Chinese calendar
The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar incorporating elements of a lunar calendar with those of a solar calendar. In China today, the Gregorian Calendar is used for most day to day activities, but the Chinese calendar is still used for marking traditional holidays such as Chinese New Year (Spring Festival), Duan Wu festival and the Mid-Autumn Festival, and in astrology, such as choosing the most auspicious date for a wedding or the opening of a building. Because each month follows one cycle of the moon, it is also used to determine the phases of the moon.
Other traditional East Asian calendars are similar to if not identical to the Chinese calendar: the Korean calendar is identical; the Vietnamese calendar substitutes the cat for the rabbit in the Chinese zodiac; the Tibetan calendar differs slightly in animal names, and the traditional Japanese calendar uses a different method of calculation, resulting in disagreements between the calendars in some years. Elements of the Chinese (or Sino-Uighur) calendar were introduced to the Islamic world following the Mongol invasions. The twelve year cycle, including Turkish/Mongolian translations of the animal names (known as sanawat-e turki سنوات ترکی,) remained in use for chronology, historiography, and bureaucratic purposes in the Persian and Turkish speaking world from Asia Minor to India throughout the Medieval and Early Modern periods. In Iran it remained common in agricultural records and tax assessments until a 1925 law (see Iranian calendar) deprecated its use.
In China, the traditional calendar is known as the "agricultural calendar" (農曆 nónglì), while the Gregorian calendar is known as the "standard calendar" (公曆 gōnglì), or "Western calendar" (西曆 xīlì). The Chinese calendar was also called the "old calendar" (舊曆) after the "new calendar" (新曆), i.e. the Gregorian calendar, was adopted as the official calendar.
History
Legendary beginnings
According to legend, the Chinese calendar developed during the first millennium BCE. It is said to have been invented by the first legendary ruler, Huang Di or the Yellow Emperor, who reigned, by tradition, c.2698-2599 BCE. The fourth legendary ruler, Emperor Yao, added the intercalary month. The 60-year "stem-branch" (干支 gānzhī) cycle (see "Calendar rules" below) was first used to mark years during the first century BCE. Tradition fixes the first year of the first cycle (the epoch) at 2637 BCE (see Herbert A. Giles, A Chinese-English Dictionary (1912), and other Western authors writing in the late Qing dynasty. Thus the cycle beginning in 1984 is the 78th. Other opinions fix the first year at 2697 BCE (while Huangdi was still immature), by which count we are now in cycle 79. These alternative counts mean that 2006 is either the 4643rd or 4703rh year since counting began.
Early history
The earliest archaeological evidence of the Chinese calendar appears on oracle bones of the late second millennium BCE Shang dynasty. They show a 12-month lunisolar year having an occasional thirteenth month, and even a fourteenth month. Adding extra months to a calendar year is known as intercalation, and keeps the new year from drifting backwards thru the seasons, just as the Gregorian calendar puts an extra day in February every four years.
Historical dates have been exactly determinable since 841 BCE, the early Zhou dynasty. It is known that in this period the calendar used arbitrary intercalations. The first month of its year was near the winter solstice and the intercalary month was after the twelfth month. The sìfēn 四分 (quarter remainder) calendar, which began about 484 BCE, was the first calculated Chinese calendar, so named because it used a solar year of 365¼ days, along with a 19-year (235-month) Rule Cycle, known in the West as the Metonic cycle. The winter solstice was in its first month and its intercalary month was inserted after the twelfth month. Beginning in 256 BCE, it was first used by the Qin state, then the whole country after the Qin took over the whole country and became the Qin dynasty. In this calendar, the intercalary month was an extra ninth month at the end of a year that began with the tenth month, now placing the winter solstice in the eleventh month. This calendar continued to be used during the first half of the Western Han Dynasty.
