Chinese Calendar

The Chinese calendar is lunisolar, incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar.

In most of East Asia today, the Gregorian calendar is used for day to day activities, but the Chinese calendar is still used for marking traditional East Asian holidays , and in astrology, such as choosing the most auspicious date for a wedding or the opening of a building.

Solar term 節氣( jiéqì)

Chinese months follow the phases of the moon. As a result, they do not accurately follow the seasons of the solar year. To assist farmers to decide when to plant or harvest crops, the drafters of the calendar put in 24 seasonal markers, which follow the solar year, and are called jiéqì ( 節氣 ).

Chinese name	Gregoriandate (approx.)	Usualtranslation	Remarks
立春 lìchūn	February 4	start of spring	spring starts here according to the Chinese definition of a season
雨水 yǔshuǐ	February 19	rain water	starting at this point, the temperature makes rain more likely than snow
啓蟄 qǐzhé(驚蟄 jīngzhé)	March 5	awakening of insects	when hibernating insects awaken
春分 chūnfēn	March 21	vernal equinox	lit. the central divide of spring (referring to the Chinese seasonal definition)
清明 qīngmíng (Holiday)	April 5	clear and bright	a Chinese festival where, traditionally, ancestral graves are tended
穀雨 gǔyǔ or gǔyù	April 20	grain rains	rain helps grain grow
立夏 lìxià	May 6	start of summer	refers to the Chinese seasonal definition
小滿 xiǎomǎn	May 21	grain full	grains are plump
芒種 mángzhòng or mángzhǒng	June 6	grain in ear	lit. awns (beard of grain) grow
夏至 xiàzhì	June 21	summer solstice	lit. summer extreme (of sun’s height)
小暑 xiǎoshǔ	July 7	minor heat	when heat starts to get unbearable
大暑 dàshǔ	July 23	major heat	the hottest time of the year
立秋 lìqiū	August 7	start of autumn	uses the Chinese seasonal definition
處暑 chùshǔ	August 23	limit of heat	lit. dwell in heat
白露 báilù	September 8	white dew	condensed moisture makes dew white; a sign of autumn
秋分 qiūfēn	September 23	autumnal equinox	lit. central divide of autumn (refers to the Chinese seasonal definition)
寒露 hánlù	October 8	cold dew	dew starts turning into frost
霜降 shuāngjiàng	October 23	descent of frost	appearance of frost and descent of temperature
立冬 lìdōng	November 7	start of winter	refers to the Chinese seasonal definition
小雪 xiǎoxuě	November 22	minor snow	snow starts falling
大雪 dàxuě	December 7	major snow	season of snowstorms in full swing
冬至 dōngzhì (holiday)	December 22	winter solstice	lit. winter extreme (of sun’s height)
小寒 xiǎohán	January 6	minor cold	cold starts to become unbearable
大寒 dàhán	January 20	major cold	coldest time of year

*extract from wiki

(I will keep filling up this list occasionally)