Chinese Lunar Festival Calendar (中国传统节日历)

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Chinese festival calendar. Enter any year from 1901 to 2100 for the Gregorian and lunar dates of eleven festivals, from Chinese New Year to Laba, and where each is a public holiday across mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia. Dates checked day by day against the Hong Kong Observatory's tables.

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Chinese Lunar Festival Calendar (中国传统节日历)

📅 Research current as of 15 Oct 2026 · Sources: Lunar dates and solar terms computed at 120°E and checked day by day against the Hong Kong Observatory's Gregorian–lunar tables, 1901–2100. Public holidays: mainland China State Council regulation (2024 rev.), Hong Kong general holidays, Taiwan's commemoration-days statute, Singapore MOM and Malaysia's 2026 federal list.
Standards, published formulas, and reference data are revised over time — check against a current authoritative source before relying on these figures.
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How to use

Enter a Gregorian year

Any year from 1901 to 2100.

Read the eleven festivals

Each festival that falls in that Gregorian year, with its lunar date. New Year's Eve and Laba are placed in the year they actually land in.

See who gets the day off

Each card lists which of mainland China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and Malaysia make the day a public holiday.

Change the year

Type another year and press View to plan a trip home, a mooncake order or a tomb-sweeping visit.

Festivals set by the moon, and two set by the sun

Nine of the eleven festivals sit on a lunar date: New Year on the first day of the first month, Dragon Boat on the fifth of the fifth, Mid-Autumn on the fifteenth of the eighth. Lunar months begin at the new moon, and twelve of them make about 354 days, roughly eleven fewer than a Gregorian year, so these festivals move around the Gregorian calendar. In the Hong Kong Observatory's tables for 1901–2100, Chinese New Year falls as early as 21 January (1966) and as late as 20 February (1920).

The other two are solar terms: Qingming is the day of the Qingming term and the Winter Solstice the day of the solstice term. They follow the sun, so their dates barely move: in the same tables Qingming is always 4–6 April and the Winter Solstice 21–23 December.

New Year's Eve is not a fixed lunar date

The eve is the day before New Year, the last day of the twelfth month. That month has 29 days in some years and 30 in others, so the eve is the 29th or the 30th: over 1901–2100 it is the 29th in 79 years and the 30th in 121. The tool takes the day before New Year directly, which is right in both cases.

Who gets the day off differs

Mainland China has given four days for the Spring Festival since 2025 (the eve and the first three days), and one day each for Qingming, Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn. Taiwan gives three days of Spring Festival plus the lunar New Year's Eve, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn. Hong Kong takes the first three days of the lunar year, Ching Ming and Tuen Ng, the day after Mid-Autumn, and Chung Yeung. In Singapore and Malaysia the only Chinese festival on the public-holiday list is the first two days of Chinese New Year, and in Malaysia not every state takes the second day.

How the dates are checked

The tool is checked against the Hong Kong Observatory's Gregorian–lunar conversion tables: across 73,029 days from 1901 to 2100, the only difference is thirty days of the fourth month of 1906, a month whose new moon fell about eight minutes before midnight and whose published calendar differs from the astronomical one.

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How far New Year moves, why the eve has two dates, and who gets the day off

01

In the Hong Kong Observatory's tables for 1901–2100, Chinese New Year falls as early as 21 January (1966) and as late as 20 February (1920).

02

Over the same 200 years the eve is the 29th of the twelfth month in 79 years and the 30th in 121, because that month sometimes has only 29 days.

03

Seventy-three years between 1901 and 2100 carry a leap month. Festivals are not repeated in it: a leap fifth month has no second Dragon Boat Festival.

04

Qingming and the Winter Solstice are solar terms, so they barely move: Qingming is always 4–6 April and the solstice 21–23 December.

05

Since 1 January 2025 mainland China's national holiday regulation sets the Spring Festival holiday at four days: the eve and the first three days of the year.

06

Hong Kong's Mid-Autumn holiday is the day after the festival, not the festival itself.

07

Taiwan's holiday statute gives three days for the Spring Festival and one day each for the lunar New Year's Eve, Tomb-Sweeping Day, Dragon Boat and Mid-Autumn.

08

On Singapore's Ministry of Manpower list and Malaysia's 2026 federal list, the only Chinese festival is the first two days of New Year, and Malaysia's second day is not taken in every state.

09

In China Chung Yeung is Elders' Day by law: Article 12 of the elderly-rights law, in force since 1 July 2013, makes the ninth day of the ninth lunar month Elders' Day.

10

Laba and the eve belong to the lunar year that is ending, so they land early in the Gregorian year: in 2026 Laba is 26 January, the twelfth month of the previous lunar year.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Nine of the festivals sit on lunar dates. Twelve lunar months make about 354 days, roughly eleven short of a Gregorian year, and a leap month is added when the gap builds up, so the same lunar date lands on a different Gregorian date each year.

  • The tool lists the festivals in the Gregorian year you enter. Laba and the eve are in the twelfth lunar month, just before New Year, so on the Gregorian calendar they fall in January or February. An earlier version counted by lunar year and listed the following year's eve under this one.

  • They are solar terms, set by the sun's position on the ecliptic, not by the moon. That is why Qingming is always 4–6 April and the Winter Solstice 21–23 December.

  • Festivals are kept in the regular month only. 2025, for example, had a leap sixth month, and Dragon Boat and Qixi still fell in the regular fifth and seventh months.

  • No. The range is 1901–2100, the span over which the dates have been checked day by day against the Hong Kong Observatory's tables.

  • They are computed from astronomy: solar terms are the instants the sun's apparent longitude reaches each 15°, lunar months start at the new moon, and the leap month follows the no-major-term rule, all at 120° east. The results are compared day by day with the Hong Kong Observatory's conversion tables; only the fourth month of 1906 differs.

  • Mainland China: the State Council's national holiday regulation (2024 revision). Hong Kong: the government's general-holiday list. Taiwan: the statute on commemoration days and festivals. Singapore: the Ministry of Manpower's public-holiday list. Malaysia: the 2026 federal public-holiday list. When a holiday falls on a weekend the actual day off moves, so check the year's announcement.

Method & sources

How it computes

Each day of the chosen Gregorian year goes through LunisolarKernel.festivalsOn (UTC+8): lunar festivals on their lunar month and day, never in a leap month; Qingming and Winter Solstice on their solar-term day; New Year's Eve as the day before the first day of the first month. The kernel's lunar dates match HKO's conversion tables on 73,029 days 1901-2100 except one month of 1906. Public holidays from the kernel's festival table.

What this tool implements

  • Bug fixed: the page converted lunar dates for the LUNAR year typed in, so the 2026 view listed the New Year's Eve and Laba of early 2027 and left out 16 February 2026; it now scans the Gregorian year. Engine moved from RecaLunar (untested) to LunisolarKernel. Range 1901-2100.
  • Corrected against official lists: Mid-Autumn is not a public holiday in Singapore or Malaysia, and Hong Kong's holiday is the day after; mainland China gives 4 Spring Festival days by law since 2025, not 7; Elders' Day comes from the 2012 elderly-rights law (in force 2013), not 1989; the Ghost Festival is the seventh lunar month, not July. Removed as unsourced: Purple Mountain Observatory data credit, 2 billion celebrants, mooncake prices, Qu Yuan's dates, Qixi popularity and getai claims.

Sources

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