Festival hub
Chinese traditional festivals run on a lunisolar calendar that is at least 2,000 years old in its current form, codified during the Han dynasty and refined repeatedly since. The calendar uses 12 lunar months totaling 354 days, with a 13th intercalary month added in 7 of every 19 years to keep the months aligned with the solar year and the agricultural seasons. The two most important festivals – the Spring Festival (Chinese New Year) and the Mid-Autumn Festival – are anchored to the new and full moons that frame each year, and the calendar threads together a smaller set of solar-term festivals (notably Qingming and the Winter Solstice) that have been observed since the Zhou dynasty.
The Spring Festival begins on the first new moon between January 21 and February 20 each year and is the largest annual festival in the Chinese-speaking world. It officially runs for fifteen days, ending with the Lantern Festival (Yuanxiao) on the first full moon. In mainland China the public holiday block is seven days; in Hong Kong, three; in Taiwan, four to seven depending on year. The chunyun travel rush around Spring Festival is the largest annual human migration on Earth – China's transport ministry counted over 9 billion passenger trips in the 40-day window for 2024. The festival is also the basis of Korean Seollal, Vietnamese Tết, and Mongolian Tsagaan Sar, each of which incorporates strong national variations on the same lunar moment.
The traditional Chinese festival year follows a recognizable arc. Spring Festival opens it; the Lantern Festival closes the New Year; Qingming (Tomb-Sweeping Day) in early April honours ancestors; the Dragon Boat Festival (Duanwu) on the fifth day of the fifth lunar month commemorates the poet Qu Yuan and features dragon-boat racing and zongzi rice dumplings; the Qixi Festival (the Chinese Valentine's Day) on the seventh day of the seventh lunar month celebrates the legend of the cowherd and weaver girl; the Mid-Autumn Festival on the 15th day of the 8th lunar month is the second-largest festival of the year, marked with mooncakes and family reunions; the Double Ninth Festival (Chongyang) on the ninth day of the ninth lunar month is a day to climb mountains and honour the elderly; the Winter Solstice (Dongzhi) closes the year.
Beyond mainland China, the calendar is observed throughout the Chinese diaspora – over 50 million people of Chinese ancestry worldwide, with major communities in Singapore (where Chinese New Year is the largest public holiday), Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the United States, Canada, Australia, the UK, and across the Caribbean and South America. Lion-dance troupes, lantern festivals, and Spring Festival galas are now mainstream in cities from San Francisco to Sydney to London.
The Chinese calendar is lunisolar. Each month begins on the day of the astronomical new moon at 120°E (China Standard Time), and months are 29 or 30 days long. To keep the calendar aligned with the solar year, an intercalary 13th month is inserted in 7 out of every 19 years – inserted between the regular months so that each contains at least one of the 12 zhongqi (principal solar terms). Most festivals are tied to lunar dates: Spring Festival to the first new moon between January 21 and February 20; the Lantern Festival to the next full moon; Mid-Autumn to the full moon of the 8th lunar month. A smaller class of festivals – Qingming, Winter Solstice, Laba – is anchored to solar terms and so falls within a one- or two-day window every Gregorian year. The 12-year zodiac cycle (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog, pig) and the 60-year sexagenary cycle (combining 10 heavenly stems with 12 earthly branches) name each year.
Vietnam, Korea, and Mongolia observe their own versions of the Lunar New Year – Tết, Seollal, and Tsagaan Sar respectively – which usually but not always coincide with Chinese New Year. Singapore and Malaysia observe Chinese New Year as a national public holiday with strong fusion influence (Chap Goh Mei in Penang preserves a Hokkien tradition of unmarried women throwing oranges into the sea). The Mid-Autumn Festival is also a national holiday in Vietnam (Tết Trung Thu, oriented toward children) and is observed by Korean Chuseok in a related but distinct form. In Hong Kong and the Cantonese-speaking world, Cheung Chau Bun Festival in May is a unique local observance with paper-bun towers.
For another lunisolar calendar's festival cycle, see the Hindu festival hub and the Jewish festival hub. For other major mooncake-and-lantern style festivals, see Korean Chuseok and Vietnamese Tết Trung Thu.
When is Chinese New Year? It falls on the first new moon between January 21 and February 20 each year – February 6, 2027 (Year of the Fire Goat); January 26, 2028 (Year of the Earth Monkey).
Is Chinese New Year a public holiday? Yes – seven days in mainland China, three in Hong Kong, four to seven in Taiwan, two in Singapore, two in Malaysia, and one or two in many other countries with Chinese diaspora.
What is the typical Chinese New Year greeting? "Xin Nian Kuai Le" (新年快乐) in Mandarin; "San Nin Faai Lok" in Cantonese; "Gong Xi Fa Cai" (恭喜发财) is the wish for prosperity.
Why is the Mid-Autumn Festival also called the Mooncake Festival? Because the central food of the festival is the mooncake – a dense round pastry with sweet or savoury fillings, shared among family members under the harvest full moon.
What is the difference between Chinese New Year and Lunar New Year? They refer to the same moment, but the term "Lunar New Year" is preferred in Korean, Vietnamese, and Mongolian contexts where the festival has its own national name and traditions.
Tracked events
