The Chinese Lunar Calendar (农历): How China's Farming Calendar Works

Why is Chinese New Year on February 17 in 2026 but on February 6 in 2027? Why do some Chinese grandparents celebrate their birthday on a different day every year? And why does a Chinese wall calendar show two different dates for every day?

The answer is 农历 (nónglì), China's traditional calendar. Its name means “the farming calendar,” and for more than two thousand years it told people when to plant, when to harvest and when to celebrate. Today, most of daily life in China runs on the Western calendar, but 农历 still decides the dates of the biggest festivals and appears on almost every calendar and phone. In this guide, you will learn how it works, why it matters to farmers, and the Chinese words you need to read it.

Key takeaways

• 农历 is a lunisolar calendar: its months follow the moon, and its years follow the sun.
• Each month starts on a new moon (初一), and the full moon falls around the 15th (十五).
• An extra leap month (闰月) is added about seven times every 19 years.
• The 24 solar terms (二十四节气) follow the sun and guided farm work. They are UNESCO heritage.
• Years are named with the 60-year cycle of 天干地支, which is linked to the 12 zodiac animals.
• Spring Festival, the Dragon Boat Festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival all follow 农历.

What is 农历?

农历 combines 农 (nóng, “farming”) and 历 (lì, “calendar”). China actually uses two calendars side by side:

You will hear 阴历 and 阳历 a lot in daily speech. Strictly speaking, 农历 is not a pure moon calendar—it follows both the moon and the sun—but 阴历 is the everyday nickname.

In the early 20th century, after China adopted the Western calendar, the traditional one was often called 夏历 (xiàlì, “the Xia calendar”), because its year begins in the month that the ancient Xia dynasty was said to use. In mainland China, the name 农历 became standard in the second half of the 20th century, highlighting its close link to farming.

How lunar months work

One month = one moon

In 农历, every month begins on the day of the new moon, when the moon is invisible. That day is 初一 (chūyī, “first day”). About two weeks later, around 十五 (shíwǔ, the 15th), the moon is full. That is why the Lantern Festival (正月十五) and the Mid-Autumn Festival (八月十五) are both full-moon festivals.

A cycle of the moon takes about 29.5 days, so a lunar month has either 30 days (a “big month,” 大月) or 29 days (a “small month,” 小月). Sometimes the moon is fullest on the 16th, not the 15th, which gave rise to the saying 十五的月亮十六圆—“the moon of the 15th is roundest on the 16th.”

The 11-day problem and the leap month

Twelve lunar months add up to only about 354 days. A solar year has about 365 days. If nothing were done, the calendar would slip 11 days every year, and in about 16 years the New Year would land in the middle of summer.

The solution is the 闰月 (rùnyuè, “leap month”). About seven times every 19 years, the calendar adds a 13th month. The leap month takes the name of the month before it: 2023 had a 闰二月 (“leap second month”), and 2025 had a 闰六月 (“leap sixth month”). A year with a leap month has 383 or 384 days. This keeps 农历 in step with the seasons, so Spring Festival always falls in late January or February.

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Naming months and days

农历 months and days have their own names. Here is how to read them:

The character 廿 (niàn) means “twenty.” It is common on calendars, but in speech most people simply say 二十一, 二十二 and so on.

So when you see 2026年10月7日 星期三 农历八月廿七, it means “Wednesday, October 7, 2026—the 27th day of the eighth lunar month.”

The 24 solar terms: the farming heart of 农历

If the months follow the moon, how did farmers know when to plant? The moon tells you nothing about the seasons. For that, ancient Chinese astronomers divided the sun's yearly path into 24 equal parts, about 15 days apart. These are the 二十四节气 (èrshísì jiéqì, “24 solar terms”).

Because they follow the sun, the solar terms fall on almost the same Western dates every year. Each one has a name that describes the weather or farm life at that time:

The dates are for 2026. In other years, a solar term can move by a day or so.

