Lunar New Year
Falls between late January and mid-February. This site’s main calculator uses it to assign the familiar birth-year animal.
One birthday · two conventions · a small edge case
Chinese zodiac dates
These annual dates do not begin January 1. Popular animal years usually change at Lunar New Year, while some Four Pillars practitioners use Li Chun, the Start of Spring near February 4.
The practical rule
Which Chinese zodiac dates should you use?
For the popular question “What is my zodiac animal?”, use Lunar New Year. For a professional Four Pillars chart, ask which school and boundary the practitioner uses.
Li Chun
The Start of Spring is a solar term near February 4. It may define the year pillar in specialist astrological calculation.
Why a date range matters
Chinese zodiac dates and January birthdays
Each Gregorian year begins inside the preceding Chinese lunar year. Lunar New Year then starts a new animal year several weeks later. In 2026, for example, January 1 through February 16 remains in the Wood Snake year. The Fire Horse begins February 17.
A chart listing “2026 = Horse” is useful shorthand but incomplete. It describes most of the Gregorian year, not every date. The same issue affects every January birthday and many February birthdays, which is why a reliable lookup asks for month and day.
Why Li Chun can give a different answer
The traditional Chinese calendar combines lunar months with solar terms. Li Chun marks the beginning of spring in the twenty-four solar terms and usually falls around February 3, 4, or 5. Some BaZi or Four Pillars schools use that solar marker to change the year pillar.
When Li Chun occurs before Lunar New Year, birthdays between the two boundaries can receive different year pillars under the two conventions. Neither discrepancy is fixed by pretending one system does not exist. The calculation should state its purpose and method.
2026 example
- Before February 4
Snake under both broad conventions.
- February 4–16
Horse in a Li Chun year-pillar method; Snake in the popular lunar-zodiac method.
- February 17 onward
Horse under both conventions.
How this site calculates Chinese zodiac dates
The main calculator converts the Gregorian birthday to its related Chinese calendar year using a bundled table of Lunar New Year boundaries. It then identifies the year’s animal, element, polarity, and exact start and end.
The supported 1901–2100 scope mirrors the Gregorian–Lunar conversion tables published by the Hong Kong Observatory. The years chart exposes the boundaries rather than hiding them behind a calculation.
For dates near the handoff, check the exact Gregorian day instead of relying on a birth-year label copied from a short chart. This matters most for people born in the first six or seven weeks of the year, when two adjacent animal signs can share one Gregorian year.
Chinese zodiac dates are calendar facts; personality, compatibility, and horoscope meanings attached to those dates are cultural interpretations. The methodology page keeps those two layers separate and links to source material.