The Chinese calendar today is shown in the box just below: today’s lunar date, the day pillar 日柱 (rì zhù), the day officer, the clash animal and, on the right days, the solar term. The box reads the date in Malaysia time (UTC+8) and covers 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2027. The rest of this page explains how to read each line, so that “十月初一” and “Remove day, clashes Horse” stop looking like code.
As a classical feng shui 風水 (fēngshuǐ) and BaZi 八字 (bāzì) consultant, the question I hear most from newcomers is, “What is today’s lunar date, and does it matter?” It matters a great deal for festivals and family customs. The day pillar, officer and clash matter for people who use the almanac to choose between two otherwise equal days. None of it is a prediction about your life.
Today’s Chinese Date
If the box is blank, JavaScript is switched off in your browser, so use the month tables further down. If today falls outside 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2027, the box says so rather than guess. The sections below explain each line.
How to Read the Chinese Lunar Calendar Date
The lunar date is written as a month name followed by a day name. Take 十月初一 (shí yuè chū yī): it is the first day of the tenth lunar month. Take 冬月廿三: it is the 23rd day of the eleventh lunar month. The widget also shows the numbers, such as “lunar month 11, day 23”.
The Chinese lunar calendar is a lunisolar calendar. Each month follows the moon from one new moon to the next, so a month is either 29 or 30 days long. The year is kept in step with the seasons by adding a leap month 闰月 (rùn yuè) every two to three years. No leap month appears between November 2026 and December 2027, so the twelve months below simply run in order.
Month names. Most months are just numbers followed by 月 (yuè): 二月 is the second month, 三月 the third, and so on up to 十月, the tenth. Three months have their own names:
- 正月 (zhēng yuè) is the first month, the one that opens with Chinese New Year. You may also see it written 一月.
- 冬月 (dōng yuè) is the eleventh month, the “winter month”.
- 腊月 (là yuè) is the twelfth month, named after the year-end sacrifices. Chinese New Year’s Eve falls on its last day.
Day names. Days 1 to 10 are written with 初 (chū) in front: 初一, 初二, up to 初十. Days 11 to 19 are written 十一 to 十九. Day 20 is 二十. Days 21 to 29 use the older character 廿 (niàn), meaning twenty: 廿一, 廿二 and so on. Day 30, when a month has one, is 三十.
A useful rule of thumb. Because each month starts on the new moon, lunar day 1 is always dark and lunar day 15 is close to the full moon. That is why the Lantern Festival (正月十五), the Ghost Festival (七月十五) and Mid-Autumn (八月十五) all sit on the 15th. The real full moon can land a day either side, so treat it as an approximation.
What the Day Pillar 日柱 Tells You
The Chinese calendar numbers its days in a repeating cycle of 60, the same sexagenary cycle 六十甲子 that names the years. Each day gets a two-character label: one Heavenly Stem 天干 (tiān gān) and one Earthly Branch 地支 (dì zhī). That label is the day pillar.
The ten stems pair up as Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal and Water, each in a yang and a yin form. The twelve branches are the twelve zodiac animals from Rat 子 to Pig 亥. Stems and branches advance together, one step per day, so the same pillar returns every 60 days. As an example, 1 November 2026 is a 己卯 day, and so is 31 December 2026.
To read a day pillar in plain terms, look at the two characters separately. 己卯 is Yin Earth over the Rabbit, so I would describe it as a “Rabbit day” with a Yin Earth stem. The branch matters most for everyday almanac use, because it decides the day’s animal and therefore its clash animal. The stem is used in deeper BaZi work, where the day pillar of your own birth date is the single most important pillar in your chart. You can read more about that in my BaZi chart guide or try the free BaZi tool.
One caution: today’s day pillar has nothing to do with the animal of the current year. In the Goat year of 2027 you will still meet Rat days, Tiger days and every other animal.
