Chinese Gender Calendar 2026
This is the full traditional chart — the same grid the calculator above reads. To use it for a 2026 conception you need two lunar values, and this is where most people go wrong: lunar year 2026 begins on February 17, 2026 (Chinese New Year), so a baby conceived in January 2026 actually falls in lunar year 2025, with a different lunar age and a late-numbered lunar month. The same applied in 2025, when the lunar year began on January 29. Our calculator handles both conversions automatically; the table is here so you can check any cell yourself.
| Age | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 18 | G | B | G | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B | B |
| 19 | B | G | B | G | G | B | B | B | B | B | G | G |
| 20 | G | B | G | B | B | B | B | B | B | G | B | B |
| 21 | B | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | G |
| 22 | G | B | B | G | B | G | G | B | G | G | G | G |
| 23 | B | B | G | B | B | G | B | G | B | B | B | G |
| 24 | B | G | B | B | G | B | B | G | G | G | G | G |
| 25 | G | B | B | G | G | B | G | B | B | B | B | B |
| 26 | B | G | B | G | G | B | G | B | G | G | G | G |
| 27 | G | B | G | B | G | G | B | B | B | B | G | B |
| 28 | B | G | B | G | G | G | B | B | B | B | G | G |
| 29 | G | B | G | G | B | B | B | B | B | G | G | G |
| 30 | B | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | B | B |
| 31 | B | G | B | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | B |
| 32 | B | G | B | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | B |
| 33 | G | B | G | B | G | G | G | B | G | G | G | B |
| 34 | B | G | B | G | G | G | G | G | G | G | B | B |
| 35 | B | B | G | B | G | G | G | B | G | G | B | B |
| 36 | G | B | B | G | B | G | G | G | B | B | B | B |
| 37 | B | G | B | B | G | B | G | B | G | B | G | B |
| 38 | G | B | G | B | B | G | B | G | B | G | B | G |
| 39 | B | G | B | B | B | G | G | B | G | B | G | G |
| 40 | G | B | G | B | G | B | B | G | B | G | B | G |
| 41 | B | G | B | G | B | G | B | B | G | B | G | B |
| 42 | G | B | G | B | G | B | G | B | B | G | B | G |
| 43 | B | G | B | G | B | G | B | G | B | B | B | B |
| 44 | B | B | G | B | B | B | G | B | G | B | G | G |
| 45 | G | B | B | G | G | G | B | G | B | G | B | B |
One honest caveat: published versions of the chart differ slightly from each other in a few cells — there is no single authoritative original. We cross-checked three independent public versions and use the one they all agree on.
Where the Chart Comes From (the Legend)
The story goes that the chart is around 700 years old, was discovered in a royal tomb near Beijing, and was used by the Qing dynasty (1644–1911) imperial family to time the conception of male heirs. It’s a great story — and that’s the honest framing: a story. There’s no documented provenance for the tomb discovery, no museum holds “the original”, and the versions in circulation don’t even fully agree with each other. What is real is the tradition: generations of families have played this game during pregnancy, and that’s a perfectly good reason to enjoy it — as a game.
How Lunar Age Works
The chart doesn’t use your Western age — it uses traditional Chinese age counting, which runs ahead of it. You are 1 year old at birth, and you gain a year at every Chinese New Year, not on your birthday. Two consequences trip people up. First, your lunar age is usually your Western age plus one — but if your birthday hasn’t come yet this lunar year, or you were born in the January–February window before that year’s CNY, it can be plus two. Second, the “month” axis of the chart is the lunar month, which starts at CNY — not the calendar month on your phone.
Our calculator computes lunar age exactly, from a table of real Chinese New Year dates covering 1950–2030. The lunar month is trickier: a precise conversion needs full lunisolar tables with new-moon boundaries and leap months, which is heavier machinery than a folklore chart deserves. We use a documented approximation (mean lunar months counted from CNY) and label the result as approximate. For a chart whose accuracy is a coin flip either way, that’s the honest trade-off.
How Accurate Is It? (Someone Actually Tested It)
Unusually for pregnancy folklore, this one has been put through a serious test. In 2010, epidemiologist Eduardo Villamor and colleagues checked the Chinese lunar calendar method against 2,840,755 real births in Sweden (1973–2006), computing each mother’s lunar age and conception month properly. The result: about 50% accuracy — statistically indistinguishable from flipping a coin, and it stayed at 50% regardless of the mother’s age, education or year of conception. The authors’ own conclusion: the method is “no better to predict the sex of a baby than tossing a coin” — and they advised against painting the nursery based on it.
We show you the chart because it’s a beloved tradition and you’ll find it in every pregnancy forum anyway — not because it works. It doesn’t. Nothing that ignores your actual baby can — which is also true of every other gender old wives’ tale, from the heart-rate rule to the ring on a string.
The Calendar vs Methods That Actually Work
Here’s the honest comparison — folklore against the methods with real evidence behind them (full details in our guide on when you can find out your baby’s gender):
| Method | From week | Accuracy |
|---|---|---|
| Chinese / Mayan calendars | any | ~50% (coin flip) |
| NIPT blood test | 10 | ~99%+ |
| Nub theory (12-week scan) | 12 | ~87–92% (experts) |
| Anatomy scan | 18–22 | ~99% with a clear view |
Prefer your legends with a different flavor? There’s also the Mayan gender predictor — the other calendar legend, one even/odd rule instead of a grid, same coin-flip accuracy. And if you have an actual ultrasound photo, our free AI gender predictor reads the real evidence in the scan — the nub angle, visible anatomy — and honestly says “unclear” when your photo doesn’t show any.
Frequently Asked Questions
How accurate is the Chinese gender predictor?
About 50% — a coin flip. The largest test ever run (Villamor et al. 2010) checked the chart against 2,840,755 real births in Sweden and found essentially zero agreement beyond chance, across every maternal age and year. It’s a fun tradition, not a prediction method.
How do I calculate my lunar age?
In traditional Chinese age counting you are 1 year old at birth and gain a year at every Chinese New Year — not on your birthday. So if you were born in January before that year’s CNY, your lunar age is usually your Western age plus 2; otherwise it’s typically plus 1. Our calculator does this exactly, using the real CNY dates from 1950 to 2030.
What is the Chinese gender calendar for 2026?
It’s the same traditional chart applied to conceptions in 2026. Lunar year 2026 (the Year of the Horse) starts on February 17, 2026 — conceptions in January and early February still belong to lunar year 2025, which changes both your lunar age and the lunar month. The full chart is on this page.
Does the Chinese gender calendar actually work?
No — and this isn’t a matter of opinion. A peer-reviewed study of 2.8 million births found the chart performs exactly like guessing. If you enjoy it as a family tradition, enjoy it exactly as that; if you want a real answer, NIPT from 10 weeks or the 18–22 week anatomy scan are the evidence-based options.
Is the chart really from a Qing-dynasty tomb?
That’s the legend — a 700-year-old chart discovered in a royal tomb near Beijing. There’s no documented provenance for that story, and published versions of the chart even differ from each other in a few cells, which itself tells you no single authoritative original exists.
Can I use the calendar to conceive a boy or a girl?
No. Since the chart has no predictive power (50% in a 2.8-million-birth test), timing conception by it cannot influence your baby’s sex. Biological sex is set by which sperm fertilizes the egg — no calendar changes those odds.
Done with legends? See your actual baby
The calendar guesses from your birthday. Our AI works from your real ultrasound — a gender guess with visible evidence, and a free photo preview of your baby’s face.