( Year of the Snake starts on 2/10/2013)


(New year begins on 2/10/2013) 
(The coming Chinese year is the Year of the Snake)

Chinese New Year

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Last modified: 1-27-2013

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2013 is Year 4710 by Chinese Calendar.
2012 is Year 4709 by Chinese Calendar.
2011 is Year 4708 by Chinese Calendar.
2010 is Year 4707 by Chinese Calendar.
2009 is Year 4706 by Chinese Calendar

At some web sites, the year quoted may differ by one year. For a detailed explanation as to how this happened, see the Reference Here.

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Chinese New Year Graphics

New Year Graphics

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Chinese calendar

Chinese calendar has been in continuous use for centuries. It predates the International Calendar (based on the Gregorian Calendar) in use at the present, which goes back only some 430 years. Basically, a calendar is a system we use to measures the passage of time, from short durations of minutes and hours, to intervals of time measured in days, months, years and centuries. These are fundamentally based on the astronomical observations of the movement of the Sun, Moon and stars.
Days are measured by the duration of time of one self rotation of the earth. Months are measured by the duration of time of rotation of the moon around the earth. Years are measured by the duration of time it takes for the earth to rotate around the Sun. Read more about it.

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Chinese New Year Days

• 2005 Feb 9
  2006 Jan 29
  2007 Feb 18
  2008 Feb 7
  2009 Jan 26
  2010 Feb 14
  2011 Feb 3
  2012 Jan 23
  2013 Feb 10
  

What is the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2011?

February 3, 2011 is the first day of the Chinese new year - Year of the Rabbit..

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There are three ways to name a Chinese year:

1. By an animal (like a mscot).
2008 is known as the Year of the Rat.
2009 is the Year of the Ox.
2010 is the Year of the Tiger
There are 12 animal names; so by this system, year names are repeated every 12 years. More.
2. By its Formal Name (Stem-Branch).
   2011 is the year of XinMao .
   

   2010 is the year of Geng Yin .
   
   2009 is the Year of Ji Chou.

3. In the 'Stem-Branch' system, the years are counted in 60-year Cycles, so that the Name of the Year is repeated every 60 years.
   2010 is the11-th year in the current 60-year Cycle.
   2009 is the 10-th year in the current 60-year Cycle.

   A "Cycle" is analogous to a "century" in the International Calendar system which is 100 years long.

4. 2010 is Year 4707 in the Chinese Caledar.
   2009 is Year 4706 in the Chinese Calendar.

What's special about the Chinese New Year in 2006?

It was a Leap Year! Unlike the western calendar, where one extra day is added in February, one whole leap month is added in a Chinese Leap Year.

Just think. If you get paid by the month, instead of working an extra day for nothing, you would get an extra month's pay !!!

This time around, the Leap Month comes after the regular 7-th Month. The "Leap Second Month" begins on August 24,2006. Read more about this here And here.

When was the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2003?

February 1, 2003. It was the first day in the Year of the Ram (sheep, goat).
This is Year 4700 by Chinese calendar.

February 12, 2002. It was the first day in the Year of the Horse.
It is Year 4699 by Chinese calendar.

For those interested in astrology, it is the year of the Black Horse.

The Chinese word for "Spring." The Chinese calls the New Year's Celebration the "Spring Festival." This particular calligraphy is a reproduction of the work by one of master calligrapher Zhao Mengfu (1254-1322) who wrote it more than 600 years ago.
More on calligraphy

• There are colorful posters! Traditional.
• New Year's card

Posters with the word 'luck' is often seen around the New Year's. Make one yourself.

For monthly calendar of 2011, 2010 and 2009(designed by Mr. Meng Zhuo)
2009 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
2010 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

2011 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

In Chinese calendar, one of the scheme for counting years is a 12-year cycle. One counts from Year 1,2,3,... up to 12. Then starts over from Year 1. (In modern mathematics, this is modulo 12.) Instead of inventing 12 special symbols for this purpose, 12 animals are used to represent these 12 years. Rabbit (hare), for example, is the 4-th year of the cycle.
See more about this.

For more about Chinese dragons, go to the Dragon page

For a bit of fun, look at this. [Chinese BIG5] [Chinese GB] [English]

• In one sentence, the Chinese New Year is the second New Moon after the winter solstice.

  It is based strictly on astronomical observations, and has nothing to do with the Pope, emperors, animals or myths. Due to its scientific and mathematical nature, we can easily and precisely calculate backward or forward for thousands of years.

• One explanation by Rudy Chiang
• Allen Tsai's site has more details about 2013: Click here

• The Japanese word for "New Year's Greetings" is Kinga Shinnen.

  2010 is the Year Heisei 22 in Japan.

  Heisei is the current emperor. Japan is the only country in the world which still number the calender years starting from the ascession of its emperors.

Some of these sites may be worth a visit. More facts than you ever want or need. But interesting!

To China the Beautiful New Year Graphics | Festival Days