How the Chinese Calendar Works
A guide to lunar months, leap months, solar terms, and zodiac years — and how they align with Gregorian dates
One family, two calendars
Daily life in Chinese and Chinese-diaspora households runs on the Gregorian calendar: work, school, appointments. But the dates that carry tradition — Chinese New Year, the Mid-Autumn reunion dinner, ancestors’ memorial days, a grandparent’s lunar birthday — follow the traditional Chinese calendar, the nongli (农历).
The nongli is often called the “lunar calendar,” but it is really lunisolar: months follow the moon, while the year is kept in step with the sun. That balancing act is why Chinese New Year lands on a different Gregorian date every year — always between January 21 and February 20.
Months follow the moon
Every Chinese month begins on a new moon and lasts 29 or 30 days — one full lunar cycle. Days within the month are counted from the new moon: 初一 (chūyī) is day 1, 十五 (shíwǔ) is day 15, always at or near the full moon.
That is why the big festivals cluster around full moons: the Lantern Festival, Mid-Autumn — all on the 15th day of their month.
| Month | Usual season | Festivals |
|---|---|---|
| 正月 Zhēngyuè (1st month) | Jan-Feb | Chinese New Year on day 1; Lantern Festival on day 15 |
| 二月 Èryuè (2nd month) | Feb-Mar | |
| 三月 Sānyuè (3rd month) | Mar-Apr | Qingming (a solar-term festival) falls nearby, April 4-6 |
| 四月 Sìyuè (4th month) | Apr-May | |
| 五月 Wǔyuè (5th month) | May-Jun | Dragon Boat Festival on day 5 |
| 六月 Liùyuè (6th month) | Jun-Jul | |
| 七月 Qīyuè (7th month) | Jul-Aug | Qixi on day 7 |
| 八月 Bāyuè (8th month) | Aug-Sep | Mid-Autumn Festival on day 15 |
| 九月 Jiǔyuè (9th month) | Sep-Oct | Double Ninth Festival on day 9 |
| 十月 Shíyuè (10th month) | Oct-Nov | |
| 冬月 Dōngyuè (11th month) | Nov-Dec | Contains the winter solstice (Dongzhi) |
| 腊月 Làyuè (12th month) | Dec-Jan | New Year’s Eve reunion dinner on the last day |
Each month is 29 or 30 days depending on the year’s astronomy — there is no fixed pattern to memorize.
Leap months keep the seasons in place
Twelve lunar months add up to about 354 days — roughly 11 days short of the solar year. Left uncorrected, New Year would drift backward through the seasons, the way Islamic calendar dates do.
The fix: roughly every two to three years — seven times in each 19-year cycle — the calendar inserts a leap month (闰月 rùnyuè), a repeat of an existing month. A year with a leap month has 13 months and 383-385 days. The most recent leap month was in 2025 (a second 6th month); the next falls in 2028 (a second 5th month).
Which month repeats is determined by the solar terms — a leap month is one that contains no major solar term. It is astronomy, not convention.
Solar terms: the sun’s side of the calendar
Alongside the lunar months, the Chinese calendar divides the solar year into 24 solar terms (节气 jiéqì) — markers of the sun’s position that traditionally guided planting and harvest. That agricultural role is why the calendar is called nongli, the “farming calendar.”
One solar term is also a major holiday: Qingming (清明), Tomb-Sweeping Day, when families tend ancestors’ graves. Because it follows the sun rather than the moon, Qingming falls on nearly the same Gregorian date every year — April 4-6.
Zodiac animals and the 60-year cycle
Years are named, not just numbered. Twelve zodiac animals (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig) combine with five elements (wood, fire, earth, metal, water) into a repeating 60-year cycle.
The year that begins at Chinese New Year on February 17, 2026 is a Fire Horse year (丙午 bǐngwǔ); February 6, 2027 opens a Fire Goat year (丁未 dīngwèi). A person’s zodiac animal comes from their birth year on this calendar — which is why someone born in January or early February may belong to the previous year’s animal.
Reading a lunar date
A traditional date names the month, then the day: 八月十五 is “8th month, 15th day” — the Mid-Autumn Festival. In 2026 that day falls on September 25; in 2027, on September 15. Same lunar date, different Gregorian date — that is the calendar working as designed.
On a CultureSync calendar, both dates share each day’s cell, so a lunar birthday or festival is always visible on the Gregorian grid your week runs on.
See both calendars on one page
CultureSync puts lunar and Gregorian dates side by side with the festivals you celebrate — leap months handled automatically.
Explore the Chinese Calendar