The 12 Day Officers 建除十二神 Explained
The day officer, written 建除十二神 (jiàn chú shí èr shén), is a second cycle that runs alongside the stems and branches. There are twelve officers, and in the almanac each one is said to suit certain kinds of activity. The widget uses these English names: Establish, Remove, Full, Balance, Stable, Initiate, Destruction, Danger, Success, Receive, Open and Close.
Normally the officer moves one step forward each day, so you see them in that order. There is one quirk: on the day a new solar month begins (the days of the 12 “jie” solar terms such as Start of Spring, Awakening of Insects and Clear and Bright), the officer repeats for two days in a row. In the widget you can see this on 7 December 2026, when the officer is Balance for both 6 and 7 December, and again on 7 December 2027, with Success on both the 6th and 7th. That is not an error. It is how the cycle is kept aligned with the solar months.
| Officer | Chinese | What the almanac traditionally associates with it |
|---|---|---|
| Establish | 建 (jiàn) | Beginnings and setting things up, though some texts advise care over very large ventures |
| Remove | 除 (chú) | Clearing out, cleaning, discarding and sorting; a day for removing obstacles |
| Full | 满 (mǎn) | Abundance and gatherings; often listed for celebrations and meals, less so for storing or signing |
| Balance | 平 (píng) | An even, ordinary day; routine tasks and levelling out |
| Stable | 定 (dìng) | Settling and fixing things in place, such as agreements, plans and arrangements |
| Initiate | 执 (zhí) | Taking hold of a task and carrying it out; commonly linked with starting work or construction |
| Destruction | 破 (pò) | Breaking down; traditionally good for demolition, poor for new ventures and formal openings |
| Danger | 危 (wēi) | A day for caution; many almanacs advise against risky activities and big decisions |
| Success | 成 (chéng) | Completion and accomplishment; widely regarded as favourable for openings and finishing things |
| Receive | 收 (shōu) | Gathering in and collecting; harvest, receiving payment, bringing things home |
| Open | 开 (kāi) | Opening and starting; commonly chosen for launching a business or moving in |
| Close | 闭 (bì) | Closing and sealing; traditionally good for finishing, filling and burying, poor for openings |
Please read the right-hand column as tendencies, not rules. Almanac editions and teachers differ on the finer points, and the officer is only one of many factors that a full Tong Shu 通書 (tōngshū) reading considers. I treat the officer as a light tiebreaker: if two dates are otherwise equal for a house move or a shop opening, I would lean towards Open or Success rather than Destruction or Danger. If only one date is practical, use it.
The Clash Animal 冲 on Today’s Date
The clash 冲 (chōng) line tells you which zodiac animal “opposes” today’s branch. Branches that sit six places apart in the twelve-branch circle clash, and the pairs are always the same:
| Day animal | Clash animal | Day animal | Clash animal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rat | Horse | Horse | Rat |
| Ox | Goat | Goat | Ox |
| Tiger | Monkey | Monkey | Tiger |
| Rabbit | Rooster | Rooster | Rabbit |
| Dragon | Dog | Dog | Dragon |
| Snake | Pig | Pig | Snake |
So a Rabbit day clashes Rooster, which is why 1 November 2026 (己卯) shows “Rooster” in the widget. A Snake day clashes Pig, a Pig day clashes Snake, and so on.
What to do with it. The traditional reading is that people born in the clash animal’s year may find that day less suitable for major personal events, such as signing a contract, a wedding ceremony, a house move or the opening of a business. For an ordinary day, such as a day at work, a family dinner or a trip to the market, I do not ask anyone to change anything.
My practical suggestions:
- Look at the clash animal only when you are choosing a date for something important.
- Check the animal of the person the event is for. If you were born in the clash animal’s year, see whether another day works as well.
- Your zodiac animal follows your BaZi year, which turns at Lichun 立春 (lìchūn) in early February. If you were born in January or early February, check your animal with the zodiac calculator.
- Treat it as a gentle guide, not a warning that something bad will happen.
