Religious & Cultural
Chinese
Lunisolar · zodiac rolls at Lunar New Year
A lunisolar calendar matching lunar months to the solar terms, with leap months to stay aligned; each month opens on the day of the new moon, so the full moon always falls near its middle — the New Year falls between late January and mid-February. Years run through a 60-year cycle of ten stems and twelve branches — the zodiac animals.
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In UTC at 02:02 on October 27, 2026, this calendar read Ninth Month 18. The reading above is live, in your own time zone.
At a glance
- Type
- Lunisolar
- Origin
- Chinese tradition, refined over millennia
- Year
- 12 or 13 lunar months (353–385 days)
- Months
- 12, or 13 in a leap year, each starting at the new moon
- Week
- No traditional week; years run in a 60-year cycle of names
- Leap rule
- A leap month, added to keep the months with the solar terms
- Counts from
- No single running count — 60-year cycles of names, and reign eras in the past
- Where it’s used
- Festivals and traditional life; the civil calendar is Gregorian
- How it’s worked out here
- Your browser’s own calendar data (ICU), in your time zone
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