Terms of use
Short, because there is not much to say.
What this site is
Chinese Festivals is a general-information guide to the traditional festivals of the Chinese year, written in English for readers who did not grow up with them.
Customs vary — this is a guide, not a rule
Chinese festival customs differ by region, by city and by family. Where practice diverges, this site says so ("in some regions...") rather than declaring one version correct. What is described here is mainstream practice, not every household's practice.
Nothing on this site is professional advice. It is not legal, medical, financial or religious advice, and it is not a substitute for asking your own family or community how they mark the day.
About the dates
The dates here are computed, not copied. Each one is calculated from the lunar calendar and from the sun's apparent longitude — the solar terms — for 2026 through 2040, and cross-checked against a second, independent lunar calendar and against published tables. Where our figures disagree with a published table, we say so.
Calendar calculation has edge cases. If a date matters — a flight, a wedding, a booking, an event — please confirm it with an official source before relying on it. Our dates are offered in good faith, but a computed date is not an official announcement.
Illustrations and content
- Text. The guides are original, written for this site. You are welcome to quote short extracts with a link back. Please do not republish whole guides.
- Illustrations. The illustrations are AI-generated, and each one is labelled as such on the page where it appears. They are illustrative rather than documentary: where an image shows a dish, a boat or a lantern, treat it as a picture of the idea, not a photograph of a particular event.
- Other people's work. If you believe something here has been reproduced from your work without credit or permission, tell us and we will correct it or take it down.
Using the site
You are welcome to read, link to and share this site. Please do not present the content as your own, and please do not scrape it at a rate that interferes with other readers.
Liability
This site is provided as it is. We work to keep it accurate and available, but we cannot promise that it will always be free of errors or always online, and we are not liable for decisions taken on the basis of it. Nothing here limits any liability that cannot be limited by law.
Changes
We may update these terms. The date below changes when we do.