Chinese Lunar Calendar Converter
Convert any Western date to the Chinese lunar calendar and back — including leap months, 干支 dates, and festivals.
How to use this converter
- Western → Lunar: pick any Gregorian date to see its lunar date, the 干支 year/month/day, zodiac animal, and any festival or solar term falling on that day.
- Lunar → Western: choose a lunar year, month (leap months marked 闰), and day to find the exact Gregorian date — useful for birthdays and festivals.
Common uses
Many people in China celebrate birthdays on the lunar date, so the Western date shifts every year. Genealogy records, historical documents, and traditional almanacs (黄历) also use lunar dates. Converting correctly matters for zodiac calculations too — the zodiac year begins at lunar new year, not January 1.
Frequently asked questions
What is the Chinese lunar calendar?
The traditional Chinese calendar (农历, nónglì) is lunisolar: months follow the phases of the moon (29 or 30 days), while leap months keep the year aligned with the solar seasons. It determines the dates of Chinese New Year, the Mid-Autumn Festival, and other traditional holidays, as well as zodiac years.
What is a leap month (闰月)?
Because 12 lunar months are about 11 days shorter than a solar year, the calendar inserts an extra "leap" month roughly every 2–3 years. A leap month repeats the preceding month's number — for example, 2025 has a leap sixth month (闰六月). This converter supports leap months in both directions.
How are lunar dates written in Chinese?
Days 1–10 use 初 (初一 to 初十), 11–19 are 十一 to 十九, 20 is 二十, 21–29 are 廿一 to 廿九, and 30 is 三十. Months are 正月 (first month), 二月 … 十一月, 腊月 (twelfth month). So "初三" is the 3rd day of a lunar month.
Why do Chinese festival dates change every year on the Western calendar?
Festivals are fixed on the lunar calendar — Chinese New Year is always the 1st day of the 1st lunar month, the Mid-Autumn Festival the 15th of the 8th month. Because lunar years drift against the solar calendar, the Western dates move within a range of about a month.