20 January 2011

Coming Soon!

Animal Branch                         New Year dates
鼠 Rat 子 Zǐ            February 19, 1996     February 7, 2008
牛 Ox 丑 Chǒu        February 7, 1997       January 26, 2009
虎 Tiger 寅 Yín       January 28, 1998       February 14, 2010
兔 Rabbit卯 Mǎo     February 16, 1999    February 3, 2011
龍 Dragon辰 Chén   February 5, 2000      January 23, 2012
蛇 Snake 巳 Sì         January 24, 2001      February 10, 2013
馬 Horse 午 Wǔ       February 12, 2002    January 31, 2014
羊 Sheep 未 Wèi      February 1, 2003      February 19, 2015
猴 Monkey申 Shēn  January 22, 2004      February 8, 2016
雞 Rooster酉 Yǒu    February 9, 2005      January 28, 2017
狗 Dog 戌 Xū           January 29, 2006      February 16, 2018
豬 Pig 亥 Hài            February 18, 2007    February 5, 2019

The lunisolar Chinese calendar determines Chinese New Year dates. The calendar is also used in countries that have adopted or have been influenced by Han culture (notably the Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese) and may have a common ancestry with the similar New Years festivals outside East Asia (such as Iran, and historically, the Bulgars lands).
In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. In the Chinese calendar, winter solstice must occur in the 11th month, which means that Chinese New Year usually falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice (rarely the third if an intercalary month intervenes). In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4. The dates for Chinese New Year from 1996 to 2019 (in the Gregorian calendar) are at the left, along with the year's presiding animal zodiac and its earthly branch. The names of the earthly branches have no English counterparts and are not the Chinese translations of the animals. Alongside the 12-year cycle of the animal zodiac there is a 10-year cycle of heavenly stems. Each of the ten heavenly stems is associated with one of the five elements of Chinese astrology, namely: Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water. The elements are rotated every two years while a yin and yang association alternates every year. The elements are thus distinguished: Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, etc. These produce a combined cycle that repeats every 60 years. For example, the year of the Yang Fire Rat occurred in 1936 and in 1996, 60 years apart.

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