First, the ground rule: calendars, not fortunes
The calendar tools answer questions with a definite answer: which lunar date a given day is, which ganzhi year it belongs to, when a solar term falls and to the minute, which element a stem-branch pair maps to. Liu-he, san-he, liu-chong and xing are fixed traditional correspondences, listed as-is for reference — they carry no judgement of good or bad luck. For personal advice, consult a qualified professional; these pages do not offer one.
Lunar and solar calendars: how conversion works
The Gregorian calendar is purely solar. The Chinese calendar is lunisolar: months follow the moon’s phases, and leap months keep the year aligned with the seasons, which is why a lunar year runs about 11 days short and needs periodic intercalation. The perpetual calendar covers 1900–2100 with two-way conversion, ganzhi years and zodiac animals; note that days between lunar New Year’s Eve and the first day of spring belong to the previous lunar year. Three thousand randomly sampled dates round-trip consistently, including leap-month years.
Solar terms: the solar half of the system
Solar terms belong to the solar calendar: the ecliptic is divided into 24 arcs of 15°, and the moment the sun crosses each mark is a term. Because the tropical year is about 365.2422 days, each term arrives about 5 hours 49 minutes later every year and slips a full day roughly every four years, so dates wobble between two adjacent days. These pages compute all terms from 1900 to 2100 with an astronomical algorithm (apparent solar longitude plus Newton iteration) assigned to Beijing time, good to the minute.
Stems, branches and the 60 Jiazi: from dating to elements
Ten stems and twelve branches pair up in sequence; the least common multiple of ten and twelve is 60, giving the sexagenary cycle. Ganzhi years appear on the perpetual-calendar page, and the 60 Jiazi page gives the full table: each pair’s polarity and element, its na-yin name, and the fixed correspondences — stem combinations, liu-he, san-he, san-hui, liu-chong, liu-hai and xing. Enter a birthday and you also get the four pillars with a plain count of the five elements — a tally only, with no strength or favourability reading.
Star signs and zodiac animals: why the two calendars differ
Star signs use Gregorian date boundaries (Aries, for example, runs 21 March – 19 April), while the zodiac animal follows the lunar year — new animal at lunar New Year, though some traditions switch at Lichun instead; the two differ by up to about a month. Two people born around the same date can have different animals if one falls before New Year’s Day, while star signs depend only on month and day, not the year. The lookup page shows sign, animal, age and weekday together so the two systems do not get mixed up.
The hanzi tools that go with it
Chinese tradition is inseparable from the writing system: the stroke-order page animates the standard sequence, and grid or tracing sheets print for practice. Pinyin annotation with tones helps with unfamiliar characters, and the simplified–traditional converter handles vocabulary-level differences (软件 vs 軟體), not just character swapping. RMB capitalisation (壹貳叁) exists because complex forms resist forgery — still the standard on receipts today.
FAQ
Does the zodiac switch at New Year or at Lichun?
Both conventions exist: mainstream almanacs switch at lunar New Year, while some fortune-telling traditions switch at Lichun. The zodiac page here follows lunar New Year, consistent with the perpetual calendar, which also lists the exact dates of both New Year and Lichun so either convention can be checked.
Can these tools tell my fortune or check feng shui?
No. They do calendar conversion and list objective correspondences — nothing about luck, matchmaking or date selection. Those systems need separate expertise this site does not attempt.
What year range do the calendar and solar terms cover?
Both cover 1900–2100. Lunar conversion is anchored on 1900-01-31 (the first day of the first month of the Geng-Zi year), and solar terms are computed year by year astronomically. Earlier years drift badly because of historical calendar reforms, so they are out of scope.
Why do different websites give solar-term times minutes apart?
Term times are back-computed from the sun’s position, and sources use formulas of differing precision — high-precision ephemerides versus simplified series can differ by a minute or two, and a few almanacs also apply manual revisions to specific years. Minutes of difference are normal; the date itself is rarely affected.