When Is Chinese New Year?

Chinese New Year falls on a different Gregorian date each year — always between 21 January and 20 February — because the traditional calendar is lunisolar. It begins the lunar year used by this site's animal-sign calculator.

The reason it moves is that the traditional calendar is lunisolar. Months follow the moon, and twelve lunar months run about 354 days — roughly eleven short of the solar year. Left alone the calendar would drift backwards through the seasons, so a thirteenth month is inserted about every third year to pull it back. Chinese New Year therefore slips earlier across two or three years, then jumps forward again when a leap month lands, which is why the date oscillates within its window instead of drifting steadily.

That window is 21 January to 20 February. The earliest possible date falls on 21 January and the latest on 20 February, and every Chinese New Year in the published boundary table sits inside it.

For a birth date this matters only at the edges, but it matters absolutely there. Anyone born in January or the first three weeks of February has to be checked against that specific year's boundary, because falling a day either side of it changes the animal. A person born on 9 February 2024 is a Rabbit; a person born on 10 February 2024 is a Dragon.