Republic of China calendar

The Minguo calendar (Chinese 民國紀元曆 / 民国纪元历, pinyin mínguó jìyuánlì - "literally Republic-era calendar", also 中華民國曆 / 中华民国历, Zhōnghuá mínguólì - "literally Republic of China calendar") is a calendar currently used in the Republic of China (Taiwan). It was also used in the Republic of China in mainland China from 1912 until the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. The Minguo calendar, or more precisely the calendar (era) according to the Minguo calendar, is also known in Chinese as "Mínguó jìyuán" - 民國紀元 / 民国纪元 - "literally Republic Age".

It follows the imperial tradition of using the ruler's araname or governing motto in the period of the reign. In the official documents of the Republic of China, 1912, the "Year of the Founding of the Republic of China", is listed as the first year of the Republic (民國元年, mínguó yuánnián) in the official calendar. The year 2021 A. D. is therefore the "110th year of the Republic". Years are written as 民國 "nnn" 年, where "nnn" is the year. For example, "Minguo year 101"- 民國一百零一年, also 民國一零一年 or 民國一〇一年 is 2012 A. D.. Since Chinese aranames are traditionally two characters long, "Minguo" (民國 - "Republic") is here an abbreviation for "Zhonghua Minguo" (中華民國 - "Republic of China").

The year begins on 1 January. The length of the months and the leap rule are the same as for the Gregorian calendar. The only difference is that the year is smaller by the value 1911, so Gregorian year minus 1911 equals Minguo year.

The Minguo calendar is not without controversy in today's Taiwan. In 2006, the then Prime Minister Su Tseng-chang spoke out in favor of its abolition and the complete transition to the Gregorian calendar (which is used in parallel anyway). However, this proposal was not consistently implemented.

Trivia

North Korean calendar

Since the North Korean founder Kim Il-sung was born in 1912, the Juche calendar, which has been used in North Korea since 1997, happens to have the same year count. With the Juche calendar, too, the year begins on January 1, and the leap rules were also adopted from the Gregorian calendar.

See also

• List of calendar systems
• Chinese calendar
• Xinhai Revolution
• Holidays in the Republic of China (Taiwan)