Chinese Calendar Converter and Zodiac Sign
Enter a date – the converter shows the date in the Chinese lunar calendar, the year in the 60-year cycle with Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch, the zodiac animal with its element and the date of Chinese New Year. In reverse, it turns a lunar date into the Gregorian day.
How it is calculated
How the Chinese calendar works
The traditional Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar: every month begins with the new moon and has 29 or 30 days. To keep the year from drifting against the seasons, a leap month is added roughly every three years – in 2025, for example, a second 6th month. The months have no names of their own; they are numbered.
Chinese New Year instead of 1 January
The Chinese year, and with it the zodiac animal, begins with Chinese New Year (Spring Festival), the second new moon after the winter solstice – always between 21 January and 20 February. In 2026 it falls on 17 February 2026: anyone born on 10 February 2026 was still born in the year of the Snake; from 17 February the year of the Fire Horse begins. In 2027 the year of the Goat begins on 7 February 2027.
The 60-year cycle: Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch
Each year combines one of the 10 Heavenly Stems (甲 Jia to 癸 Gui) with one of the 12 Earthly Branches (子 Zi to 亥 Hai). After 60 years the combination repeats. The Earthly Branch determines the animal (Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig), the Heavenly Stem the element (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water) and Yin or Yang. 2026 is 丙午 Bing-wu, year 43 of the cycle that began in 1984 with 甲子 Jia-zi.
How does the tool calculate?
The lunar date comes from the Chinese calendar built into every browser under ECMA-402 from Unicode CLDR/ICU (chinese, calculated for China’s time zone). For the reverse direction, the converter searches for the day whose lunar date matches exactly. It covers the years 1900 to 2100. More calendars: Hebrew calendar, Persian calendar.
Frequently asked questions
What is my Chinese zodiac sign?
Enter your date of birth – what counts is the Chinese year, not the calendar year. If you were born in January or February before Chinese New Year, you belong to the previous year’s animal; the converter points this out.
When is Chinese New Year 2026?
On Tuesday, 17 February 2026. It starts the year of the Fire Horse (丙午 Bing-wu). In 2027 Chinese New Year falls on 7 February 2027.
What is a leap month?
A month that occurs twice in the same year so that the lunar calendar keeps pace with the solar year. In 2025 the 6th month was followed by a leap 6th month. For the reverse conversion, tick “Leap month”.
What do Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch mean?
Together they form the name of the year in the 60-year cycle. The Earthly Branch gives the animal, the Heavenly Stem the element and Yin/Yang – in 2026, for example, Fire (Yang) and Horse.
Sources and legal basis
- ECMA-402 – Intl.DateTimeFormat (Kalender-Erweiterung -u-ca-)
- Unicode CLDR, UTS #35 Part 4: Dates – Calendar Elements
- ICU User Guide – Calendar Classes
- Hong Kong Observatory – Gregorian-Lunar Calendar Conversion Table
As of:
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