2026 Chinese New Year Day is on Tuesday, February 17, 2026
Chinese New Year Day - 2026 Year of the Horse
What is the animal sign for Chinese New Year 2026? 2026 is the year of the Red Fire Horse. 2026 Chinese New Year Day is on Tuesday, February 17, 2026, in the China time zone. The Chinese New Year's Eve is on Monday, February 16, 2026. They are national holidays in China. Usually, the New Year holiday is at least five days long from Chinese New Year's eve. Plus Saturday and Sunday, the legal holiday could expand to seven days long.
How old is China? What is the lunar new year 2026? China will be 4723 years old on Tuesday, February 17, 2026. This is because that the Yellow King, the first king of China, was inaugurated in 2697 B.C.
The first day of Chinese Spring is on February 4, 2026. This date is called Li-Chun 立春, which means the start of Spring. Chinese New Year Day usually is around the first day of Spring. Therefore the Chinese New Year holiday is also called Spring Festival 春節. Chinese New Year Day is the new moon date of the first lunar month. It's from the Chinese Lunar Calendar. The first day of spring is the first day of Tiger month. This date is the first day of the Chinese Astrological Year. This is from the Chinese Astrology Calendar, which is the calendar of Chinese Zodiac Signs. 2026 is the year of the Red Horse.
2025 Snake Year: 12 Chinese Zodiac Predictions
Chinese New Year Day - Coming Years
| Chinese New Year Dates [China Timezone] | |||
| Year | Zodiacs | New Year Date | Day of Week |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | Red Fire Horse | February 17, 2026 | Tuesday |
| 2027 | Red Fire Sheep | February 6, 2027 | Saturday |
| 2028 | Brown Earth Monkey | January 26, 2028 | Wednesday |
| 2029 | Brown Earth Chicken | February 13, 2029 | Tuesday |
| 2030 | White Metal Dog | February 3, 2030 | Sunday |
- 2027 is the year of the Red Fire Sheep. 2027 Chinese New Year Day is on Saturday, February 6, 2027. The new moon time at China Time Zone is 23:59 on 2/6/2027.
- 2028 is the year of the Brown Earth Monkey. 2028 Chinese New Year Day is on Wednesday, January 26, 2028. The new moon time at China Time Zone is 23:15 on 1/26/2028.
- 2029 is the year of the Brown Earth Chicken. 2029 Chinese New Year Day is on Tuesday, February 13, 2029. The new moon time at China Time Zone is 18:33 on 2/13/2029.
- 2030 is the year of the White Metal Dog. 2030 Chinese New Year Day is on Sunday, February 3, 2030. The new moon time at China Time Zone is 0:10 on 2/3/2030.
Chinese New Year Day - Celebration
Traditionally, the first thing to do right after waking up in the morning of Chinese New Year Day in China is to open the door and set off firecrackers. Today, many Chinese don't sleep on Chinese New Year's Eve and wait for Chinese New Year Day coming. As soon as midnight is passed, people at home should be able to hear the sound of firecrackers one after another.
The sound of firecrackers and fireworks tells people the New Year has arrived. People offer New Year's greetings while they are watching TV shows, enjoying the fireworks, or gambling. They have to send greetings to parents or eldest members in the house first, then to siblings. The most popular greeting is Gong Xi Fa Chai 恭喜發財 (Cantonese pronounces Gong Hay Fat Choy 2026), which means "congratulations and make a fortune." The firecracker and congratulations greeting are from the story of animal Nian. "Make a fortune" is to wish people rich because the Chinese love to talk about money. In order to have better luck in the coming year, some Chinese go to the temple at midnight to ask for good luck from deities right after the new year comes.
Some Chinese families change the new clothes right after midnight or the Rat hour (11 p.m. to 1 a.m.) on Chinese New Year's Eve. Then they choose the lucky hour from the Chinese Farmer's Calendar to worship spirits and ancestors with candles, fruit, rice cake, tea, long noodle, and candies. The purpose of this worship is to tell spirits and ancestors the New Year arrives. At the end of the ceremony, they will open the door, select a lucky money direction to explode the firecrackers, which means to get rid of old bad stuff and welcome the new coming. Chinese families give the Red Envelope to children at this time, then the children go to bed.