For the wider question of which years clash with which, my guide to fan Tai Sui in 2027 explains the annual version of the same idea.
Solar Terms 节气 in the Chinese Calendar
When the widget shows a “Solar term today” line, today is one of the 24 solar terms 二十四节气 (èrshísì jiéqì). These are fixed by the sun’s position, not the moon, and they come roughly every two weeks. This is why the lunar date of a solar term moves around from year to year, while its Gregorian date barely changes.
Two of them matter most to feng shui and BaZi. Start of Spring (立春) falls on 4 February 2027 and is the day the BaZi year and the annual feng shui chart change; I explain this in my Lichun 2027 guide. Clear and Bright (清明, Qingming) falls on 5 April 2027 and is the traditional grave-sweeping day; see my Qingming Festival 2027 guide for the customs.
Lunar Month Start Dates: Quick Reference
These are the first days of each lunar month from November 2026 to December 2027, in Malaysia time. Use the table to convert quickly, even if you have no access to the widget.
| Gregorian date | Weekday | Lunar month starts | Days in month |
|---|---|---|---|
| 9 Nov 2026 | Monday | 十月初一 | 30 |
| 9 Dec 2026 | Wednesday | 冬月初一 | 30 |
| 8 Jan 2027 | Friday | 腊月初一 | 29 |
| 6 Feb 2027 | Saturday | 正月初一 (Chinese New Year) | 30 |
| 8 Mar 2027 | Monday | 二月初一 | 30 |
| 7 Apr 2027 | Wednesday | 三月初一 | 29 |
| 6 May 2027 | Thursday | 四月初一 | 30 |
| 5 Jun 2027 | Saturday | 五月初一 | 29 |
| 4 Jul 2027 | Sunday | 六月初一 | 29 |
| 2 Aug 2027 | Monday | 七月初一 | 30 |
| 1 Sep 2027 | Wednesday | 八月初一 | 29 |
| 30 Sep 2027 | Thursday | 九月初一 | 29 |
| 29 Oct 2027 | Friday | 十月初一 | 30 |
| 28 Nov 2027 | Sunday | 冬月初一 | 30 |
| 28 Dec 2027 | Tuesday | 腊月初一 | 29 |
To convert a Gregorian date, find the latest row on or before your date, count the days since that row, and add one to get the lunar day. For example, 20 February 2027 is 14 days after 6 February, so it is lunar day 15 of the first month, 正月十五, the Lantern Festival. For a fuller month-by-month walk through the year, see my Chinese calendar 2027 guide.
Lunar Festivals and Key Dates Over the Next 14 Months
Most Chinese festivals follow the lunar calendar, which is why their Gregorian dates change every year. The table below lists the ones that fall between November 2026 and December 2027, using the same calendar data as the widget. A few, such as Qingming and the Winter Solstice, follow the solar terms rather than the moon, and I have marked those.
| Date | Weekday | Lunar date | Festival or occasion |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15 Jan 2027 | Friday | 腊月初八 | Laba 腊八 |
| 30 Jan 2027 | Saturday | 腊月廿三 | Kitchen God send-off 送灶 (some families observe it a day later) |
| 5 Feb 2027 | Friday | 腊月廿九 | Chinese New Year’s Eve |
| 6 Feb 2027 | Saturday | 正月初一 | Chinese New Year Day 1 |
| 14 Feb 2027 | Sunday | 正月初九 | Jade Emperor’s birthday (Hokkien Pai Ti Kong), with prayers beginning at midnight on the night before |
| 20 Feb 2027 | Saturday | 正月十五 | Chap Goh Meh / Lantern Festival |
| 26 Mar 2027 | Friday | 二月十九 | Guan Yin’s birthday |
| 5 Apr 2027 | Monday | 二月廿九 | Qingming (solar term) |
| 9 Jun 2027 | Wednesday | 五月初五 | Dragon Boat Festival |
| 22 Jul 2027 | Thursday | 六月十九 | Guan Yin’s enlightenment day |
| 2 Aug 2027 | Monday | 七月初一 | Start of the Hungry Ghost month |
| 16 Aug 2027 | Monday | 七月十五 | Ghost Festival 中元 |
| 15 Sep 2027 | Wednesday | 八月十五 | Mid-Autumn Festival |
| 30 Sep 2027 | Thursday | 九月初一 | Nine Emperor Gods festival begins |
| 8 Oct 2027 | Friday | 九月初九 | Chong Yang 重阳 |
| 18 Oct 2027 | Monday | 九月十九 | Guan Yin’s renunciation day |
| 22 Dec 2027 | Wednesday | 冬月廿五 | Winter Solstice (solar term) |
Customs differ between Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka and Teochew families, and between temples, so treat the table as a calendar of dates, not as a set of instructions. For the three Guan Yin days, see my article on Guan Yin’s meaning and altar. For the festival that opens the year, my Chinese New Year 2027 guide has the full 15-day timeline.
