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Chinese calendar |
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The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar formed by combining a purely lunar calendar with a solar calendar. Among Chinese, the calendar isn't used for most day to day activities, but is used for the dating of holidays such as Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival[?] and for divination. The primary use in day to day activities is for determining the phase of the moon, which is important for farmers and is possible because each day in the calendar corresponds to a particular phase of the month.
Ironically, the Chinese do not use the terms Chinese and Western calendar in Chinese. The Chinese name for the Chinese calendar is the farmer's calendar, and the Chinese name for the Western calendar is the civil calendar.
Calculations and RulesThe Chinese lunar calendar and the Julian Calendar often sync up every 19 years. Most Chinese people notice that their Chinese and Western birthdays often fall on the same day on their 19th, 38th birthday etc The following rules for the Chinese Calendar (I believe) are equivalent to the rules as given by Helmer Alaksen. http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/calendar/chinese.shtml These rules make use of the Tropical Zodiac familiar to Westerners. This must not be confused with the actual constellations corresponding to the 12 signs. The Chinese zodiac is completely different and isn't used in the actual calculation of the calendar, but only in naming years. In fact, Chinese has a very different constellation system.
The Zodiac Sign in which the sun is in at the start of the month usually determines the number of a regular month:
Month Zodiac Sign at Start 11 Sagittarius (by rule 4) 12 Capricorn 1 Aquarius 2 Pisces 3 Aries 4 Taurus 5 Gemini 6 Cancer 7 Leo 8 Virgo 9 Libra 10 Scorpio Some astronomers believed this correspondence to be always true, but there are exceptions. An exception occurred in 1985, after the sun had entered Capricorn and then Aquarius in month 11, causing the Chinese New Year to occur on 20 February 1985 in Pisces rather than Aquarius. The problem here is that there is a month in which the sun enters two signs of the zodiac. I'll refer to such a month as a dual-entry month. If a given month is a dual-entry month or has a dual-entry month before it and no earlier than the preceding month 11, the above correspondence may fail, otherwise it holds.
NomenclatureThe years are named by cycle of 10 Heavenly Stems (天干) and cycle of 12 Earthly Branches[?] (地支). Each year is named by a pair of one stem and one branch called Stem and Branch (干支). Heavenly Stems are associated with Yin Yang (阴阳) and 5 elements (五行). Earthly Branches are associated with 12 animals (see Twelve Animals section). The 60-year cycle formed by combining the two cycles is known as a jiazi (甲子). It isn't 120 because half of the combinations are unused. Jiazi is named after the first year in the 60-year cycle which is also called Jiazi. Some figures of speech use "jiazi" to mean "a full lifespan;" one who has lived more than a jiazi is obviously blessed. (Cf. the Biblical "three-score years and ten.") This 60-year cycle is insufficient for historical references. During feudal China, the Nian Hao (Era name of an emperor) is add in front of year name for distinction. Example, 康熙壬寅 (kang1 xi1 ren2 yi2) (1662 AD) is the first 壬寅 (ren2 yi2) year during reign of 康熙 (kang1 xi1). The months, day, and hours can also be denoted using Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, though they are commonly addressed using numerals instead. Together, the four Stem and Branch pairs form the Eight Characters (八字) used in Chinese astrology. There is a distinction between solar year and lunar year in the Chinese calendar because the calendar is lunisolar. Lunar year (年 nian2) is from one Chinese new year to the next. Solar year (岁 sui4) is from one Start of Spring to the next (see Jie Chi section). Lunar year is used exclusively because dates are also in lunar.
Twelve AnimalsThe Twelve Animals (十二生肖 or colloquially called 十二属相) representing the 12 Earthly Branches (地支) are:
This sequence is traditionally assigned according to a legend:
See Chinese astrology for more details.
Jie ChiChinese months follow the phases of the moon. The part of the calendar that follows the movement of the sun is called Jie Chi (節氣 jie2 qi). Jie Chi is also translated to "Solar Terms". There are twenty four Jie Chi. These Jie Chi roughly fall on the same date in solar calendars such as Gregorian Calendar because they were solar based. Obviously these Jie Chi do not form any pattern in the Chinese calendar. Before the Gregorian calendar was introduced to China, these Jie Chi are published each year in farmers' almanac. Farmers relied on these Jie Chi to plan their planting and harvest.
The dates above are approximate and may vary slightly year to year. Chinese New Year is usually the new moon day closest to Li Chun. Song of Solar Terms is used to ease the memorization of Jie Chi. Lyrics:
《节气歌》
Holidays
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