There are 24 seasonal points annually.
12 of which marks the commencement of each solar month (jie), with the remaining 12 marking the mid-months (qi). Which leads to the name 24 jie qi (二十四节气).
For example, the first day of the first lunar month begins on li chun (立春), with it’s mid-month on yu shui (雨水).
| Season | Lunar Month |
Earthly Branch |
Sub- Season |
Starting Date |
| Spring | 1 | E3 | 立春 (li chun) 雨水 (yu shui) |
Feb 4,5 Feb 18,19 |
| Spring | 2 | E4 | 惊蛰 (jing zhe) 春风 (chun feng) |
Mar4 5,6 Mar 20,21 |
| Spring | 3 | E5 | 清明 (qing ming) 谷雨 (gu yu) |
Apr 4,5 Apr 20,21 |
| Summer | 4 | E6 | 立夏 (li xia) 小满 (xiao man) |
May 5,6 May 21,22 |
| Summer | 5 | E7 | 芒种 (mang zhong) 夏至 (xia zhi) |
Jun 5,6 Jun 21,22 |
| Summer | 6 | E8 | 小署 (xiao shu) 大署 (da shu) |
Jul 7,8 Jul 22,23 |
| Summer | 7 | E9 | 立秋 (li qiu) 外署 (wai shu) |
Aug 7,8 Aug 23,24 |
| Summer | 8 | E10 | 白露 (bai lu) 秋分 (qiu fen) |
Sep 7,8 Sep 23,24 |
| Summer | 9 | E11 | 寒露 (han lu) 霜降 (shuang jiang) |
Oct 8,9 Oct 23,24 |
| Summer | 10 | E12 | 立冬 (li dong) 小雪 (xiao xue) |
Nov 7,8 Nov 22,23 |
| Summer | 11 | E1 | 大雪 (da xue) 冬至 (dong zhi) |
Dec 7,8 Dec 21,22 |
| Summer | 12 | E2 | 小寒 (xiao han) 大寒 (da han) |
Jan 5,6 Jan 20,21 |
Legend of earthly branches can be found here.
The above table of the 24 sub-seasons is usually used in bazi analysis to go deeper into the characters.