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Chinese Lunar Calendar Converter

Convert any date between the Gregorian calendar and the Chinese, Vietnamese, or Korean lunar (lunisolar) calendar. See the zodiac animal, sexagenary year, element, solar term and leap-month status instantly.

Today (Chinese lunar)

Loading today's lunar date…

Lunar date

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Computed against the Chinese calendar (农历, China Standard Time, UTC+8).

Day of week

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ISO-8601 (Gregorian)

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Zodiac year & New Year

Zodiac animal

Horse

Element

Fire

Sexagenary year (干支)

丙午 (Bǐng Wǔ)

Lunar New Year (Gregorian)

Feb 17, 2026

Lìchūn 立春 (Gregorian)

Feb 4, 2026

Solar term (节气)TransliterationNameGregorian date
立春LìchūnStart of Spring2026-02-04
雨水YǔshuǐRain Water2026-02-18
惊蛰JīngzhéAwakening of Insects2026-03-05
春分ChūnfēnSpring Equinox2026-03-20
清明QīngmíngClear and Bright2026-04-05
谷雨GǔyǔGrain Rain2026-04-20
立夏LìxiàStart of Summer2026-05-05
小满XiǎomǎnGrain Buds2026-05-21
芒种MángzhòngGrain in Ear2026-06-05
夏至XiàzhìSummer Solstice2026-06-21
小暑XiǎoshǔMinor Heat2026-07-07
大暑DàshǔMajor Heat2026-07-23
立秋LìqiūStart of Autumn2026-08-07
处暑ChùshǔEnd of Heat2026-08-23
白露BáilùWhite Dew2026-09-07
秋分QiūfēnAutumn Equinox2026-09-23
寒露HánlùCold Dew2026-10-08
霜降ShuāngjiàngFrost's Descent2026-10-23
立冬LìdōngStart of Winter2026-11-07
小雪XiǎoxuěMinor Snow2026-11-22
大雪DàxuěMajor Snow2026-12-07
冬至DōngzhìWinter Solstice2026-12-22
小寒XiǎohánMinor Cold2027-01-05
大寒DàhánMajor Cold2027-01-20

The Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean calendars are lunisolar: months follow the moon (29 or 30 days) while a leap month roughly every three years keeps the year aligned with the seasons over a 19-year cycle. The sexagenary cycle (干支), zodiac animal (生肖) and five elements (五行) label each year. The animal year can begin at Lunar New Year (folk convention) or at Lìchūn 立春 (BaZi convention); we show both when they differ. Because the three calendars are computed in different time zones (China UTC+8, Vietnam UTC+7, Korea UTC+9), a date can occasionally differ by one day across them. Vietnam famously uses the Cat instead of the Rabbit.

Chinese lunar calendar converter. Gregorian to lunar date with zodiac, ganzhi and solar term.

A Chinese lunar calendar converter translates dates between the Gregorian and the East Asian lunisolar calendar. It returns the lunar year, month and day plus the zodiac animal, sexagenary year, element and nearest solar term, for the Chinese (农历), Vietnamese (Âm lịch) and Korean (음력) variants, each computed at its own timezone so cross-border dates stay nationally correct.

What Is the Chinese Lunar Calendar?

The Chinese lunar calendar (农历) is a lunisolar calendar: its months follow the phases of the Moon while its leap months keep the year aligned with the Sun and the seasons. Each month begins on the day of a new moon, so a lunar month is 29 or 30 days long, and a common lunar year of 12 months runs about 354 days — roughly 11 days shorter than a Gregorian year. To stop the calendar drifting away from the seasons, a 13th leap month (闰月) is inserted about every two to three years, giving that year 383 to 385 days.
The same lunisolar system is shared by Vietnam (where it is called Âm lịch) and Korea (음력), both of which historically adopted the Chinese calendar. They are not identical, however: each country computes the calendar at its own meridian — China at UTC+8, Vietnam at UTC+7, Korea at UTC+9 (KST). When a new-moon or solar-term instant falls near local midnight, a month can start one day earlier or later in one country than another, which is why a Vietnamese or Korean printed calendar occasionally disagrees with a Beijing one by a single day.
Beyond the date itself, the calendar carries cultural information: the 12-animal zodiac (生肖), the 60-year sexagenary cycle (干支), the five elements (五行) and the 24 solar terms (节气). This converter surfaces all of them, frames the zodiac and elements as cultural tradition rather than prediction, and stays accurate across the full 1891–2100 range.

