Perpetual Chinese Calendar

LunarCal  User's Guide

Chinese Age

Version 7.0 now supports the calculation of your Chinese age directly. It is found via: Right click->Chinese->Calculate My Chinese Age.

Also, do remember to click on the "Information" button on that screen for important information.

Below is an alternative method used in older version.

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Chinese Age (Manual search method - Deprecated)

The most appropriate Lunarcal screen is the "Display Animal Years" screen. But if you do not already know your animal sign, then you have to "Display Next 12 Years" or "Display Prev 12 Years" and check your birthday and discover your animal sign first.

The age calculation in Chinese culture is different from the English. In Chinese, you are already 1 year old the day you were born. Your Chinese age is calculated by the difference in year between the Chinese New Year your were born and the current Chinese New Year. If current date is past your birthday you add another 1 year to your age. In essence, your Chinese age could be as much as 2 years older than your English age.

For example, if you were born on Jan 23, 2001 (year of Dragon), your age today (Feb 25, 2001) is 1 year old according to English speaking countries. However, in Chinese culture, on Jan 23, 2001 you are already 1 year old. On Feb 25, 2001 (Chinese New Year) you are 2 years old! On Jan 23, 2002 you are 2 years old (you have reached your 1st birthday, but have not reached Chinese New Year yet). On Feb 12, 2002 (Chinese New Year) you will be 3 years old.

LunarCal does not know your birthday and so it calculates the Chinese age based on Chinese New Years. You have to add 1 year to get your Chinese age if your have celebrated you birthday before current date this year.

The above only shows the age due to Chinese New Years only. Notice the screen shows 1 year old if you were born on Jan 24, 2001.

The Chinese age calculation uses the reference date as indicated on the program screen. The reference date is the current PC date.

Example: Assume today is Feb 17, 2001 and you were born on Feb 26, 1977. According to the Gregorian calendar you are 23 years old now and will be 24 on your next birthday Feb 26, 2001. But on Feb 18, 2001 we celebrate the Chinese New Year and according to Chinese culture you are actually 24 (23+1) years old. When Feb 26, 2001 arrives, you will be 25 years old.

General principle is to add 1 to your 'normal' age if your birthdate is past the Chinese New Year. We do this calculation afresh every year and the +1 is not cumulative.