Lunar Calendar vs Gregorian Calendar vs the Tong Shu
People often use these three words as if they meant the same thing. They do not.
The Gregorian calendar is the everyday calendar for work, school and banking in Malaysia. It follows the sun alone.
The Chinese lunar calendar follows the moon for its months and the sun, through leap months, for its years. It gives you the lunar date and therefore the date of festivals.
The Tong Shu 通書 (tōngshū), also called the Chinese almanac, is a much larger reference that uses the lunar calendar as a base and adds the stems and branches, the day officers, clashes and lists of suitable and unsuitable activities. If the lunar calendar is the map, the Tong Shu is the traveller’s notebook on what each stretch of road is like. My 2027 Tong Shu guide explains the structure of the book, and the Tong Shu page and Chinese almanac section on this site go deeper. My Chinese fortune calendar article is a gentler introduction.
A few things to keep in mind when using the widget on this page:
- Time zone. It reads the date in Malaysia time (UTC+8), wherever you are. If you are overseas, your local date may differ from the date the widget shows. It changes at midnight Malaysia time. Some BaZi practitioners start a new day pillar at 11 pm; if you are using the pillar for birth-chart work, ask a practitioner how they treat that hour.
- Range. It covers 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2027 only.
- Scope. It shows the date, pillar, officer, clash and solar term, with no yi and ji list or personal advice.
Common Questions
What is the Chinese date today? Check the box near the top of this page. It shows the lunar month and day, written in Chinese characters and as numbers, for the current date in Malaysia time. If the date falls outside 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2027, use the month tables above to count forward or back from the nearest lunar month start.
Is the lunar calendar today the same as the Chinese zodiac year? No. The lunar date tells you the month and day. The zodiac animal of the year follows a separate 12-year cycle, and the BaZi version of that year turns at Lichun in early February, not at the first day of the lunar year. For 2027 the animal is the Goat, and my Year of the Goat 2027 predictions cover the year’s character.
Does a clash day mean I should stay at home? No. In my experience most people never need to think about the clash line. It is a tool for choosing important dates, not a daily warning. If you are curious about your own situation, a BaZi reading looks at far more than one day’s clash.
Key Takeaways
- The Chinese calendar today in the widget is read in Malaysia time (UTC+8) and covers 1 October 2026 to 31 December 2027.
- A lunar date such as 十月初一 means month 10, day 1. Month 11 is 冬月, month 12 is 腊月, and days 21 to 29 are written with 廿.
- The day pillar is one stem plus one branch, cycling every 60 days. The branch gives the day’s animal.
- The 12 day officers are traditional tendencies, not rules. Use them as a light tiebreaker when choosing dates.
- The clash animal is the zodiac animal opposite the day’s branch. It matters mainly when choosing a date for a major event.
- Lunar day 15 is close to the full moon, and the month tables above let you convert dates offline.
Want help choosing an auspicious date for a house move, wedding or business opening? Book a consultation with Master Yap for a personalised reading.
