Astronomical Calendar
A solar term is the instant the Sun's apparent longitude crosses a multiple of 15° — not a day on a calendar. This site resolves that instant to the second — agreeing with published figures to the minute they are rounded to — and builds Four Pillars charts on it, because the BaZi year changes at Lichun and the month at each of the twelve Jie. A calculator that uses Chinese New Year or fixed dates is simply producing the wrong chart.
Three things this site does differently
The year pillar turns at Lichun, not Chinese New Year
Lichun 2026 falls at 2026-02-04 04:02:08. Born before that instant and you still belong to the previous solar year; after it, the year pillar has already changed. Chinese New Year is a lunar event and sits days to weeks away — sometimes before Lichun, sometimes after, differently every year. Anyone born between the two gets a wrong year pillar from a New-Year-based calculator, and with it wrong Ten Gods, elements and luck cycles.
The month pillar turns at the real instant of each Jie
The month pillar does not change on a fixed day of the month. It changes at Lichun, Jingzhe, Qingming and the other nine "Jie", each arriving at an instant that drifts year to year. A table that treats a solar term as "the 4th or 5th" is wrong for everyone born on those twelve days a year.
The hour pillar can be read in true solar time
True solar time differs from clock time by two things: the longitude gap to your timezone's central meridian, and the equation of time (up to ±16 minutes). Near a two-hour boundary that is enough to move the pillar. Born in Ürümqi on a UTC+8 clock, the local Sun runs almost two hours behind — a whole different hour pillar.
Solar terms in 2026
Exact instants for 2026, given in UTC+8. Every year from 2020 to 2035 has its own page under Solar Terms.
| Term | Longitude | Instant (UTC+8) |
|---|---|---|
| XiaohanJie | 285° | 2026-01-05 16:23:10 |
| Dahan | 300° | 2026-01-20 09:44:56 |
| LichunJie | 315° | 2026-02-04 04:02:08 |
| Yushui | 330° | 2026-02-18 23:51:56 |
| JingzheJie | 345° | 2026-03-05 21:59:00 |
| Chunfen | 0° | 2026-03-20 22:45:59 |
| QingmingJie | 15° | 2026-04-05 02:40:00 |
| Guyu | 30° | 2026-04-20 09:39:08 |
| LixiaJie | 45° | 2026-05-05 19:48:44 |
| Xiaoman | 60° | 2026-05-21 08:36:45 |
| MangzhongJie | 75° | 2026-06-05 23:48:21 |
| Xiazhi | 90° | 2026-06-21 16:24:30 |
| XiaoshuJie | 105° | 2026-07-07 09:56:57 |
| Dashu | 120° | 2026-07-23 03:13:05 |
| LiqiuJie | 135° | 2026-08-07 19:42:43 |
| Chushu | 150° | 2026-08-23 10:18:49 |
| BailuJie | 165° | 2026-09-07 22:41:16 |
| Qiufen | 180° | 2026-09-23 08:05:14 |
| HanluJie | 195° | 2026-10-08 14:29:17 |
| Shuangjiang | 210° | 2026-10-23 17:37:57 |
| LidongJie | 225° | 2026-11-07 17:52:05 |
| Xiaoxue | 240° | 2026-11-22 15:23:21 |
| DaxueJie | 255° | 2026-12-07 10:52:32 |
| Dongzhi | 270° | 2026-12-22 04:50:14 |
The twelve marked Jie are the month boundaries — a BaZi month pillar changes at each of them. The other twelve are "Qi" and do not.
Sources
- lunar-javascript (6tail, MIT) — solar-term instants, 干支 pillars, 大運/流年, 胎元/命宮/身宮 and the almanac tables.
- Hong Kong Observatory, Date and Time of the 24 Solar Terms — the reference used to check solar-term instants.
- Xieji Bianfang Shu and Sanming Tonghui — classical sources for the Wuhu Dun and Wushu Dun stem rules, hidden stems and the Ten Gods.
Algorithms last checked: 2026-07 · Method and accuracy