The Taichuli calendar
The Emperor Wu of the Western Han dynasty introduced reforms that have governed the Chinese calendar ever since. His Tàichū 太初 (Grand Inception) calendar of 104 BCE had a year with the winter solstice in the eleventh month and designated as intercalary any calendar month (a month of 29 or 30 whole days) during which the sun does not pass a principal term (that is, remained within the same sign of the zodiac throughout). Because the sun's mean motion was used to calculate the jiéqì (節氣/节气) (or seasonal markings) until 1645, this intercalary month was equally likely to occur after any month of the year. The conjunction of the sun and moon (the astronomical new moon) was calculated using the mean motions of both the sun and moon until 619, the second year of the Tang dynasty, when chronologists began to use true motions modeled using two offset opposing parabolas (with small linear and cubic components). Unfortunately, the parabolas did not meet smoothly at the mean motion, but met with a discontinuity or jump.
The true sun and moon
With the introduction of Western astronomy into China via the Jesuits, the motions of both the sun and moon began to be calculated with sinusoids in the 1645 Shíxiàn calendar (時憲書, Book of the Conformity of Time) of the Qing dynasty, made by the Jesuit Adam Schall. The true motion of the sun was now used to calculate the jiéqì, which caused the intercalary month to often occur after the second through the ninth months, but rarely after the tenth through first months. A few autumn-winter periods have one or two calendar months where the sun enters two signs of the zodiac, interspersed with two or three calendar months where the sun stays within one sign.
The Gregorian Reform and the 1929 time change
The Gregorian calendar was adopted by the nascent Republic of China effective January 1, 1912 for official business, but the general populace continued to use the traditional calendar. The status of the Gregorian calendar was unclear between 1916 and 1921 while China was controlled by several competing warlords. From about 1921 until 1928 warlords continued to fight over northern China, but the Kuomintang or Nationalist government controlled southern China and used the Gregorian calendar. After the Kuomintang reconstituted the Republic of China October 10, 1928, the Gregorian calendar was officially adopted, effective 1 January, 1929. Along with this, the time zone for the whole country was adjusted to the coastal time zone that was used in European treaty ports along the Chinese coast since 1904. This changed the beginning of each calendar day, for both the traditional and Gregorian calendars, by plus 14 minutes and 26 seconds from Beijing midnight to midnight at the longitude 120° east of Greenwich.
This caused some discrepancies, such as with the 1978 Mid-Autumn Festival. There was a new moon on September 3, 1978, at 00:07, Chinese Standard Time[1]. Using the old Beijing timezone, the New Moon occurred at 23:53 on the 2nd, so the eighth month began on a different day in the calendars. Thus people in Hong Kong (using the traditional calendar) celebrated the Festival on 16 September, but those in China celebrated on 17 September. [2] (see page 18)
Calendar rules
The following rules outline the Chinese calendar since c.104 BCE. Note that the rules allow either mean or true motions of the Sun and Moon to be used, depending on the historical period.
- The months are lunar months. This means the first day of each month beginning at midnight is the day of the astronomical new moon. (Note, however, that a "day" in the Chinese calendar begins at 11pm and not at midnight)
- Each year has 12 regular months, which are numbered in sequence (1 to 12) and have alternative names. Every second or third year has an intercalary month (閏月 rùnyuè), which may come after any regular month. It has the same number as the preceding regular month, but is designated intercalary.
- Every other jiéqì of the Chinese solar year is equivalent to an entry of the sun into a sign of the tropical zodiac (a principle term or cusp).
- The sun always passes the winter solstice (enters Capricorn) during month 11.
- If there are 12 months between two successive occurrences of month 11, at least one of these 12 months must be a month during which the sun remains within the same zodiac sign throughout (no principle term or cusp occurs within it). If only one such month occurs, it is designated intercalary, but if two such months occur, only the first is designated intercalary.
- The times of the astronomical new moons and the sun entering a zodiac sign are determined in the Chinese Time Zone by the Purple Mountain Observatory (紫金山天文台 Zǐjīnshān Tiānwéntái) outside Nanjing using modern astronomical equations.
