Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar was the official calendar of the Chinese Empire. It is usually still known as the "peasant calendar" (Chinese 農曆 / 农历, pinyin Nónglì). Other names include "Lunar Calendar" (陰曆 / 阴历, Yīnlì), Jiùlì (舊曆 / 旧历 - "Old Calendar") or Chuántǒnglì (傳統曆 / 传统历 - "Traditional Calendar"). The traditional names were Xiàlì (夏曆 / 夏历 - "Calendar of the Xia Dynasty") and Huánglì (黃曆 / 黄历 - "Calendar of the Yellow Emperor") - later written with the homophonic name "Imperial Calendar" (皇曆 / 皇历).

The Chinese calendar is still used throughout the Chinese-speaking world to calculate traditional Chinese holidays, such as the "Spring Festival", the "Qingming Festival" or the "Dragon Boat Festival". In addition, it is used by followers of Chinese astrology or Fengshui masters as a basis for calculating "astrologically favorable" days, for example, to celebrate festivals and celebrations, to start construction activities or to avoid special activities on "astrologically unfavorable days," etc.

Rulebook

The Chinese calendar is a combination of a bound lunar calendar (lunisolar calendar, i.e. a lunar calendar with leap months) and a solar calendar. There is a parallel lunar year (年, nián) and a solar year (歲 / 岁, suì). The term "peasant calendar" used to refer only to the solar calendar.

Solar calendar

The solar year sui begins on the day of the winter solstice and is - as in the Gregorian calendar - always 365 or 366 days long.

The path that the sun apparently traverses on the ecliptic within a tropical year of 365.24 days is divided into 24 parts of 15° each. These are the 24 stations or divisions of the year (節氣 / 节气, jiéqì). Every other station is a zhongqi (中氣 / 中气, zhōngqì - "central/main year division"), with the solstices and equinoxes being four of the twelve zhongqi. The time interval from one zhongqi to the next averages one twelfth of a tropical year, or 30.44 days. It varies slightly due to the elliptical orbit of the earth around the sun.

The 24 stations are traditionally important for Chinese agriculture and are still recorded in most calendars in China. Climatically, they apply more to northern China, less to southern China.

Each of the six divisions of the year belongs to one season. But while in the western calendar the seasons begin with the day of the solstice or the equinox, in the Chinese calendar these days lie in the middle of the respective season. The stations are counted starting with the beginning of spring - lichun, and in some places the beginning of spring (and not the winter solstice) is considered the beginning of the sui year.

節氣 / 节气, Jiéqì

中氣 / 中气, Zhōngqì

315°

立春, Lìchūn.

Beginning of spring (3-5 February)

330°

雨水, Yǔshuǐ

Rain (18-20 February)

345°

驚蟄 / 惊蟄, Jīngzhé1

Awakening of the insects (5-7 March)

春分, Chūnfēn

Spring equinox (March 20-22)

15°

清明, Qīngmíng

Clear and Bright (April 4-6)

30°

穀雨 / 谷雨, Gǔyǔ

Rain on the seeds (19-21 April)

45°

立夏, Lìxià

Beginning of summer (May 5-7)

60°

小滿 / 小满, Xiǎomǎn

Small abundance / spike formation (May 20-22)

75°

芒種, Mángzhòng

Grains with awns / ear period (5-7 June)

90°

夏至, Xiàzhì

Summer Solstice ­(June 21-22)

105°

小暑, Xiǎoshǔ

Moderate heat (July 6-8)

120°

大暑, Dàshǔ

Big heat (July 22-24)

135°

立秋, Lìqiū

Beginning of autumn (August 7-9)

150°

處暑 / 处暑, Chǔshǔ

End of the heat (22-24 August)

165°

白露, Báilù

White Dew (September 7-9)

180°

秋分, Qiūfēn

Autumn equinox (September 22-24)

195°

寒露, Hánlù

Cold Dew (October 8-9)

210°

霜降, Shuāngjiàng

Mature (October 23-24)

225°

立冬, Lìdōng

Start of winter (November 7-8)

240°

小雪, Xiǎoxuě

Moderate snow (22-23 November)

255°

大雪, Dàxuě

Big snow (6-8 December)

270°

冬至, Dōngzhì

­Winter Solstice (December 21-23)

285°

小寒, Xiǎohán

Moderate cold (5-7 January)

300°

大寒, Dàhán

Big Cold (January 20-21)

Note

1 Originally called 啟蟄 / 启蟄, Qǐzhé, it was changed to its present name at the time of Han Jingdi due to a naming taboo.

Bound lunar calendar

The lunar year nián is divided into months (月, yuè - "moon"), each corresponding to a lunar phase cycle. A lunar phase cycle (synodic month) lasts an average of 29.53 days, which is slightly shorter than the average interval between two zhongqi. A lunar year with 12 lunar months is about 354 days long, which is about 11 days shorter than the solar year. Every two or three years a thirteenth month (leap month) is inserted. This ensures that the beginning of the lunar year (Chinese New Year) always falls in the same season (between January 21 and February 21).

