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CHINESE NEW YEAR

(Year of the Dragon starts on 1/23/2012)

(New Year begins on 1/23/2012)

(The current Chinese year is the Year of the Dragon)

2012 is Year 4709 by Chinese Calendar.

2011 is Year 4708 by Chinese Calendar.
2010 is Year 4707 by Chinese Calendar.
2009 is Year 4706 by Chinese Calendar.

At some web sites, the year quoted may differ by one year. For a detailed explanation as to how
this happened, see the reference Here.

 Chinese New Year Graphics New Year Graphics

 Chinese calendar

Chinese calendar has been in continuous use for centuries. It predates the International Calendar
(based on the Gregorian Calendar) in use at the present, which goes back only some 430 years.
Basically, a calendar is a system we use to measures the passage of time, from short durations of
minutes and hours, to intervals of time measured in days, months, years and centuries. These are
fundamentally based on the astronomical observations of the movement of the Sun, Moon and
stars.

Days are measured by the duration of time of one self rotation of the earth. Months are measured
by the duration of time of rotation of the moon around the earth. Years are measured by the
duration of time it takes for the earth to rotate around the Sun. Read more about it.

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 Chinese New Year Days

2005 Feb 9
2006 Jan 29
2007 Feb 18
2008 Feb 7
2009 Jan 26
2010 Feb 14
2011 Feb 3
2012 Jan 23

 What is the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2011?

February 3, 2011 is the first day of the Chinese New Year - Year of the Rabbit…

There are three ways to name a Chinese Year:

1. By an animal (like a mascot).

2008 is known as the Year of the Rat.
2009 is the Year of the Ox.
2010 is the Year of the Tiger.
There are 12 animal names; so by this system, year names are repeated every 12 years. More.

2. By its Formal Name (Stem-Branch).

2011 is the year of XinMao.

2010 is the year of Geng Yin.

2009 is the Year of Ji Chou.

3. In the 'Stem-Branch' system, the years are counted in 60-year Cycles, so that the Name of the
Year is repeated every 60 years.
2010 is the 11-th year in the current 60-year Cycle.
2009 is the 10-th year in the current 60-year Cycle.

A "Cycle" is analogous to a "century" in the International Calendar system which is 100 years long.

4. 2010 is Year 4707 in the Chinese Calendar.

2009 is Year 4706 in the Chinese Calendar.

 What's special about the Chinese New Year in 2006?

It was a Leap Year! Unlike the western calendar, where one extra day is added in February, one
whole leap month is added in a Chinese Leap Year.
Just think. If you get paid by the month, instead of working an extra day for nothing, you would get
an extra month's pay!!!

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This time around, the Leap Month comes after the regular 7-th Month. The "Leap Second Month"
begins on August 24, 2006. Read more about this here And here.

 When was the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2003?

February 1, 2003. It was the first day in the Year of the Ram (sheep, goat).
This is Year 4700 by Chinese calendar.

 When was the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2002?

February 12, 2002. It was the first day in the Year of the Horse.
It is Year 4699 by Chinese calendar.

For those interested in astrology, it is the year of the Black Horse.

 When was the Chinese New Year's Day in Year 2001?

January 24, 2001. This was the first day in the Year of the Snake.
This is Year 4698.

[Some says this is Year 4638, which is also plausible.

Others claim this year to be either 4699 or 4399, which are almost certainly wrong].

 What's special about the Chinese New Year in 2001?

It was a Leap Year! Unlike the western calendar, where one extra day is added in February, one
whole leap month is added in a Chinese Leap Year.

Just think. If you get paid by the month, instead of working an extra day for nothing, you would get
an extra month's pay!!!

This time around, the Leap Month comes after the regular 4-th Month. The "Leap 4-th Month"
begins on May 23, 2001. More about this...

 12 Animals

Each year is also designated by one of the 12 Animals for instance, 2005 is Year of Rooster; 2006 is
Year of Dog; and 2007 is the Year of Pig. 2008 is the Year of the Rat.

This system is extremely practical. A child does not have to learn a new answer to the question,
"How old are you?" in each new year. Old people often lose track of their age, because they are
rarely asked about their present age. Everyone just have to remember that he or she was born in
the "Year of the Dog" or whatever.

Since 2008 is the Year of the Rat, anyone who was born in the Year of the Rat is 1 or 13, 25, 37, 49,
61, 73, 85 or 97 years old.
When 2009 comes, the person is still born in the Year of the Rat. But he/she is 2, 14, 26, 38, 50, 62,
74, 86 or 98 years old.

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Thus, instead of asking the question “How old are you?” ask the person “In which (animal) year
were you born?” More about this.

 New Year's decoration at the front of the house

Colorful calligraphy called 'chun lian' (Spring couplet) are as popular as those for Halloween or
Christmas.

 What's this logo at top right corner of this web page?

The Chinese word for "Spring". The Chinese calls the New Year's Celebration the "Spring Festival".
This particular calligraphy is a reproduction of the work by one of master calligrapher Zhao
Mengfu (1254-1322) who wrote it more than 600 years ago.
More on calligraphy

 Are there Chinese Graphics analogous to Christmas cards?

There are colorful posters! Traditional.

New Year's card

 What is the Chinese word for 'luck'?

Posters with the word ‘luck’ are often seen around the New Year's. Make one yourself.

 Solar/Lunar calendar

For monthly calendar of 2011, 2010 and 2009 (designed by Mr. Meng Zhuo)

2009 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
2010 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec
2011 Jan | Feb | Mar | Apr | May | Jun | Jul | Aug | Sep | Oct | Nov | Dec

 What is the story about the animal of the year?

In Chinese calendar, one of the schemes for counting years is a 12-year cycle. One counts from
Year 1,2,3,... up to 12. Then starts over from Year 1. (In modern mathematics, this is modulo 12).
Instead of inventing 12 special symbols for this purpose, 12 animals are used to represent these 12
years. Rabbit (hare), for example, is the 4-th year of the cycle. See more about this.

 Chinese dragons

For more about Chinese dragons, go to the Dragon page

 Fireworks & skywriting

For a bit of fun, look at this. [Chinese BIG5] [Chinese GB] [English]

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 How is Chinese New Year's Day determined?

In one sentence, the Chinese New Year is the second New Moon after the winter solstice.

It is based strictly on astronomical observations, and has nothing to do with the Pope, emperors,
animals or myths. Due to its scientific and mathematical nature, we can easily and precisely
calculate backward or forward for thousands of years.

One explanation by Rudy Chiang

Allen Tsai's site has more details: about Year 2010

 Chinese Zodiac Chinese Zodiac

 Related Websites

The Japanese word for "New Year's Greetings" is Kinga Shinnen.

2010 is the Year Heisei 22 in Japan.

Heisei is the current emperor. Japan is the only country in the world which still number the
calendar years starting from the ascension of its emperors.

Other Links

Some of these sites may be worth a visit. More facts than you ever want or need. But interesting!