Between which two dates does Chinese New Year always fall?

Chinese New Year usually falls between January 21 and February 20 on the Gregorian calendar. Its date moves because the festival begins on the new moon marking the first day of the traditional Chinese lunisolar year rather than on a fixed Gregorian date.

The Chinese calendar keeps lunar months aligned with the seasons. Chinese New Year generally arrives on the second new moon after the winter solstice, although an intercalary month can occasionally alter that pattern. This is why the holiday may occur in late January one year and in mid-February the next.

The range is the standard answer used in calendars, encyclopedias, and trivia. There is a highly unusual technical exception: astronomical and calendar calculations allow a February 21 occurrence in a very distant year, such as 2319, after the 1645 calendar reform. That rare possibility does not change the conventional quiz answer. Chinese New Year also begins the Spring Festival period, which traditionally continues through the Lantern Festival on the fifteenth day.