Chinese New Year Countdown
Live Chinese New Year countdown to the Spring Festival — the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar. Date varies (late January–mid February) based on the lunar new moon. Updated every second.
How many days until Chinese New Year?
The Chinese New Year countdown above ticks every second to the start of the Spring Festival — the most important holiday in the Chinese cultural year. Because Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar, the date shifts each year between 21 January and 20 February.
When is Chinese New Year?
Chinese New Year — known in China as the Spring Festival (春节, Chūnjié) — falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice. This means it's always somewhere between 21 January and 20 February in the Gregorian calendar.
Chinese New Year dates and zodiac animals through 2031
| Year | New Year date | Zodiac animal | Element |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2025 | 29 January | Snake | Wood |
| 2026 | 17 February | Horse | Fire |
| 2027 | 6 February | Goat | Fire |
| 2028 | 26 January | Monkey | Earth |
| 2029 | 13 February | Rooster | Earth |
| 2030 | 3 February | Dog | Metal |
| 2031 | 23 January | Pig | Metal |
The Chinese zodiac — 12 animals, 60-year cycle
Each Chinese year is associated with one of twelve animals in a repeating 12-year cycle:
Rat → Ox → Tiger → Rabbit → Dragon → Snake → Horse → Goat → Monkey → Rooster → Dog → Pig
2026 is the Year of the Horse — specifically the Fire Horse (a Bing-Wu year). Fire Horse years occur only once every 60 years (last in 1966; next in 2086) and are traditionally considered intense, ambitious, and lucky.
The full Chinese zodiac cycle is actually 60 years long, combining the 12 animals with the 5 elements (Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, Water). Each animal-element combination repeats only once every 60 years.
The 15 days of Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year isn't a single day — it's a 15-day celebration ending with the Lantern Festival:
- New Year's Eve (除夕, Chúxī): Family reunion dinner — the most important meal of the year. Fireworks at midnight.
- Day 1: Visiting elders and parents. Children receive hongbao (red envelopes with money). Wearing new clothes (often red) is traditional.
- Day 2: Married daughters return to visit their parents. Some regions begin business operations.
- Day 3: Considered an unlucky day to visit; many stay home.
- Day 4: Welcoming the Kitchen God back to the household.
- Day 5: Welcoming the God of Wealth (财神). Fireworks; many businesses formally reopen.
- Day 7: "Everyone's Birthday" (人日, Rénrì) — the day humanity was created in Chinese mythology. Everyone is one year older.
- Day 8–14: Continued visits to family and friends. Various regional customs.
- Day 15 — Lantern Festival (元宵节, Yuánxiāo Jié): Closes the celebration. Lanterns are released or hung; tangyuan (sweet rice balls) are eaten. The first full moon of the lunar year.
Chunyun — the largest annual human migration
The 40-day period around Chinese New Year is called chunyun (春运, "spring movement") — the world's largest annual human migration. Hundreds of millions of Chinese people travel home for family reunions, creating extraordinary pressure on the country's transportation network:
- ~3 billion individual trips are made during the chunyun period in a typical recent year
- Train tickets for popular routes sell out within minutes of release
- Flight prices can be 3–5× normal; long-haul international routes also spike
- Roads see massive congestion, especially on the days before the New Year and after the holiday week
Chinese New Year traditions
- Red everywhere — red is the colour of luck, prosperity, and warding off evil. Decorations, clothing, envelopes, and lanterns are all red.
- Couplets (春联, chūnlián) — pairs of poetic lines on red paper, hung on either side of doorways with auspicious New Year wishes.
- Hongbao (红包) / red envelopes — money in red envelopes given by elders to children and unmarried adults. Increasingly digital; WeChat and Alipay process billions of digital hongbao each year.
- Reunion dinner — the most important meal. Specific dishes have symbolic meaning: fish (余, abundance), dumplings (饺子, wealth), longevity noodles (长寿面, long life), spring rolls (春卷, gold ingots).
- Firecrackers and fireworks — historically used to scare away the mythical beast Nian. Many Chinese cities now restrict them due to pollution.
- Lion and dragon dances — performed in streets and shopping centres for good luck.
- Cleaning before, not during — homes are thoroughly cleaned before New Year (sweeping out the old year). On New Year's Day itself, sweeping is avoided to not "sweep away" good luck.
Chinese New Year worldwide
Chinese New Year (or Lunar New Year) is observed by Chinese communities globally and is also celebrated in countries with non-Chinese lunar new year traditions:
- China and Hong Kong — 7-day public holiday for Chunjie. Cultural celebrations span the full 15 days.
- Vietnam — celebrated as Tết Nguyên Đán (or just Tết) — the most important holiday of the year. Same date as Chinese New Year. Vietnam has its own zodiac with cat replacing rabbit.
- South Korea — celebrated as Seollal (설날) — 3-day holiday for ancestral rites and family reunion.
- Mongolia — celebrated as Tsagaan Sar ("White Moon"), often falling on the same date.
- Singapore, Malaysia — Chinese New Year is a 2-day public holiday. Major street parades.
- Indonesia, Thailand, Philippines — observed by ethnic Chinese populations.
- San Francisco, New York, London, Sydney, Vancouver — host major public Chinese New Year parades, some of the largest outside Asia.
The Year of the Horse (2026)
2026 is the Year of the Horse — and specifically the Fire Horse (Bing-Wu), a year that occurs once every 60 years.
People born in Horse years (2014, 2002, 1990, 1978, 1966, 1954, 1942, 1930) are traditionally said to be:
- Energetic, hardworking, and ambitious
- Independent and free-spirited
- Loyal in friendships
- Sometimes impatient or restless
Famous Horse-year people: Nelson Mandela (1918), Aretha Franklin (1942), Paul McCartney (1942), Cindy Crawford (1966), Kobe Bryant (1978), Kristen Stewart (1990), Emma Watson (1990).