Journal · BaZi calendar
Li Chun vs Chinese New Year: Which Sets Your BaZi Year?
Your BaZi year flips at Li Chun (around February 4) — the astronomical start of spring in the solar calendar — not at Chinese New Year and not on January 1. If you were born in late January or early February, your BaZi year pillar can differ from the zodiac animal most calendars give you, because they are set by two different systems.
Two calendars, two new years
Chinese culture runs on more than one calendar. Chinese New Year is a lunar event: it falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice, drifting anywhere from January 21 to February 20. Li Chun is a solar event: it is the first of the twenty-four solar terms (jié qì), fixed by the sun’s position at 315° of ecliptic longitude, which lands near February 4 every year. BaZi is a solar system, so it counts the year from Li Chun.
Why BaZi uses the solar year
BaZi reads the interplay of the Five Elements stamped by the sun’s position at your birth. Because the pillars track the solar cycle — the year at Li Chun, the months at each solar term — the calendar has to be solar for the elements to line up with the real seasons. A lunar date would drift against the seasons from year to year and break that correspondence.
The gap that trips people up
Born before Chinese New Year and before Li Chun: your year pillar belongs to the previous BaZi year.
Born after Chinese New Year but before Li Chun: your popular zodiac animal (lunar) and your BaZi year pillar (solar) can disagree — BaZi uses Li Chun.
Born after Li Chun: the two systems agree, and the new BaZi year is in effect.
This is why a person born, say, on February 1 can be told they are one zodiac animal by a placemat calendar and read as the previous year’s pillar in a proper BaZi chart. Neither is “wrong” — they answer different questions with different calendars.
The month pillar moves too
The same solar logic governs the month pillar, which changes at each solar term rather than on the first of a calendar month. A birthday close to a solar term can fall in either month depending on the exact time, which is one more reason precise birth data matters for an accurate chart.
Get your correct BaZi year
Qysmet applies Li Chun and the solar terms automatically. Enter your birth details and it computes your year and month pillars correctly — free, in about sixty seconds.
Calculate My BaZi Chart — FreeFrequently Asked Questions
When does the BaZi year actually start?
The BaZi year begins at Li Chun, the first solar term of the year, which falls around February 4 — occasionally February 3 or 5. It marks the astronomical start of spring, not the lunar new moon of Chinese New Year and not January 1.
Is the BaZi year the same as Chinese New Year?
No. Chinese New Year follows the lunar calendar and shifts between late January and late February. Li Chun follows the solar calendar and stays near February 4. In some years they are weeks apart, so a person born between the two dates can be assigned a different year pillar than their zodiac-animal year suggests.
I was born in early February — which animal am I?
If you were born after Chinese New Year but before Li Chun, your popular zodiac animal (set by Chinese New Year) and your BaZi year pillar (set by Li Chun) can disagree. BaZi uses Li Chun, so your year pillar — and the elements it carries — is what a reading works from.
Does the month pillar also change on a fixed date?
Yes. Each BaZi month begins at a solar term (jié qì), roughly every two weeks, not at the start of a calendar month. This is why precise birth data matters: a birthday near a solar term can land in either month.
How do I know my correct BaZi year?
Qysmet computes it for you. Enter your birth date, time, and place and the engine applies Li Chun and the solar terms automatically, so your year and month pillars are correct without you having to check a calendar.