How does the Chinese Lunar Calendar work?

The Chinese Lunar Calendar is lunisolar: months follow the lunar cycle (each month begins on a new moon), while intercalary (leap) months are inserted roughly every 3 years to keep the calendar in sync with the solar year. A regular year has 12 months; a leap year has 13.

What are the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches?

The 10 Heavenly Stems (Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui) and 12 Earthly Branches (Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai) combine in a 60-year sexagenary cycle to name each year — for example, 2024 is Jia-Chen.

What are the 12 Chinese zodiac animals?

The 12 zodiac animals, each paired with an Earthly Branch, are: Rat (Zi), Ox (Chou), Tiger (Yin), Rabbit (Mao), Dragon (Chen), Snake (Si), Horse (Wu), Goat (Wei), Monkey (Shen), Rooster (You), Dog (Xu), Pig (Hai). The cycle repeats every 12 years.

When does the Chinese New Year start?

Chinese New Year falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, typically between January 21 and February 20 in the Gregorian calendar. The exact date shifts every year because it follows the lunar cycle.

What is a Chinese lunar leap month?

About every 2-3 years an extra month (intercalary or run-yue) is added to align the lunar calendar with the solar year. The leap month takes the same name as the month it follows and is denoted with the prefix "Leap" (Run).

How accurate is this converter?

The supported range is 1900–2050. Month starts and leap months follow the Chinese calendar data supplied by your browser's ICU/CLDR implementation; rare historical or future dates can differ between almanacs when astronomical standards are revised.

Chinese Lunar Calendar Converter

Convert any Gregorian date to the Chinese Lunar calendar — showing the lunar year name, zodiac animal, month, and day — or convert a lunar date back to Gregorian.

Conversion Input

Year

Month

Day

Quick examples:

Result

Enter a date and click Convert

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Summary

The Chinese Lunar Calendar is a lunisolar calendar that has been used for thousands of years to track months by the moon's phases while keeping the year synchronized with the sun. Each lunar year is named using a 60-year cycle formed by combining one of 10 Heavenly Stems with one of 12 Earthly Branches, and each year is also associated with one of the 12 zodiac animals. This tool converts Gregorian dates to Chinese lunar dates and vice versa, displaying the full year name, zodiac sign, lunar month name, and lunar day.

How it works

Choose a direction: Gregorian to Lunar, or Lunar to Gregorian.
Enter a Gregorian date (year, month, day) or a Chinese lunar date.
Click Convert to see the full lunar result with year name, zodiac, month, and day.
Use the "Today" button to quickly load the current date.
Quick examples let you explore notable Chinese calendar dates.

Use cases

Find the current Chinese lunar date for traditional holiday planning.
Determine the zodiac animal for any birth year or date.
Look up the Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch name for a given year.
Calculate the Chinese lunar date of cultural or historical events.
Convert Chinese New Year dates to the Gregorian calendar.
Research traditional Chinese festivals and their Gregorian equivalents.
Verify lunar birthday dates for family members.
Explore the 60-year sexagenary cycle used in Chinese astrology.

Frequently Asked Questions

Last updated: 2026-05-28 · Reviewed by Nham Vu