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The Traditional Chinese Lunisolar Calendar
How the traditional Chinese calendar follows the moon for its months and the sun for its year, why leap months exist, and where the major festivals fall.
Arts and Traditions
The Festival Calendar
The traditional calendar and its seasonal festivals.
Laba and the Run-up to the New Year
Laba falls on the eighth day of the twelfth lunar month. Learn about Laba porridge and the cleaning, shopping and rituals that lead into the New Year.
Qingming: The Tomb-Sweeping Festival
Qingming arrives in early April. Learn how families tidy graves, make offerings to ancestors and enjoy spring outings, and where the customs came from.
Qixi: The Festival of the Weaver Girl
Qixi falls on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month. Read the cowherd and weaver girl legend and how the day has been observed in China.
The Double Ninth Festival
The Double Ninth Festival, on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month, is linked to climbing high places, chrysanthemums and honoring elders.
The Dragon Boat Festival
The Dragon Boat Festival falls on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month. Learn about Qu Yuan, zongzi rice dumplings, boat races and protective summer customs.
The Lantern Festival
The Lantern Festival on the fifteenth of the first lunar month ends the New Year season with lantern displays, sweet rice balls, riddles and performances.
The Mid-Autumn Festival
The Mid-Autumn Festival, held under the full moon of the eighth lunar month, centers on family reunion, moon-viewing, mooncakes and the legend of Chang'e.
The New Year Reunion Dinner
The reunion dinner on New Year's Eve gathers families around symbolic dishes such as fish, dumplings and long noodles. Learn what the foods mean.
The Twenty-Four Solar Terms
The twenty-four solar terms divide the year by the sun's path into roughly fifteen-day periods that guided farmers and shaped sayings and seasonal eating.
The Winter Solstice Festival
Dongzhi, the Winter Solstice, marks the shortest day and the turn toward longer light. Learn its history, family gatherings, foods and counting customs.
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