How to Convert a Gregorian Date to a Lunar Date

Lunar conversion cannot be done with simple arithmetic the way the Hijri tabular calendar can, because the month boundaries depend on the real astronomical positions of the Sun and Moon. The accurate method computes the exact instant of each new moon (which starts a month) and each principal solar term (which fixes the leap-month rule), then maps the result onto the Gregorian calendar through the Julian Day Number.
To use this converter:
1. Choose a direction — Gregorian to lunar, or lunar to Gregorian.
2. If you want a national variant other than Chinese, pick it in the calendar-system selector (Chinese, Vietnamese, or Korean).
3. Enter the day, month and year. On the lunar side, a leap month appears in the month dropdown as a separate "闰" entry, so you select it directly instead of ticking a box.
4. Read the result: the converted date, the day of the week, the ISO-8601 form, plus the zodiac animal, sexagenary year, element and nearest 24-solar-term.
The calculation is instant and runs entirely in your browser. The underlying month tables were verified against the Hong Kong Observatory and Academia Sinica (Chinese), the official Vietnamese national calendar (Vietnamese) and KASI (Korean), so the result matches the calendar each country actually prints.

The Julian Day Pivot

JD=flunar(y,m,d,ℓ)⇒dategreg=fgreg−1(JD)JD = f_{lunar}(y, m, d, \ell) \Rightarrow date_{greg} = f_{greg}^{-1}(JD)
  • JDJD = Julian Day Number — the continuous day counter shared by every calendar
  • y,m,dy, m, d = Lunar year, month and day entered by the user
  • ℓ\ell = Leap-month flag (set when the selected month is an intercalary 闰 month)
  • flunarf_{lunar} = Forward mapping from the lunar date to a Julian Day, read from the variant's precomputed month table
  • fgreg−1f_{greg}^{-1} = Inverse mapping from the Julian Day back to a Gregorian date
Every conversion pivots on the Julian Day Number. The lunar date is turned into a JD by finding the lunar new year that brackets it and walking the stored 29/30-day month lengths; the JD is then converted to a Gregorian date, day of week and ISO-8601 string. Going the other way simply reverses the two steps.
The sexagenary year is pure arithmetic on the lunar year. Numbering the stems and branches from zero, the stem index is (year − 4) mod 10 and the branch index is (year − 4) mod 12; the branch fixes the zodiac animal and the stem fixes the five-element. For 2026 this gives the stem 丙 (bǐng, Yang Fire) and the branch 午 (wǔ, Horse) — the sexagenary year 丙午, the Year of the Fire Horse.

Lunar Conversion Examples

Chinese New Year 2026 (Year of the Horse)

1st day of the 1st lunar month 2026 = 17 February 2026 (Gregorian). The sexagenary year is 丙午 (Bǐng Wǔ), the Year of the Fire Horse. Note that the solar term 立春 (Lìchūn, Start of Spring) falls on 4 February 2026 — two weeks before the lunar New Year — so for any Gregorian date between 4 and 16 February 2026, the folk zodiac (still Snake until the New Year) and the BaZi zodiac (already Horse from Lìchūn) disagree.

Mid-Autumn Festival 2026

15th day of the 8th lunar month (八月十五) = 25 September 2026 (Gregorian). Because the lunar date is fixed but the Gregorian date is not, the Mid-Autumn Festival lands on a different Western date every year — converting it is the single most common reason people reach for a lunar calendar tool.

The Vietnamese Cat vs the Chinese Rabbit

A 卯 (mǎo) lunar year is the Year of the Rabbit in China and Korea, but the Year of the Cat (năm Mèo) in Vietnam. The Vietnamese set also swaps the Ox for the Water Buffalo (Trâu). Switch the calendar-system selector to Vietnamese and a 卯 year correctly returns Mèo (Cat), not Rabbit — a distinction most single-calendar converters get wrong.

The rare leap 11th month of 2033

2033 carries a leap 11th month (闰十一月) — the first time the leap falls after the 11th month since the calendar reform of 1645, and it will not happen again for centuries. Most simplified converters mis-place the 2033 leap month (a famous calendar bug); this tool reads it correctly from a table validated against the official authorities.

Tips for Using the Lunar Calendar Converter

  • For celebrations and birthdays, use the lunar New Year boundary — that is the everyday meaning of “what animal year is this”. For BaZi or Chinese astrology, use the 立春 (Lìchūn) boundary instead; the tool shows both whenever they disagree.
  • If you were born in late January or early February, double-check your zodiac animal: a birthday before that year's lunar New Year belongs to the previous animal, not the calendar year's animal.
  • Vietnamese years use the Cat, Water Buffalo and Goat, not the Rabbit, Ox and Sheep — select the Vietnamese system before converting a Tết date or a Vietnamese birthday.
  • If a printed Vietnamese or Korean calendar shows a date one day off from a Chinese one, that is expected, not an error: each country computes its calendar at its own timezone (UTC+7 / UTC+9 / UTC+8). Pick the matching system in the selector.
  • The five-element shown here is the simplified element of the year's stem (e.g. 丙午 = Fire). The longer 60-name 纳音 (nayin) reading — such as “Heavenly River Water” for 丙午 — is a separate traditional system and is not the same thing.
  • Use the share button to copy a link that preserves your exact conversion, direction and calendar system.

Lunar Calendar Converter FAQ

Is this lunar calendar converter free?

Yes. Every conversion runs in your browser with no signup and no data sent to a server. You can convert as many dates as you like across all three calendar systems.

