Chinese calendar
Today’s date on the Chinese lunar calendar, a converter that works in both directions, and a calendar for every month. All dates are counted in Beijing time, the way the Chinese calendar itself is.
Calendars by year
2026: Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec
2027: Jan · Feb · Mar · Apr · May · Jun · Jul · Aug · Sep · Oct · Nov · Dec
How the Chinese calendar works
Months follow the Moon. Each month begins on the day of the new moon and lasts 29 or 30 days, so the 15th is always close to the full moon. Twelve such months make 354 or 355 days, about eleven short of a solar year.
Leap months keep it in step with the Sun. Seven times in nineteen years a thirteenth month is added. The rule is astronomical: the month that contains the winter solstice is always the 11th, and when there are thirteen new moons between two winter solstices, the first month without a major solar term is the leap one. It repeats the number of the month before it. The next leap months are a leap 5th month in 2028, a leap 3rd month in 2031, a leap 11th month in 2033.
Solar terms mark the seasons. The Sun’s yearly path is cut into 24 terms of fifteen degrees, from Start of Spring to Major Cold. Farmers worked by them, the leap-month rule depends on them, and a Four Pillars chart changes month at them. The 24 solar terms
Years run in a cycle of sixty. Ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches pair off into sixty names, and the branches carry the twelve animals: 2026 is 丙午, the Fire Horse, and 2027 is 丁未, the Fire Goat. Days are counted in the same sixty-day cycle without a break, which is where the day pillar of each date comes from. Find your zodiac animal
Time zone matters. The calendar is calculated for 120° east, Beijing time. Korea and Vietnam use the same rules for their own meridians, so their lunar dates occasionally differ from China’s by a day, and twice in recent years by a whole leap month (2012 and 2017 in Korea). This site’s lunar birthday calculator follows the Korean calendar; everything on this page follows the Chinese one.
What people use it for
Festival dates, from Lunar New Year to Mid-Autumn. Birthdays and memorial days kept on the lunar date. Lunar age, which goes up at New Year. The Chinese gender chart, which needs the lunar month of conception. And choosing a date for a wedding or a move, for which almanacs list each day’s stem and branch.
FAQ
What is today’s date on the Chinese calendar?
The box at the top of this page shows it, together with the zodiac year and the day pillar. It uses the date on your device.
How do I convert a date to the Chinese lunar calendar?
Pick the Gregorian date in the converter above; it covers 1930 to 2050. To go the other way, choose the Chinese year, the lunar month and the day.
Why does the Chinese year start in late January or February?
New Year is the second new moon after the winter solstice (the third, in the rare years with a leap 11th or 12th month), which falls between January 21 and February 20.
Is the Chinese calendar the same as the lunar calendar?
It is a lunisolar calendar: months follow the Moon, and leap months and the 24 solar terms keep the year tied to the Sun. A purely lunar calendar, like the Islamic one, drifts through the seasons.
Do Korea and Vietnam use the same calendar?
The same rules, calculated for their own time zones, so dates match China’s except when a new moon falls close to midnight. Lunar New Year 2027 is February 6 in China and Vietnam and February 7 in Korea.
Chinese calendar · Chinese gender calendar · Lunar age calculator · Korean age calculator · Lunar birthday calculator · Chinese zodiac calculator · Lunar New Year dates
