Solar Terms 节气

The twenty-four solar terms divide the ecliptic into fifteen-degree steps, giving a fixed astronomical marker roughly every fifteen days. They split into two kinds. The twelve "Jie" open the solar months — Lichun, Jingzhe, Qingming and the rest — while the twelve "Qi", including the solstices and equinoxes, fall in the middle of a month and move nothing.

The solar terms are the reason the Chinese calendar is not purely lunar. Agriculture, the almanac and the whole BaZi month system run on solar positions, while festivals run on the moon; a date can be described in both systems at once. For chart work, only the Jie matter, because a birth a day either side of one produces a different month pillar.

The month tables on the yearly sign pages are solar months, which is why their boundaries fall on odd dates such as 6 March rather than on the 1st.

• All 24 solar terms for 2027, to the minute
• Month pillar decided by solar term