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The Chinese calendar is also referred to as the Chinese Lunar calendar by many people around the world owing the fact that the lunar cycle or the movement of the moon influences many things in the Chinese calendar. The Chinese calendar in turn influences in lives of the Chinese people right from the time of their birth to their birthdays, and New Year celebrations, among others. Although Chinese people are very trendy and modern and have adopted the western calendar (Gregorian calendar), they still hold a lot of belief in their own Chinese calendar.

Since times immemorial, we all have been observing the cycles of the sun, moon, earth, etc. and have got our seasons because of such cycles. Based on these cycles, our ancestors designed a lot of calendars that we refer today for every small thing related to dates, years and occasions. To be specific, the Chinese people observed that there is a special cycle that occurred at the time when the sun was found to be at some particular location in the sky. It is this particular interval of people that Chinese people refer to as the sun. According to them, the cycle that relates to the moon is referred to many as a month. Because this phase or the cycle of the moon lasts for 29.5 days, a Chinese month includes a total of 29 days or 30 days.

According to the Chinese lunar calendar, an extra month gets added to one year after every four years that is in the leap year. This is different from the Indian calendar that we use where we add one day to the month of February after every four years in the leap year. The Chinese calendar is basically based on a cycle of 60 years. In addition to this, there is also a cycle comprising 12 years where each year represents an animal such as dragon, dog, monkey, horse, rabbit, pig, ox, tiger, snake, sheep, rooster, etc. Another cycle comprises five years where each year symbolizes metal, earth, fire, wood and water.

Based on all these cycles, the Chinese calendar is brought to use in many ways and gives a lot of information during the course of life of an individual. This calendar is brought to use to gather information on subjects such as astrology studies, holidays, festivals, special occasions such as birthdays, weddings, etc. For example, the Chinese birth calendar is one of the most important Chinese calendars that people use. This calendar is brought to use as an effective tool to predict the sex of a fetus inside the womb of the mother before it is born as a baby. Other than this, there is also a Chinese astrological calendar which is similar to the normal Chinese calendar but is used mostly for astrological purposes. The Chinese New Year calendar, on the other hand, helps people to see what the New Year has in store for them.

Based on the animals that represent each year in a Chinese calendar, the characteristics of people born in that year differ. For example people who are born in the year of the ox are very hardworking and highly dependable. People born in the tiger year are in possession of power and beauty, but are also dangerous at the same time. Information related to other years can be gathered from the Internet.