Explained: Chinese Calendar, Lunar Calendar and more

Bāzì 生辰八字

Literally translated to "eight characters" in Chinese, Bāzì in itself refers to the Chinese birth date and time format where a person's birth year, month, day and hour are all assigned one of the ten Celestial Stems and one of the twelve Terrestrial Branches in the sexagenary cycle.

In practice, Bāzì is commonly associated with the Four Pillars of Destiny, which is a Chinese astrological concept for reading one's fate using Bāzì.


Chinese Calendar

The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar that combines solar and lunar cycles. Beyond using solar and lunar cycles, Chinese calendar is more commonly referred to as the Nong Li; where agricultural and social practices are layered upon the calendar's lunar and solar cycles.


Chinese Farmer Calendar 农民历

Also known as Nong Li 农历, Tung Shing 通胜,Huang Li 黄历

The Chinese Farmer Calendar is a lunisolar calendar that layers seasons, agricultural cycles and Chinese zodiac on top of its lunar and solar cycle based calendar. Traditionally, the Chinese Farmer Calendar is used for organizing social, religious, and agricultural activities.


Chinese Gender Calendar

Chinese gender calendar is a myth where circulators claim it can be used to predict a baby's sex based on the mother's age and month of conception.

Ironically there is little to none actual Chinese documentation that supports this practice, it is considered a myth with no scientific and cultural basis.


Chinese Zodiac / Chinese Horoscope 生肖

The Chinese Zodiac is an astrological scheme where an animal with its associated attributes is assigned to each year in a twelve-year cycle.

You can check your Chinese Zodiac based on your birth year here.


Lunar Calendar

Also known as Moon Calendar

A lunar calendar is a calendar based on the lunar (Moon)'s cycle and phases. An example of a lunar calendar includes the Islamic Hijri Calendar.


Lunisolar Calendar

A lunisolar calendar is a calendar that is based on both the lunar (Moon)'s cycles and the solar (sun)'s cycle. While lunisolar calendar largely represents a lunar calendar, they have additional intercalation rules that reset them. Examples of lunisolar calendars are the Chinese calendar and the Vietnamese Calendar.