Chinese children learn all 24 with a short rhyme. Each character stands for one term, in order:

春雨惊春清谷天，夏满芒夏暑相连，

秋处露秋寒霜降，冬雪雪冬小大寒。

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Farming wisdom in the solar terms

For farmers, the solar terms were a practical guide. Many old sayings link them to farm work and food:

Some solar terms are festivals in their own right. 清明 is also Tomb-Sweeping Day, when families visit their ancestors' graves, and 冬至 is a family day when many northern families eat dumplings and southern families eat sweet rice balls (汤圆). In 2016, UNESCO added the 24 solar terms to the list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

The 60-year cycle and the zodiac

Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches

农历 years do not only have numbers. They also have names from an ancient counting system called 天干地支 (tiāngān dìzhī, “Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches”):

• 10 Heavenly Stems (天干): 甲 乙 丙 丁 戊 己 庚 辛 壬 癸
• 12 Earthly Branches (地支): 子 丑 寅 卯 辰 巳 午 未 申 酉 戌 亥

One stem and one branch are paired to name each year: 甲子, 乙丑, 丙寅… After 60 combinations, the cycle starts again. The year that began on February 17, 2026 is a 丙午 (bǐngwǔ) year, and 2027 will be a 丁未 (dīngwèi) year.

Many famous events in modern Chinese history are named by this system:

Because the cycle is 60 years long, turning 60 is special. A 60-year-old is said to have reached 花甲之年 (huājiǎ zhī nián), “the year of the flowery cycle.”

The 12 zodiac animals

The 12 Earthly Branches match the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, 生肖 (shēngxiào):

Since 2026 is a 午 year, it is the Year of the Horse (马年). 2027, a 未 year, will be the Year of the Goat (羊年). Most people treat the new zodiac year as starting at Spring Festival, although traditional fortune-telling starts it at 立春.

Your own zodiac year, which comes back every 12 years, is your 本命年 (běnmìngnián). Many people wear something red that year for good luck.

Festivals that follow 农历

Most traditional Chinese festivals are set by the lunar calendar, so their Western dates change every year:

Notice that 除夕 is not always 腊月三十. It is simply the last night of the year. When 腊月 is a small month with 29 days, 除夕 falls on 腊月廿九—as it does in early 2027.

Two important days follow the solar terms instead: 清明 (around April 5) and 冬至 (around December 22).

A short history of 农历

• Ancient roots: One of China's oldest calendar texts, the Xia Xiaozheng (《夏小正》), lists the stars, weather and farm work for each month of the year.
• 104 BCE, the Taichu Calendar (太初历): Under Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty, astronomers created a new official calendar. It fixed the start of the year in the month we still call 正月 and built the 24 solar terms into the calendar.
• Many reforms: Over the next two thousand years, astronomers in each dynasty improved their calculations again and again.
• 1645, the Shixian Calendar (时宪历): In the early Qing dynasty, a calendar based on more precise astronomy, with help from the German Jesuit Adam Schall von Bell (汤若望), became official. Today's 农历 is built on its methods.
• 1912: The new Republic of China adopted the Western calendar for official use, but people kept using 农历 for festivals and daily life.
• Today: China uses 公历 for work, school and government, and 农历 for festivals, birthdays and tradition. The Purple Mountain Observatory (紫金山天文台) calculates the calendar under a national standard.

农历 in daily life today

• Calendars and phones: Chinese wall calendars and phone calendars show both dates, often with the solar term or festival of the day.
• Lunar birthdays: Many older people still celebrate their birthday on its 农历 date.
• The almanac: Some families check the 黄历 (huánglì, traditional almanac) before a wedding or a move. For each day, it lists things that are 宜 (yí, “good to do”) and 忌 (jì, “best avoided”), such as 宜嫁娶 (“good for weddings”).
• An expression: Because almanacs go out of date every year, 老黄历 (lǎo huánglì, “an old almanac”) also means “outdated rules” or “old news.”

Useful vocabulary

Next time you look at a Chinese calendar, look for the small characters under each date. Now you can read them—and you will know when the next full moon and the next festival are coming.