The present calendar has been in force since the reform of 1645, which was carried out with the help of the Jesuits (Adam Schall von Bell). It can be summarized in the following five rules:

  1. The reference point is the meridian corresponding to the time zone of Beijing (today: 120°E).
  2. The day begins at midnight.
  3. The new moon always falls on the first day of the month.
  4. The winter solstice in the northern hemisphere always falls on the 11th month.
  5. If a leap month is necessary, it is the first month between two winter solstices on which no zhongqi falls.

The first month of the year is called Zhēngyuè (正月), the other months are numbered from 2 to 12. The 12th month is also called Làyuè (臘月 / 腊月). A leap month is given the same number as the previous month; for example, if the leap month follows the second month (二月, èryuè), then it is called the "additional second month" (閏二月 / 闰二月, rùn'èryuè). 19 solar years correspond almost exactly to 235 lunar revolutions (meton cycle). Therefore, a total of 7 leap months are inserted in every 19 years (19 × 12 + 7 = 235). The leap months are predominantly in the summer half-year, because due to the elliptical orbit of the earth with perihelion passage at the beginning of January the year divisions are run through faster in the winter half-year.

The months have 29 days (小月, xiǎo yuè - "short month") or 30 days (大月, dà yuè - "long month"). The days are numbered consecutively. A year with 12 months is usually 354, rarely 353 or 355 days long; a year with leap month is usually 384, rarely 383 or 385 days long.

The calculation of the Chinese calendar is so complicated because it is not based on the mean values, but on the exact astronomical positions of the moon and the sun. While in the Gregorian calendar and in the Jewish lunisolar calendar the leap years follow a fixed rhythm and the leap days or ‑months as well as the length of the individual months are fixed, this is not the case ‑in the Chinese calendar. Moreover, the synodic month varies between 29.27 and 29.84 days and is sometimes longer than the time interval between two zhongqi (29.45 ... 31.45 days). Therefore, it happens in rare cases that two zhongqi fall on one month or that no zhongqi falls on one month but it is not a leap month.

The following table gives the Gregorian date of the beginnings of the months for the period 2019-2022:

Chinese month

Beginning of the month in the Gregorian calendar

己亥
2019/2020

庚子
2020/2021

辛丑
2021/2022

壬寅
2022/2023

1st month - 正月

February 5, 2019

January 25, 2020

12 February 2021

1 February 2022

2nd month - 二月

March 7, 2019

February 23, 2020

13 March 2021

March 3, 2022

3rd month - 三月

April 5, 2019

March 24, 2020

12 April 2021

1 April 2022

4th month - 四月

May 5, 2019

April 23, 2020
"May 23, 2020"

12 May 2021

1 May 2022

5th month - 五月

June 3, 2019

21 June 2020

10 June 2021

30 May 2022

6th month - 六月

July 3, 2019

21 July 2020

10 July 2021

29 June 2022

7th month - 七月

August 1, 2019

August 19, 2020

August 8, 2021

29 July 2022

8th month - 八月

August 30, 2019

17 September 2020

7 September 2021

27 August 2022

Month 9 - 九月

September 29, 2019

October 17, 2020

6 October 2021

26 September 2022

10th month - 十月

October 28, 2019

15 November 2020

5 November 2021

25 October 2022

11th month - 十一月

November 26, 2019

15 December 2020

4 December 2021

24 November 2022

Month 12 - 十二月

December 26, 2019

13 January 2021

3 January 2022

23 December 2022

The lunar calendar

For the calculation of time (date, counting of years) the lunar calendar was used.

Government (era)

Main article: Governmental motto

The counting of the (lunar) years was based on the emperor's reign. Upon ascending the throne, the emperor proclaimed a governmental deed, which traditionally consisted of two characters. Often, an emperor would also issue additional governing decrees during the course of his reign. With each governing vise, a new era began with its own counting of years. Year 1 was called yuan (元, yuán - "origin"). The last era (民國 / 民国, mínguó - "republic") was proclaimed after the end of the imperial period and is still used today in the Republic of China on Taiwan. Chinese president and military ruler Yuan Shikai's attempt to establish a new era called Hongxian in 1916 failed after 83 days. On March 23, 1912, the year Hongxian 1 was declared over and renamed back to Minguo 5.

The 60-year cycle

The years follow a cycle that runs for 60 years. It is composed of a cycle of the ten celestial stems (天干, tiāngān) and the twelve earth branches (地支, dìzhī), better known as the twelve animal signs. There are 60 combinations of trunk and branch (干支, gānzhī) - also called jiǎzǐ, 甲子 after the first combination. This cycle was independent of the dynasty in question and therefore more reliable in the event of a change of dynasty.


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