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Calendar

Chinese months follow the phases of the moon. As a result, they do not accurately follow the seasons of the solar year. To assist farmers to decide when to plant or harvest crops, the drafters of the calendar put in 24 seasonal markers, which follow the solar year, and these are called jieqi.

The term jieqi is usually translated as "Solar Terms" (lit. Nodes of Weather). Each node is the instant when the sun reaches one of twenty-four equally spaced points along the ecliptic, including the solstices and equinoxes positioned at fifteen degree intervals. Because the calculation is solar-based, these jieqi fall around the same date every year in solar calendars ( e.g . the Gregorian Calendar) but do not form any obvious pattern in the Chinese calendar. The dates below are approximate and may vary slightly from year to year due to the intercalary rules ( i.e. system of leap years) of the Gregorian calendar.

Jieqi are published each year in farmers' almanacs. Chinese New Year is usually the new moon closest to LiChun.

In the table below, these measures are given in the standard astronomical convention of ecliptic longitude zero degrees being positioned at the vernal equinox point. Each calendar month under the heading "M" contains the designated jieqi called a principal term, which is an entry into a sign of the zodiac, also known as a cusp. Here term has the archaic meaning of a limit, not a duration. In Chinese astronomy, seasons are centered on the solstices and equinoxes, whereas in the standard Western definition, they begin at the solstices and equinoxes. Thus the term Beginning of Spring and the related Spring Festival fall in February, when it is still very chilly in temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere.

Ecliptic Long. degrees	Chinese Pinyin	Gregorian Date (approx.)	Usual Translation	Remarks
315	LiChun	February 4	start of spring	spring starts here according to the Chinese definition of a season
330	YuShui	February 19	rain water	starting at this point, the temperature makes rain more likely than snow
345	JingZhe	March 5	awakening of insects	when hibernating insects awake
0	ChunFen	March 21	vernal equinox	lit. the central divide of spring (referring to the Chinese seasonal definition)
15	QingMing	April 5	clear and bright	a Chinese festival where, traditionally, ancestral graves are tended
30	GuYu	April 20	grain rains	rain helps grain grow
45	LiXia	May 6	start of summer	refers to the Chinese seasonal definition
60	XiaoMan	May 21	grain full	grains are plump
75	MangZhong	June 6	grain in ear	lit. awns (beard of grain) grow
90	XiaZhi	June 21	summer solstice	lit. summer extreme (of sun's height)
105	XiaoShu	July 7	minor heat	when heat starts to get unbearable
120	DaShu	July 23	major heat	the hottest time of the year
135	LiQiu	August 7	start of autumn	uses the Chinese seasonal definition
150	ChuShu	August 23	limit of heat	lit. dwell in heat
165	BaiLu	September 8	white dew	condensed moisture makes dew white; a sign of autumn
180	QiuFen	September 23	autumnal equinox	lit. central divide of autumn (refers to the Chinese seasonal definition)
195	HanLu	October 8	cold dew	dew starts turning into frost
210	ShuangJiang	October 23	descent of frost	appearance of frost and descent of temperature
225	LiDong	November 7	start of winter	refers to the Chinese seasonal definition
240	XiaoXue	November 22	minor snow	snow starts falling
255	DaXue	December 7	major snow	season of snowstorms in full swing
270	DongZhi	December 22	winter solstice	lit. winter extreme (of sun's height)
285	XiaoHan	January 6	minor cold	cold starts to become unbearable
300	DaHan	January 20	major cold	coldest time of year

The "Song of Solar Terms"

is used to ease the memorization of jieqi

chun yu jing chun qing gu tian

xia man mang xia shu xiang lian

qiu chu lu qiu han shuang jiang

dong xue xue dong xiao da han.

mei yue liang jie bu bian geng

zui duo xiang cha yi liang tian

shang ban nian lai liu, nian yi

xia ban nian shi ba nian san.