Chinese calendar 农历

How the Chinese calendar works

The Chinese calendar follows both the moon and the sun. Each month begins on the day of a new moon, so months are 29 or 30 days long and the full moon falls around the 15th. Twelve such months add up to about 354 days, eleven short of a solar year, so roughly every third year a thirteenth “leap” month is added to keep the months in step with the seasons. The leap month repeats the number of the month before it: after the sixth month comes a leap sixth month.

The seasons are tracked by 24 solar terms, fixed points on the sun’s yearly path about fifteen days apart, such as the Start of Spring, the Summer Solstice and Frost’s Descent. Farmers used them to time planting and harvest, and festivals such as Qingming are set by them.

When is Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year is the first day of the first lunar month. It falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, between 21 January and 20 February.

How the zodiac year is decided

The twelve animals follow the lunar year, not the Western one. Someone born on 20 January 2025 was born before the new year began on 29 January, so their animal is the Dragon of the year before, not the Snake. Each year also has one of five elements, which together with the animal makes a sixty-year cycle: 2026 is the year of the Fire Horse.

Common questions

What is a lunar birthday? Many families keep birthdays by the lunar date, so the day moves in the Western calendar each year. Enter a birth date on the Birthday tab to see when the lunar birthday falls for the next ten years.

How accurate is this? The new moons and solar terms are calculated from the positions of the sun and moon, in Beijing time, and agree with the published calendar for every Chinese New Year and leap month checked from 1900 to 2050. In three months later this century (September 2057, September 2089 and August 2097) the new moon falls within minutes of midnight, and printed calendars may differ from this one by a day.

Is the Chinese calendar the same in Vietnam or Korea? Nearly. Those calendars are calculated for their own time zones, so occasionally a month or a new year starts a day apart.