CALENDAR AND CONVENTIONS
A lunisolar calendar
Chinese calendar months follow lunar phases while the year stays aligned with seasons.
Go deeper: the full reference
The idea in context
Months begin around new moons, and an additional month is inserted in some years to keep the calendar near the solar seasons. The displayed lunar date is a calendar conversion, not an astronomical chart of the birth moment.
An example to picture
Two Gregorian dates in different years can share the same lunar month and day, while a leap month may repeat a month number.
A question to sit with
How does a calendar change the way you mark a year?
Native app reference
The original examples describe Synastry’s date-only native year reader. This web guide does not calculate a placement or a Four Pillars chart.
Keep the calendar convention in view
The website offers these educational readings. Synastry’s native year reader uses a civil date and Lunar New Year; it is separate from a full Four Pillars or BaZi chart. Begin with the convention before comparing year labels.
Sources and conventions
These references identify the calendar or historical method used in this guide. Keep the named convention in view when comparing other traditions.
Hong Kong Observatory — Gregorian–Lunar Calendar Conversion Tables ↗ · Calendar reference covering 1901–2100, including leap months and cautions near midnight boundaries. The Synastry native reader uses its separately disclosed date-only Lunar New Year convention; this website provides the educational guide.
Connect the ideas
Begin with the year, not a full chart
Learn the calendar language used by Synastry’s native Chinese lunar-year reading, with its limits and conventions kept visible.
1 min readThe calendar convention in this guide
A Chinese lunar-year reading from an entered Gregorian calendar date.
1 min readThe Lunar New Year boundary
This calculator changes the year placement on the first day of the first lunar month.
1 min readThe sixty-year stem-branch cycle
Ten Heavenly Stems pair in order with twelve Earthly Branches to form sixty year names.
1 min read