How accurate is the conversion?

It is accurate to the day for 1891 through 2100. The month tables were validated against the Hong Kong Observatory and Academia Sinica for Chinese, the official Vietnamese national calendar, and KASI for Korean. A handful of long-range dates after about 2050 carry an info note because the official tables may settle a near-midnight boundary by one day.

Why does the Chinese zodiac year start on the lunar New Year, but Chinese astrology uses 立春?

There are two boundary conventions. The folk convention starts each zodiac year on the lunar New Year (正月初一), which is what most people mean. The almanac/BaZi convention starts it on the solar term 立春 (Lìchūn, around 4 February). They usually fall within two weeks of each other, so for late-January and early-February dates the animal can differ. This tool shows both when they disagree.

Why does Vietnam celebrate the Year of the Cat instead of the Rabbit?

The 4th earthly branch is 卯 (mǎo), whose sound is close to the Vietnamese word “mèo” (cat), so over centuries Vietnam adopted the Cat where China and Korea kept the Rabbit. Vietnam also uses the Water Buffalo for the 2nd branch instead of the Ox. The animals are cultural names for the same underlying branch — only the name changes.

Why can the Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean lunar dates differ by a day?

Each country fixes its calendar at its own meridian: China at UTC+8, Vietnam at UTC+7 and Korea at UTC+9. When a new moon or solar term occurs near local midnight, the month can begin one day earlier or later in one country than another. The dates agree more than 95% of the time and diverge only on those boundary days.

What is a leap month, and why does 2033 have a leap 11th month?

A leap month (闰月) is an extra 13th month inserted about every two to three years to keep the lunar year aligned with the seasons. The leap is placed in the first month that contains no principal solar term. 2033 is famous because that rule puts the leap after the 11th month (闰十一月) — the first time since the 1645 calendar reform, and a case many simplified converters get wrong.

How do I find out what Chinese zodiac animal I am?

Convert your birth date to its lunar year, then read the zodiac animal tile. The 12 animals follow the 12-year branch cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. If you were born just before a lunar New Year, your animal is the previous year's.

What is the sexagenary year (干支) and the five element?

The sexagenary year combines one of 10 Heavenly Stems with one of 12 Earthly Branches, repeating every 60 years. Each stem maps to one of the five elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). 2026 is the stem-branch 丙午, where 丙 is Yang Fire and 午 is the Horse — hence the “Year of the Fire Horse”.

What are the 24 solar terms?

The 24 solar terms (节气) divide the solar year into 24 segments based on the Sun's position, marking the seasonal rhythm used in farming and festivals. Recognised by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage, they include 立春 (Start of Spring) and 冬至 (Winter Solstice). The converter shows the nearest solar term for your date.

Can I convert a Korean (음력) or Vietnamese (Âm lịch) date with this tool?

Yes. Open the calendar-system selector and choose Korean or Vietnamese. The tool then reads that country's own month table, applies its timezone and renders the matching zodiac names — including the Cat for a Vietnamese 卯 year.

Does the tool handle dates before 1891 or after 2100?

No. The verified range is 1891 to 2100 for all three variants, matching what the official astronomical authorities publish. Outside that window the converter clamps to the nearest bound and shows a warning rather than guessing, because pre-1645 the calendar used a different basis and post-2100 the astronomical uncertainty grows.

Glossary

农历 (lunar calendar)

The Chinese lunisolar calendar, called Âm lịch in Vietnamese and 음력 in Korean. Months track the Moon; leap months keep the year aligned with the Sun.

Lunisolar calendar

A calendar that follows both lunar months and the solar year, inserting leap months to stay in step with the seasons. The Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and Hebrew calendars are lunisolar.

闰月 (leap month)

An intercalary 13th month added about every two to three years. Written with a 闰 prefix (闰四月 = leap fourth month); Vietnamese uses “nhuận” and Korean “윤”.

生肖 (zodiac animal)

The 12-animal cycle (Rat through Pig) tied to the 12 earthly branches. The Vietnamese set uses the Cat and Water Buffalo where China and Korea use the Rabbit and Ox.

干支 (sexagenary cycle / ganzhi)

The 60-year cycle pairing 10 Heavenly Stems with 12 Earthly Branches. 2026 is 丙午 (Bǐng Wǔ).

五行 (five elements)

Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water. Each Heavenly Stem maps to one element; the stem 丙 of 2026 is Fire.

节气 (24 solar terms)

Twenty-four points dividing the solar year by the Sun's position, used for farming and festivals and listed by UNESCO as Intangible Cultural Heritage.

立春 (Lìchūn)

The first solar term, “Start of Spring”, around 4 February. The BaZi convention starts the zodiac year here rather than on the lunar New Year.

Lunar New Year (Tết / 설날)

The first day of the 1st lunar month (正月初一), called Tết in Vietnam and Seollal (설날) in Korea. The folk convention starts the zodiac year here.

Julian Day Number (JD)

A continuous count of days used as the universal pivot for converting between any two calendars.

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