When is the Chinese New Year

It may sound wierd, but it is true. Except for a very few number of people who can keep track of when the Chinese New Year should be, the majority of the Chinese today have to rely on a typical Chinese calendar to tell it. Therefore, you cannot talk of the Chinese New Year without mentioning the Chinese calendar at first.

A Chinese calendar consists of both the Gregorian and a lunar-solar calendrical systems, with the latter dividing a year into twelve month each of which is in turn equally divided into thirty-nine and a half days. The well-coordinated dual system calendar reflects the Chinese ingenuity.

Besides the two calendrical systems, a Chinese calendar will not be complete without a twenty-four solar terms closely related to the changes of Nature — a very useful tool for farmers, providing information on the proper time for planting and harvesting.

The Twenty-Four Terms

The first fifteen days of the Chinese lunar month makes the first term, namely:

Beginning of Spring
usually starting from the fourth or fifth of Febrary. And the first day is the Chinese New Year’s Day or the onset of the Spring Festival. Incidentally, the New Year’s Day of 1995 is January 31st.
The second fifteen days are named:

Rain Water
from the nineteeth or twentieth of Febrary, a time when rainy seasons are setting in.
In order come the following terms:

Waking of Insects
from the fifth or sixth of March, as the earth awakes from hibernation;
Spring Equinox
from the twentieth or twenty-first of March;
Pure Brightness
from the fourth or fifth of April;
Grain Rain
from the twentieth or twenty-first of April;
Beginning of Summer
from the fifth or sixth of May;
Grain Full
from the twentieth or twenty-first of May;
Grain in Ear
from the fifth or sixth of June;
Summer Solstice
from the twenty-first or second of June;
Slight Heat
from the sixth or seventh of July;
Great Heat
from the twenty-second or third of July;
Beginning of Autumn
from the seventh or eighth of August;
Limit of Heat
from the twenty-third or fourth of August;
White Dew
from the seventh or eighth of September;
Autumnal Equinox
from the twenty-third or fourth of September;
Cold Dew
from the eighth or nineth of October;
Frost’s Descent
from the twentieth-three or fourth of October;
Beginning of Winter
from the seventh or eighth of November;
Slight Snow
from the twenty-second or third of November;
Great Snow
from the seventh or eighth of December;
Winter Solstice
from the twenty-second or third of December;
Slight Cold
from the fifth or sixth of January; and lastly
Great Cold
from the twentieth or twenty-first of January which brings the 24-term cycle to an end.
On the Chinese Calendar, you will also find terminology like Tian Gan and Di Zhi (Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch), a peculiar Chinese way of marking the years in a sixty-year cycle. There is also a system that marks the years in a twelve-year cycle, naming each of them after an animal such as Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar.