Question 1

What is the difference between the solar (Gregorian) and lunar calendars?

Accepted Answer

The solar calendar is based on Earth revolving around the Sun (365.2425 days, divided into 12 months). The Chinese lunar calendar is lunisolar: months follow the Moon (29.5 days per cycle), but the year is anchored to the Sun, so a pure lunar year is only ~354 days — 11 days shorter than the solar year. To stay in sync with seasons, the calendar inserts a leap month roughly every 2-3 years, making some years 13 months long.

Question 2

How are Chinese zodiac years and heavenly stems / earthly branches calculated?

Accepted Answer

Zodiac years rotate every 12: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. The stem-branch cycle (60 years) combines 10 heavenly stems and 12 earthly branches. This tool uses Chinese New Year (Lunar Jan 1) as the year boundary, not January 1. Example: someone born February 5, 2026 is still Year of the Snake (Yi-Si), not Horse (Bing-Wu) until Chinese New Year.

Question 3

How are traditional festivals shown?

Accepted Answer

Type any Gregorian date. The result shows the lunar date, the zodiac year, and whether the day falls on a traditional festival: Chinese New Year (1-1), Lantern (1-15), Dragon Boat (5-5), Qixi (7-7), Mid-Autumn (8-15), Double Ninth (9-9). The tool also supports reverse lookup: type a lunar date and see the corresponding Gregorian date.

Question 4

What is a leap month (闰月), and why does it appear every few years?

Accepted Answer

The Chinese calendar uses the Metonic 19-year cycle with 7 leap months to keep lunar and solar years aligned. In a leap year, there are 13 lunar months; the leap month takes the same number as the previous month (e.g. "leap 4th month"). The total of days is ~384 in a leap year vs ~354 in a regular one. The tool labels leap-month days explicitly (like 闰四月初一), useful for planning weddings, moves, or consulting the almanac (黄历).

Question 5

How do I convert a Gregorian date to lunar calendar?

Accepted Answer

Simply enter or select any Gregorian date (year/month/day) in the input fields above and click "Convert". The tool instantly displays the corresponding Chinese lunar date, zodiac year, heavenly stem-branch, and traditional festivals. It covers all dates from 1900 to 2100.

Question 6

Can I convert any Gregorian date to Chinese lunar?

Accepted Answer

Yes. The converter supports every Gregorian date between January 1, 1900 and December 31, 2100. Whether the date falls in a regular month or a leap month, the conversion is accurate. Dates outside this range are not yet supported.

Lunar Calendar Converter

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