Next year will be a rat symbol year in Chinese new year.

Hoping for a better festival than last year, and praying for a joyful day not only in the new year, but also for the entire year

Animal	Branch	Dates
鼠 Rat	子 Zi	February 19, 1996 February 7, 2008
牛 Ox	丑 Chou	February 7, 1997 January 26, 2009
虎 Tiger	寅 Yin	January 28, 1998 February 14, 2010
兔 Rabbit	卯 Mao	February 16, 1999 February 3, 2011
龍 Dragon	辰 Chen	February 5, 2000 January 23, 2012
蛇 Snake	巳 Yi	January 24, 2001 February 10, 2013
馬 Horse	午 Wu	February 12, 2002 January 31, 2014
羊 Sheep	未 Wei	February 1, 2003 February 19, 2015
猴 Monkey	申 Shen	January 22, 2004 February 8, 2016
雞 Rooster	酉 You	February 9, 2005 January 28, 2017
狗 Dog	戌 Xu	January 29, 2006 February 16, 2018
豬 Pig	亥 Hai	February 18, 2007 February 5, 2019

The lunisolar Chinese calendar determines Chinese New Year dates. The calendar is also used in countries that have adopted or have been influenced by Han culture (notably the Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese) and may have a common ancestry with the similar New Years festivals outside East Asia (such as Iran, and historically, the Bulgars lands).

Chinese New Year starts on the first day of the new year containing a new moon and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later. This occurs around the time of the full moon as each lunation is about 29.53 days in duration. In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. This means that the holiday usually falls on the second (very rarely third) new moon after the winter solstice. In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4.

The lunisolar Chinese calendar determines Chinese New Year dates. The calendar is also used in countries that have adopted or have been influenced by Han culture (notably the Koreans, Japanese and Vietnamese) and may have a common ancestry with the similar New Years festivals outside East Asia (such as Iran, and historically, the Bulgars lands).

Chinese New Year starts on the first day of the new year containing a new moon (some sources include New Year's Eve)[citation needed] and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later. This occurs around the time of the full moon as each lunation is about 29.53 days in duration. In the Gregorian calendar, Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year, a date between January 21 and February 20. This means that the holiday usually falls on the second (very rarely third) new moon after the winter solstice. In traditional Chinese Culture, lichun is a solar term marking the start of spring, which occurs about February 4.

Chinese New Year is observed as a public holiday in a number of countries and territories where a sizable Chinese population resides. Since Chinese New Year falls on different dates on the Gregorian calendar every year on different days of the week, some of these governments opt to shift working days in order to accommodate a longer public holiday. Also like many other countries in the world, a statutory holiday is added on the following work day when the New Year falls on a weekend.

It is also important to understand that informal celebrations, which may span a period of several weeks before and after the official holidays, are the time when many businesses operate in 'holiday mode', and generally aren't the time for making decisions or business negotiations.