PM on February 14, the day after the Lantern Festival. This time the calendar and the sky agreed: the Moon was exactly full on the night of the Mid-Autumn Festival, at 7:46 PM Beijing time on October 6.
Dates follow Beijing time (UTC+8), the reference clock of the Chinese calendar. Why lunar years differ in length →
Lunar years around 1968
Lengths differ because a leap month is inserted every two or three years. This is what makes the new year date jump rather than drift.
By date, 1968 sits mid-table: of the 110 new years, 32 fall earlier in the calendar and 76 later. One other year shares the date. Twelve years earlier, 1956 began on February 12; twelve years later, 1980 began on February 16 — both marked in lavender with the other Monkey years.
Cite this page
AstroHot. “Chinese Horoscope 1968: Zodiac Year of the Earth Monkey.” Accessed October 28, 2026. https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1968/
For Wikipedia
{{cite web |title=Chinese Horoscope 1968: Zodiac Year of the Earth Monkey |url=https://astrohot.com/chinese-horoscope/year/1968/ |website=AstroHot |access-date=2026-10-28}}