2025 Tang-Yuan Day is on Sunday, December 21, 2025

Once Winter Solstice was the Chinese New Year's Day

2025 Chinese Tang-Yuan Festival - Winter Solstice

2025 Tang-Yuan Day is on Sunday, December 21, 2025. The Tang-Yuan Day is Winter Solstice. The Winter Solstice time is 23:04 in China time zone. Winter Solstice is the longest night of the year. The day was the first day of the Chinese year. That means Winter Solstice was Chinese New Year Day. Chinese need to celebrate the New Year. It's in the cold December and Chinese eat Tang-Yuan 湯圓 to keep their bodies warm. In Chinese language, Tang 湯 is soup and Yuan 圓 is round, which implies reunion, fully satisfaction. In old farmer society, the poor couldn't afford meat, and then they have Tang-Yuan on the Winter Solstice.

Tang-Yuan are sweet glutinous balls made by sweet rice and served with hot sugar water. It's kind of sticky. Not every child can swallow them. So people make some Tang-Yuan in red color, which make them prettier. Later, the varieties of Tang-Yuan were invented. Tang-Yuan are filled with different ingredients inside such as red bean paste, creamy peanut or sesame paste. Also, Tang-Yuan soup can be served with whole red bean or whole peanut and become a tasty dessert.

To eat Tang-Yuan on the Winter Solstice is a required custom. All children are told that people can add one year for their age after eating Tang-Yuan.

Note: In Chou Dynasty (1122 B.C.), Chinese used Winter Solstice as the first day of the year. It might be too cold to celebrate the New Year in the late December. Later, the Chinese New Year day was moved to early spring.

Winter Solstice Day is around December 21 every year. The time of Winter Solstice determines the date of Winter Solstice. Since the times and dates of Winter Solstice are different in different time zones,the date of Winter Solstice might fall into different days.

Chinese Tang-Yuan Day - Coming Years

2026 Chinese New Year Dates and Forecast

2026 Chinese Tang Yuan Day is on Tuesday, December 22, 2026.
The Winter Solstice time at China Time Zone is 4:50 on December 22, 2026.
2027 Chinese Tang Yuan Day is on Wednesday, December 22, 2027.
The Winter Solstice time at China Time Zone is 10:43 on December 22, 2027.
2028 Chinese Tang Yuan Day is on Thursday, December 21, 2028.
The Winter Solstice time at China Time Zone is 16:20 on December 21, 2028.
2029 Chinese Tang Yuan Day is on Friday, December 21, 2029.
The Winter Solstice time at China Time Zone is 22:14 on December 21, 2029.
2030 Chinese Tang Yuan Day is on Sunday, December 22, 2030.
The Winter Solstice time at China Time Zone is 4:11 on December 22, 2030.

Winter Solstice & Tang-Yuan Day - US Time zone

The time difference between China time zone and US Pacific time zone is 16 hours. Therefore, then the day of US Winter Solstice or Tang-Yuan Festival might be different from China time zone.

2026 Chinese Tang Yuan Day is on Monday, December 21, 2026.
The Winter Solstice time at US Pacific Time Zone is 12:50 on December 21, 2026.
2027 Chinese Tang Yuan Day is on Tuesday, December 21, 2027.
The Winter Solstice time at US Pacific Time Zone is 18:43 on December 21, 2027.
2028 Chinese Tang Yuan Day is on Thursday, December 21, 2028.
The Winter Solstice time at US Pacific Time Zone is 0:20 on December 21, 2028.
2029 Chinese Tang Yuan Day is on Friday, December 21, 2029.
The Winter Solstice time at US Pacific Time Zone is 6:14 on December 21, 2029.
2030 Chinese Tang Yuan Day is on Saturday, December 21, 2030.
The Winter Solstice time at US Pacific Time Zone is 12:11 on December 21, 2030.

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