After dawn, it's time to say Chinese New Year greetings to neighbors, friends, coworkers, and relatives. Before the time of the telephone, school teachers will go back to school to greet each other. Government employees will go back to the office to say happy New Year. Now many people say Gong Xi Fa Chai by phone or send the greeting by e-mail.
On Chinese New Year's day, the Chinese eat breakfast without meat from the New Year's Eve leftover. At noon, they have to worship the Spirit of the House with simple animal sacrifices, vegetables, and rice. In the evening, they worship family ancestors again with a full dinner food.
Chinese New Year Day - Red Envelope
Red Envelope of Kung Hei Fat Choy 2026
In the morning, all the children are supposed to wear new clothes, pants, shoes, a hat, or a jacket. Every family should prepare many different kinds of sweet candies in a tray for people visiting their houses. If a child goes with an adult to visit someone and says Gong Xi Fa Chai, he can receive a Red Envelope. In Taiwan, the president, city mayors, and temples will prepare many Red Envelopes for their supporters. Since the number of Red Envelopes is limited, people have to go earlier and wait in a long line to have a handshake and Red Envelope.
Chinese New Year is closed to the early spring. That means it's the beginning of the blossom season. The popular flowers for Chinese New Year are orchids, narcissuses, peach flowers, hrysanthemum, kumquat, cherry blossoms, camellia, and so on. So some people like to visit the flower garden or attend flower expo to enjoy the sight of flowers or bring some flower pots home.
Some Chinese would like to take the whole family to the countryside to enjoy the beautiful scenery. Some like to go to the temple to see the crowd and pray for coming luck. Today, more young people go to department stores to spend their Red Envelope money and shop for the New Year's special bargains or go to the movie theater with friends. Certainly, some are still like to sit by the Mah-Jong table to earn money.
Chinese New Year Day - Lion Dancing
It's getting less chance to see the lion dancing or dragon dancing in the modern city street. People have to go to national culture streets to see the Chinese New Year's traditional activities. Over there, people can see lion dance, the god of money, parade, open theater opera, puppet show, etc. They also can buy different raditional candies, their zodiac animal symbols, food, gifts from the culture stores.
Chinese keep the lion dancing custom is because that they think the lion image can expel the evil spirit away. Chinese believe that the dragon is in charge of rain. The dragon dancing is praying for appropriate rain to grow more crops during the farmer society. Also, the dragon is an auspicious and notable symbol that can bring people luck. You can watch the Lion Dancing video from the following link - video of Chinese New Year Lion Dancing.
The unique style of music for Chinese New Year can hear at Chinese New Year Music (MP3). You can hear that music from department stores, radio stations, TV stations, and during the lion dancing or dragon dancing on the street.
7-Day National Holiday of Chinese New Year
Chinese New Year 2026 Forecast
What are the 15 days of Chinese New Year 2026?
How long does the Chinese New Year last? Chinese Spring Festival is the longest holiday of the year. Many Chinese take this advantage to travel. Many young Chinese today could plan to visit different geographical cities, famous sceneries, vacation resorts, or travel to different provinces, states, or countries. They might spend their Chinese New Year's Eve in a foreign country to experience different styles of Chinese New Year.
The current population of China is more than 1.41 billion at the end of 2018. Overseas Chinese have at least 50 million. That means more than Chinese 1.46 billion will celebrate the Chinese New Year around the world. Many China towns and Chinese communities in the USA celebrate Chinese Lunar New Year too. They have different schedules for the 2026 Chinese New Year Parade.
- Chinese New Year Eve
- Chinese New Year Day
- Chinese New Year Son-In-Law's Day
- Chinese New Year Mice Wedding Date
- Chinese New Year Welcome God of the Stove
- Chinese New Year Welcome God of the Wealth
- Chinese New Year Great Pig Day
- Chinese New Year The Human Day
- Chinese New Year The Completion Day
- Chinese New Year Birthday of Jade Emperor
- Chinese New Year The Eating Day
- Chinese New Year The Break Day
- Chinese New Year The Diarrhea Day
- Chinese New Year Anniversary of General Kuan
- Chinese New Year The Lantern Decoration Day
- Chinese New Year Chinese Lantern Festival
- Chinese Lantern Festival
- Find Date of Chinese Festivals and Holidays
There are some traditional taboos and superstitions on the Chinese New Year Day at the Chinese New Year Taboo page.
Chinese Zodiac Prediction
By Master Allen Tsai on Monday, July 7, 2025