China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2026 09-28

  Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦

9/30...................................................................................................................................................9/23

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. 

As for interpreting the translation, unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.                                                                                                   

                                       Section One

                                 Solar Calendar Date

                                                (top to bottom, right to left)

廿

八

一期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Eighth Day

Monday, September 28

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

天合月歲

喜日德祿

Generational Emolument

Lunar Exemplarity

Linked Days

Heavenly Happiness

————

Section Three

Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰甲

吉中凶

酉巳乙

吉凶吉

戌午寅

吉中中

亥未卯

凶中凶

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 In-Between

 05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between

  09:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 In-Between

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 Inauspicious

————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

裁遠時栽

衣行插種

Planting and Cultivating

Timely Plantings

Distant Journeys

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

八

乙

巳

火

危

成

Eighteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yisi (42/60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality: Danger (12/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

宜

上醫訂祭

樑病婚祀

修理納祈

倉髮采福

安修嫁入

牀造娶學

納動移會

畜土徙友

戶壞蟲鷙

復無債短

喪祿不星

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Inquiring-into Fortune

Entering Study

Meeting Friends

Marriage Engagements

Grain Payments

Marriage Alliances

Moving Residences

Physician Visits

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

Repairing Granaries

Positioning Beds

Livestock Payments

Beetles Burrow In

(the forty-seventh of seventy-two five-day solar micro-periods on the agricultural calendar)

Baleful Asterisms

(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)

Small Asterism

Debt Not

Without Emolument

Return Mourning

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" below each character)

白 山

White, Mountain

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,

however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)

牀 磨 碓

Bed, Mortar, Pestle

China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2026 09-27

 Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦

9/30...................................................................................................................................................9/23

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. 

As for interpreting the translation, unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.                                                                                                   

                                               Section One

                                         Solar Calendar Date

                                                        (top to bottom, right to left)

廿

七

日期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Seventh Day

Sunday, September 27

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

不十

將靈

Ten Spirits

Not General

————

Section Three

Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰甲

中吉凶

酉巳乙

吉中吉

戌午寅

凶凶吉

亥未卯

吉吉凶

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 Auspicious

 05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 Auspicious

  09:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 Inauspicious

13:00-15:00 Auspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

出開

財倉

Opening Granaries

Capital Outflow

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

七

甲

辰

火

虛

危

Seventeenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: jiachen (41/60)

Phase (element): Fire

"Constellation Personality: Void (11/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Danger (8/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

宜

移納

居采

安裁

牀衣

作開

灶市

捕交

捉易

下

兀

天月

刑煞

Appropriate Activities

Grain Payments

Cutting-out Clothing (Sewing and Tailoring)

Opening Markets

Trade and Commerce

Moving Households

Positioning Beds

Stove Work

Seizing and Capturing

Lower Amputee

Baleful Asterisms

(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)

Lunar Balefulness

Heavenly Punishment

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" below each character)

白 火

White, Fire

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,

however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)

門

栖 碓

Gate

Perch, Pestle

China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2026 09-26

 Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦

9/30...................................................................................................................................................9/23

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. 

As for interpreting the translation, unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.                                                                                                   

                                               Section One

                                         Solar Calendar Date

                                                        (top to bottom, right to left)

廿

六

六期星

Ninth Month, Twenty-Sixth Day

Saturday, September 26

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

五月

合恩

Lunar Kindness

Five Linkages

————

Section Three

Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰甲

中中凶

酉巳乙

凶中中

戌午寅

吉中吉

亥未卯

中凶凶

23:00-1:00 Inauspicious

 01:00-03:00 In-Between

 03:00-05:00 Auspicious

 05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 In-Between

  09:00-11:00 In-Between

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 In-Between

17:00-19:00 Inauspicious

19:00-21:00 Auspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left)

穿詞

井訟

Lawsuits and Litigation

Boring Wells

————

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

六

癸

卯

金

女

破

Sixteenth Day (Eighth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: guimao (40/60)

Phase (element): Metal

"Constellation Personality: Maiden (10/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Destroy (7/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

宜

求

醫

治

病

破

屋

壞

垣

灾月

煞破

天大

火耗

Appropriate Activities

Seeking Physicians

Treating Illness

Destroying Rooms

Smashing Embankments

Baleful Asterisms

(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)

Lunar Destruction

Great Squander

Disastrous Balefulness

Heavenly Conflagration

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars 

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" below each character)

丫 神

Bifurcation, Spirit

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,

however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)

房

門 牀

Edifice

Gate, Bed