Chinese New Year 2027
The largest annual migration of human beings on earth.
Countdown to CNY 2027
Dates
When is Chinese New Year?
Chinese New Year 2027 falls from Saturday, 6 February 2027 to Saturday, 20 February 2027.
New Year's Day (Year of the Goat) is 6 February; the Lantern Festival on the 15th day falls on 20 February.
Date checked against timeanddate.com
| Year | Dates | Length | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026 | 17 February – 3 March 2026Tue – Tue | 15 days | Past |
| 2027 | 6 – 20 February 2027Sat – Sat | 15 days | Confirmed |
See every festival by date in the 2026 festival calendar and 2027 festival calendar.
The story
What it is, and why it matters
- Type
- Food & Harvest
- Tradition
- Folk & Dynastic
- Where
- Beijing, Municipality
- Crowd
- 1.5 billion observers
- UNESCO
- Not inscribed
Roughly three billion journeys are made in the six weeks around it. The festival is not really about the fireworks — it is about who you are sitting next to.
The new year is the second new moon after the winter solstice, which puts it between 21 January and 20 February. Each year takes one of twelve animals and one of five elements; the cycle repeats every sixty years.
Public celebration runs fifteen days, closing with the Lantern Festival on the first full moon. In Beijing the temple fairs — Ditan, Longtan, Changdian — reopen for the whole fortnight with acrobats, snacks and puppet theatre.
Culture
Traditions, food and music of CNY
Traditions
What actually happens
- Red envelopes (hongbao) — cash given by elders, digitally as often as on paper now.
- Reunion dinner on new year's eve, with dishes chosen for their homophones.
- Lion and dragon dance to clear the old year's bad luck and make noise for it.
- Lantern Festival on day fifteen — riddles on lanterns and tangyuan sweet dumplings.
Food
The table, widened
- Fish (yú, surplus), dumplings (yuán, ingot-shaped), nian gao (rising year).
- Whole chicken, longevity noodles, and a hot pot that is never allowed to run dry.
Music
Sound of the crowd
Gongs and firecrackers rather than melody. Temple fairs use guban and suona; the soundtrack of the modern holiday is the same two Cantopop standards played in every shopping mall for three weeks.
Religion
Why this date
The opening ritual is a household one: offerings to the kitchen god, whose paper effigy is burned so he can report to the Jade Emperor, then replaced on new year's day so he returns with good news.
History
How it survived
The holiday's structure is Shang and Zhou dynasty in origin; the firecracker element arrived with gunpowder in the Tang. In 1912 the Republic tried to move the new year to 1 January. In 1928 it was banned outright, and reinstated in 1949 — by then the migration had become irreversible.
History
How it got here
The holiday's structure is Shang and Zhou dynasty in origin; the firecracker element arrived with gunpowder in the Tang. In 1912 the Republic tried to move the new year to 1 January. In 1928 it was banned outright, and reinstated in 1949 — by then the migration had become irreversible.
c. 1000 BCE
Ancestral rites
Autumn and winter sacrifices to ancestors set the shape of the spring festival.
9th c.
Gunpowder
Bamboo crackers are replaced by the firecracker we still ban and still set off.
1912
Republican reform
The new year is formally moved to 1 January; the lunar holiday survives privately.
Today
Three billion trips
Chunyun becomes the largest recurring human migration in history.
Travel & practical
Visiting Beijing for CNY
Getting there
PEK/PKX. Book intercity rail 30 days ahead — tickets for the eve sell out in minutes.
Where to go
Temple fairs at Ditan and Longtan; Chaoyang Park's ice lanterns; Badachu for the incense.
Practical notes
Most independent shops close for three to seven days. Plan food around it.
Plan the trip with free AltFTool tools
FAQ
Chinese New Year: common questions
Straight answers to what people ask most about Chinese New Year.
Why does the date change every year?
It is lunar — the second new moon after the winter solstice — so it lands between 21 January and 20 February.
How long is the public holiday?
Officially seven days in mainland China, though the social window is about three weeks.
What animal is 2026?
The Horse. 2027 is the Goat, 2028 the Monkey.
Also in February 2027
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