1968 Chinese Zodiac: Year of the Earth Monkey

沉浸 TeamAugust 26, 20264 min read

The 1968 Chinese zodiac animal is the Monkey. More precisely, 1968 was the Year of the Earth Monkey (戊申 wùshēn): the zodiac year ran from January 30, 1968 to February 16, 1969. If you were born in that window, your Chinese zodiac sign is the Monkey (猴 hóu).

One catch before anything else: the zodiac year follows the lunar calendar, not January 1. Born in 1968 before January 30? Then you belong to the previous animal, the Fire Goat. The next section has the exact dates.

1968 Chinese zodiac at a glance

Animal: Monkey (猴 hóu), the ninth of the 12 zodiac animals
Element: Earth (土 tǔ)
Traditional name: 戊申 (wùshēn) in the 60-year cycle
Dates: January 30, 1968 to February 16, 1969
Lucky numbers: 4, 9
Lucky colors: white, blue, gold

Born in January or February 1968?

Chinese New Year fell on January 30 in 1968. So:

Born January 1 to January 29, 1968: you're a Fire Goat (goat year 1967), not a Monkey.
Born January 30 or later in 1968: you're a Earth Monkey.

This is the single most common mistake people make with the Chinese zodiac. When a January or February birthday is involved, always check the new year date before assuming the animal.

The Earth Monkey personality

Monkeys are the zodiac's clever tricksters: curious, playful, and endlessly inventive. They learn anything fast, joke their way out of trouble, and get bored the moment a puzzle is solved. Life around a Monkey is never dull.

Earth is the element of stability. It adds patience, reliability, and a practical, grounded streak. In the 60-year cycle each animal pairs with one of five elements, so a Earth Monkey (born 1968) reads a little different from Monkeys of other years: the earth side colors how the monkey's core traits show up.

Strengths:

Brilliant problem-solver
Witty and fun
Versatile and fast-learning
Bounces back from anything

Watch out for:

Mischievous with the truth
Restless and scattered
Can seem unserious

Monkeys excel in engineering, comedy, science, media, and startups, anywhere cleverness is the job.

1968 zodiac compatibility

Traditional Chinese astrology groups the 12 animals into "trines" of three signs that share a temperament, and pairs each sign with a "secret friend" and one clash.

Best matches for the Monkey: the Rat and the Dragon (trine partners), plus the Snake, the Monkey's secret friend.
Trickiest match: the Tiger, the Monkey's opposite on the zodiac wheel.

Treat this as folk wisdom rather than fate. Plenty of happy couples "clash" on paper, and Chinese families today read these charts with a wink more often than a frown.

How to say it in Chinese

猴 (hóu): monkey
生肖 (shēngxiào): Chinese zodiac sign
我属猴 (wǒ shǔ hóu): "I'm a Monkey." The verb 属 (shǔ) means "to belong to"
本命年 (běnmìngnián): your own zodiac year, when your animal comes back around

Born in 1968? Your next 本命年 is 2028, the next Monkey year after 2026. Tradition says to wear red that year for luck.

Want to go beyond the zodiac? Create a free Chenjin account to hear words like 猴 and 生肖 pronounced by native-quality audio, save them as flashcards, and start reading real Chinese stories at your level.

Other Monkey years

1980: Metal Monkey (February 16, 1980 to February 4, 1981)
1992: Water Monkey (February 4, 1992 to January 22, 1993)
2004: Wood Monkey (January 22, 2004 to February 8, 2005)
2016: Fire Monkey (February 8, 2016 to January 27, 2017)
2028: Earth Monkey (January 26, 2028 to February 12, 2029)

Read the full Year of the Monkey guide for the personality in depth, or look up a different birth year on the Chinese zodiac overview.

1968 Chinese zodiac FAQ

What animal is 1968 in the Chinese zodiac?

1968 is the Year of the Monkey. Anyone born from January 30, 1968 to February 16, 1969 is a Monkey; a birthday earlier in 1968 belongs to the Year of the Goat.

What element is 1968?

Earth. The full sign for 1968 is the Earth Monkey (戊申 wùshēn), a combination that repeats only once every 60 years.

How old is someone born in 1968?

Someone born in 1968 turns 58 in 2026, or is still 57 if their birthday hasn't come around yet this year. In traditional Chinese age counting (虚岁 xūsuì), you'd add one more, since babies are counted as one year old at birth.