The Chinese Almanac in English: A Reader’s Starting Point

The Chinese almanac puts several different kinds of information beside a date. A lunar month, a solar-term name and a traditional activity label do not answer the same question. Use this path to read each field in context and share an entry someone else can reproduce.

What is a Chinese almanac?

A daily Chinese almanac combines calendar information with traditional date-selection categories. The traditional Chinese calendar is lunisolar: its lunar months and solar-year framework work together. The Hong Kong Observatory’s calendar introduction explains that astronomical basis.

YUAN’s daily almanac shows a selected Gregorian date, lunar date, day stem and phase, latest solar term, and activity terms. How to read Yi and Ji walks through a complete example. Checking an astronomical date does not verify a prediction attached to an activity list.

What do Yi and Ji mean?

宜 (Yi) introduces activities traditionally favored in the named source record; 忌 (Ji) introduces those traditionally avoided. Compare the Chinese wording as well as the English name. Two terms translated loosely as “moving” may describe different customs.

Use the 142-term Chinese–English glossary for the original labels and explanations. Open the full source record in the tool before concluding that an activity is missing. An absent entry is not automatically permission or prohibition. The almanac FAQ covers missing activities, leap months and disagreements between sources.

Why might today differ from the date on my phone?

YUAN uses Asia/Shanghai, UTC+8, for its current civil date. If you are overseas, your local date can differ at the same instant. The time-zone guide explains that difference and distinguishes the two ways to share the tool:

• Always open today follows the Beijing date current when the link is opened.
• A selected-date link stays pinned to its specified date. Use Copy selected date link when comparing one particular entry.

The site does not silently convert “today” to your local midnight.

Is a solar term a weather forecast?

No. The 24 solar terms mark positions in the Sun’s apparent yearly path. Their traditional seasonal names are not forecasts for every country or hemisphere. Our solar-term guide lists all Chinese and English names and explains why the tool can display the same latest term on several neighboring dates.

The Observatory’s solar-term explanation provides astronomical context. YUAN’s label is associated with a selected civil date, rather than an exact-time event countdown.

Where do the calculations and interpretations come from?

Read How this calendar works for the pinned software version, activity-list setting, phase mapping and translation choices. The tool identifies those choices instead of claiming to represent every almanac tradition.

When reporting a discrepancy, include the selected date, original term and comparison source through Contact and corrections. Our editorial approach distinguishes a calendar calculation, a traditional interpretation and an optional exercise written for the reader.

Guides in this topic

Chinese Almanac Today: How to Read Yi and Ji

Read a Chinese daily almanac in English: lunar dates, Yi and Ji, the day phase and a reproducible example, with each kind of statement kept in context.

Read the guide ↗ · 7 min

Chinese Almanac FAQ: Yi and Ji, Leap Months and Dates Abroad

Find English answers about lunar dates, leap months, missing activities, disagreeing almanacs and sharing the right selected date.

Read the guide ↗ · 6 min

Why Does My Chinese Calendar Show a Different Date?

Understand Beijing time, selected dates and shared calendar links, and compare two Chinese calendars without mixing time bases.

Read the guide ↗ · 5 min

The 24 Solar Terms: Chinese and English Names Explained

Learn the 24 solar-term names, understand the calendar label, and keep seasonal traditions separate from local weather.

Read the guide ↗ · 7 min