Chinese calendar · Institutional explanation
Which day begins the Chinese calendar year?
Hui Tai-wai · Hong Kong Observatory
The Observatory explains why its Gan-Zhi year begins on the first day of the first lunar month and distinguishes the Spring Commences convention used in divination.
Open the source text ↗Where to begin
Read the comparison of February 4 and February 16 in 2018, then the paragraph describing HKO’s chosen boundary.
Keep in mind
This is HKO’s calendar convention, not a claim that every divinatory system uses the same year boundary. Our civil-date lookup does not compute a Lichun-based year pillar.