The Chinese astrology library
Lichun — the Solar New Year
Where the animal year really turns
Your Chinese animal year doesn't begin on January 1, and in classical BaZi it doesn't begin at the Lunar New Year either. It turns at Lichun, the "start of spring," the moment in early February when the Sun reaches a fixed point on its yearly path. If you were born in January or early February, this one date can change your animal.
Raise your four pillars, freeA solar gate, not a festival
Lichun means "start of spring," and it opens the twenty-four solar terms that divide the Sun's yearly path. It arrives at the moment the Sun reaches 315 degrees of celestial longitude, usually on February 3, 4 or 5. The Sun sets it, not the Moon. That means astronomy fixes it precisely, and you can know it years in advance.
The Lunar New Year is something else: a new-moon festival of family dinners, red envelopes and lanterns, landing anywhere from about January 21 to February 20. It is real and deeply loved, but it belongs to the festival calendar. Classical Four Pillars practice turns the year pillar at Lichun, and so does every tool on this site. The two dates can fall a few days or a few weeks apart.
Picture a road the Sun walks every year, with a gate at the same spot each time. The festival is the celebration in town. Lichun is the gate where the road actually changes.
Why it changes your animal
If your birthday falls in January or the first days of February, this is personal. If you were born before Lichun, you belong to the previous animal year. Someone born in January 1998 is an Ox, not a Tiger, because the Tiger year began only at Lichun that February. A February 2 birthday usually sits before the gate too. Apps that switch animals on January 1, or at the Lunar New Year, can hand these border birthdays the wrong sign.
The same logic runs at a finer scale. The months turn at the twelve jie solar terms, one every 30 degrees from Lichun, so your month pillar follows the Sun as well. That is why an accurate chart needs real astronomy, not a table of calendar months. The year animal is also your outer animal, the first layer of the outer, inner and secret animals, so getting it right shapes everything built on top of it.
Checking your border birthday
You don't have to work any of this out by hand. The free BaZi calculator places the exact Lichun moment for your birth year and builds your pillars from there. If you were born on Lichun day itself, your birth time decides the year. Without a time, the calculator shows the year pillar as "X or Y" instead of guessing. A birth a few hours on either side of the gate lands in a different year, so a birth certificate or family record with the time is worth tracking down.
Once you know your true animal, you can see what the year now running holds for it. You can also open the clash year page, which sets the year's Tai Sui against every pillar of your chart, not just your animal. The whole suite turns the year at the same solar gate, so these readings agree with each other.
Keep learning
The rest of the library: five short guides to the Four Pillars.
The Four Pillars (BaZi)How your birth year, month, day and hour become the eight characters of a BaZi chart.
The Heavenly StemsThe ten Heavenly Stems, from great tree to still lake, and how they sit in your chart.
The Earthly BranchesThe twelve Earthly Branches: the animals, their elements, their friendships and clashes, and the hours they keep.
The Day MasterThe one stem in your BaZi chart that stands for you, and the ten forms it takes.
Yin & YangHow yin and yang double the five elements, split the twelve animals, and color your Day Master.
See it in your chart
Your four pillars, cast from the exact moment of your birth with the hour read by the Sun, your Day Master and your five elements, with a written reading free. It works even if you don’t know your birth time.
Raise my four pillarsLichun — the Solar New Year, answered
When exactly is Lichun?
Lichun arrives when the Sun reaches 315 degrees of celestial longitude. That usually happens on February 3, 4 or 5, at a precise moment that shifts a little from year to year. Our tools don't assume a fixed date. They calculate the exact Lichun moment for each year, so a birth close to the boundary is placed on the correct side of it.
Is Lichun the same as Chinese New Year?
No. Chinese New Year, or Lunar New Year, is a new-moon festival that falls somewhere between about January 21 and February 20. Lichun is a solar term, set by the Sun's position, and it nearly always lands around February 4. Classical BaZi turns the year pillar at Lichun. The festival calendar is the one that throws the party.
I was born in late January. What's my Chinese zodiac animal?
Almost certainly the previous year's animal, because Lichun hadn't arrived yet when you were born. Someone born in January 1998, for example, is an Ox rather than a Tiger. Enter your birth date in the free BaZi calculator. It applies the exact Lichun boundary for your birth year and shows the full four pillars as well.
Do all Chinese astrologers use Lichun for the year?
Classical Four Pillars practice uses Lichun, because BaZi is built on the solar terms. Some popular sources switch the animal at Lunar New Year instead, which is why websites can disagree about birthdays near the border. Everything on this site is based on Lichun, so your animal, your clash year and your this-year reading all line up with one another.
Explore every tool
Every free reading, chart and calculator on the site, gathered here so you can find yours.