Twenty-four Solar Terms in Chinese Lunar Calender

The first fifteen days of the Chinese lunar month makes the first term, namely:

Beginning of Spring

usually starting from the fourth or fifth of Febrary. And the first day is the Chinese New Year's Day or the onset of the Spring Festival.

The second fifteen days are named:

Rain Water

from the nineteeth or twentieth of Febrary, a time when rainy seasons are setting in.

In order come the following terms:

Waking of Insects

from the fifth or sixth of March, as the earth awakes from hibernation;

Spring Equinox

from the twentieth or twenty-first of March;

Pure Brightness

from the fourth or fifth of April;

Grain Rain

from the twentieth or twenty-first of April;

Beginning of Summer

from the fifth or sixth of May;

Grain Full

from the twentieth or twenty-first of May;

Grain in Ear

from the fifth or sixth of June;

Summer Solstice

from the twenty-first or second of June;

Slight Heat

from the sixth or seventh of July;

Great Heat

from the twenty-second or third of July;

Beginning of Autumn

from the seventh or eighth of August;

Limit of Heat

from the twenty-third or fourth of August;

White Dew

from the seventh or eighth of September;

Autumnal Equinox

from the twenty-third or fourth of September;

Cold Dew

from the eighth or nineth of October;

Frost's Descent

from the twentieth-three or fourth of October;

Beginning of Winter

from the seventh or eighth of November;

Slight Snow

from the twenty-second or third of November;

Great Snow

from the seventh or eighth of December;

Winter Solstice

from the twenty-second or third of December;

Slight Cold

from the fifth or sixth of January; and lastly

Great Cold

from the twentieth or twenty-first of January which brings the 24-term cycle to an end.

On the Chinese Calendar, you will also find terminology like Tian Gan and Di Zhi (Heavenly Stem and Earthly Branch), a peculiar Chinese way of marking the years in a sixty-year cycle. There is also a system that marks the years in a twelve-year cycle, naming each of them after an animal such as Rat, Ox, Tiger, Hare, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Boar.