Chinese calendar

The traditional Chinese calendar uses the sexagenary cycle, a repeating system of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, to mark years, months, and days.

Over centuries, the calendar was refined through advancements in astronomy and horology, with dynasties introducing variations to improve accuracy and meet cultural or political needs.

Beyond China, it has shaped other East Asian calendars, including the Korean, Vietnamese, and Japanese lunar systems, each adapting the same lunisolar principles while integrating local customs and terminology.

Some epochs are based on historical figures, such as the inauguration of the Yellow Emperor (Huangdi), while others marked the rise of dynasties or significant political shifts.

The Chinese calendar also tracks time in smaller units, including months, days, and double-hour periods called shichen.

Philippe Couplet's 1686 Chronological table of Chinese monarchs (Tabula chronologica monarchiae sinicae) gave the same date for the Yellow Emperor.

[citation needed] Modern Chinese chronology has generally accepted Martini's dates, except that it usually places the reign of the Yellow Emperor at 2698 BCE and omits his predecessors Fuxi and Shennong as "too legendary to include".

[6] Liu calculated that the 1900 international expedition sent by the Eight-Nation Alliance to suppress the Boxer Rebellion entered Beijing in the 4611th year of the Yellow Emperor.

Later on, during their future course in history, the modern names for the ancient six calendars were also developed: Huangdi, Yin, Zhou, Xia, Zhuanxu, and Lu.

The state of Jin issued the Xia calendar (夏曆; 夏历)[13] with a year beginning on the day of the new moon nearest the March equinox.

The state of Qin issued the Zhuanxu calendar (顓頊曆; 颛顼历), with a year beginning on the day of the new moon nearest the winter solstice.

The Song state's Yin calendar (殷曆; 殷历) began its year on the day of the new moon after the winter solstice.

Assisted by Jesuits, he translated Western astronomical works and introduced new concepts, such as those of Nicolaus Copernicus, Johannes Kepler, Galileo Galilei, and Tycho Brahe; however, the new calendar was not released before the end of the dynasty.

In the early Qing dynasty, Johann Adam Schall von Bell submitted the calendar which was edited by the lead of Xu Guangqi to the Shunzhi Emperor.

It also provides the traditional Chinese nomenclature of dates within a year which people use to select auspicious days for weddings, funerals, moving or starting a business.

[25] The evening state-run news program Xinwen Lianbo in the People's Republic of China continues to announce the months and dates in both the Gregorian and the traditional lunisolar calendar.

Kao Ping-tse (高平子; 1888–1970), a Chinese astronomer who co-founded the Purple Mountain Observatory, proposed that month numbers be calculated before the new moon and solar terms to be rounded to the day.

Phenology is the study of periodic events in biological life cycles and how these are influenced by seasonal and interannual variations in climate, as well as habitat factors (such as elevation).

In the context of the Chinese calendar, horology involves the definition and mathematical measurement of terms or elements such observable astronomic movements or events such as are associated with days, months, years, hours, and so on.

Lunisolar calendars especially attempt to correlate the solar and lunar cycles, but other considerations can be agricultural and seasonal or phenological, or religious, or even political.

As early as the Bronze Age Xia dynasty, days were grouped into nine- or ten-day weeks known as xún (旬).

[32] The seven-day week was adopted from the Hellenistic system by the 4th century CE[citation needed], although its method of transmission into China is unclear.

[7] The solar terms qīng míng (清明) on 5 April and dōng zhì (冬至) on 22 December are both celebrated events in China.

The movements of the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn (sometimes known as the seven luminaries) are the references for calendar calculations.

In the Tang dynasty, Yuan Tiangang (袁天罡) matched the 28 mansions, seven luminaries and yearly animal signs to yield combinations such as "horn-wood-flood dragon" (角木蛟).

The Earthly Branches, a duodecimal system, mark dual hours (時; 时; shí or 時辰; 时辰; shíchen) and climatic terms.

Tiānshèng 1st year…Èryuè…Dīngsì, the emperor's funeral was at his temple, and the imperial portrait was installed in Nanjing's Hongqing Palace.Fortune-tellers identify the heavenly stem and earthly branch corresponding to a particular day in the month, and those corresponding to its month, and those to its year, to determine the Four Pillars of Destiny associated with it, for which the Tung Shing, also referred to as the Chinese Almanac of the year, or the Huangli, and containing the essential information concerning Chinese astrology, is the most convenient publication to consult.

[7] The Chinese New Year (known as the Spring Festival/春節 in China) is on the first day of the first month and was traditionally called the Yuan Dan (元旦) or Zheng Ri (正日).

It is an official holiday in China including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan regions,and, Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Mauritius.

East Asian Mahayana, Daoist, and some Cao Dai holidays and/or vegetarian observances are based on the Lunar Calendar.