The Zodiac Sign which the sun enters during the month and the ecliptic longitude of that entry point usually determine the number of a regular month. Month 1, zhēngyuè, literally means principal month. All other months are literally numbered, second month, third month, etc.
| # | Chinese Name | Long. | Zodiac Sign |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | 十一月 shíyīyuè | 270° | Capricorn |
| 12 | 十二月 shí'èryuè | 300° | Aquarius |
| 1 | 正月 zhēngyuè | 330° | Pisces |
| 2 | 二月 èryuè | 0° | Aries |
| 3 | 三月 sānyuè | 30° | Taurus |
| 4 | 四月 sìyuè | 60° | Gemini |
| 5 | 五月 wǔyuè | 90° | Cancer |
| 6 | 六月 liùyuè | 120° | Leo |
| 7 | 七月 qīyuè | 150° | Virgo |
| 8 | 八月 bāyuè | 180° | Libra |
| 9 | 九月 jiǔyuè | 210° | Scorpio |
| 10 | 十月 shíyuè | 240° | Sagittarius |
Some believe the above correspondence to be always true, but there are exceptions, which, for example, prevent Chinese New Year from always being the second new moon after the winter solstice, or that cause the holiday to occur after the Rain Water jieqi. An exception will occur in 2033-2034, when the winter solstice is the second solar term in the eleventh month. The next month is a no-entry month and so is intercalary, and a twelfth month follows which contains both the Aquarius and Pisces solar terms (deep cold and rain water). The Year of the Tiger thus begins on the third new moon following the Winter Solstice, and also occurs after the Pisces (rain water) jieqi, on February 19.
Another occurrence was in 1984-85, after the sun had entered both Capricorn at 270° and Aquarius at 300° in month 11, and then entered Pisces at 330° during the next month, which should have caused it to be month 1. The sun did not enter any sign during the next month. In order to keep the winter solstice in month 11, the month which should have been month 1 became month 12, and the month thereafter became month 1, causing Chinese New Year to occur on 20 February 1985 after the sun had already passed into Pisces at 330° during the previous month, rather than during the month beginning on that day.
On those occasions when a dual-entry month does occur, it always occurs somewhere between two months that do not have any entry (non-entry months). It usually occurs alone and either includes the winter solstice or is nearby, thus placing the winter solstice in month 11 (rule 4) chooses which of the two non-entry months becomes the intercalary month. In 1984-85, the month immediately before the dual-entry month 11 was a non-entry month which was designated as an intercalary month 10. All months from the dual-entry month to the non-entry month that is not to be intercalary are sequentially numbered with the nearby regular months (rule 2). The last phrase of rule 5, choosing the first of two non-entry months between months 11, has not been required since the last calendar reform, and will not be necessary until the 2033-34 occasion, when two dual-entry months will be interspersed among three non-entry months, two of which will be on one side of month 11. The leap eleventh month produced is a very rare occasion. See [3] for details.
Exceptions such as these are rare. Fully 96.6% of all months contain only one entry into a zodiacal sign (have one principle term or cusp), all obeying the numbering rules of the jiéqì table, and 3.0% of all months are intercalary months (always non-entry months between principle terms or cusps). Only 0.4% of all months either are dual-entry months (have two principle terms or cusps) or are neighboring months that are renumbered.
It is only after the 1645 reform that this situation arose. Then it became necessary to fix one month to always contain its principal term and allow any other to occasionally not contain its principal term. Month 11 was chosen, because its principal term (the winter solstice) forms the start of the Chinese Solar year (the sui).
The Chinese lunar calendar and the Gregorian Calendar often sync up every 19 years (Metonic cycle). Most Chinese people notice that their Chinese and Western birthdays often fall on the same day on their 19th, 38th birthday etc. However, a 19-year cycle with an certain set of intercalary months is only an approximation, so an almost identical pattern of intercalary months in subsequent cycles will eventually change after some multiple of 19 years to a quite different 19-year cycle.
The Chinese zodiac (see Nomenclature and Twelve Animals sections) is only used in naming years—it is not used in the actual calculation of the calendar. In fact, the Chinese have a very different constellation system.
The twelve months are closely connected with agriculture, so they are alternatively named after plants:
- Primens (first month) 正月: Latin "primus mensis".
- Apricomens (apricot month) 杏月: apricot blossoms.
- Peacimens (peach month) 桃月: peach blossoms.
- Plumens (plum month) 梅月: plum ripens.
- Guavamens (guava month) 榴月: guava blossoms. (should be pomegranate, not guava.)
- Lotumens (lotus month) 荷月: lotus blossoms.
- Orchimens (orchid month) 蘭月: orchid blossoms.
- Osmanthumens (osmanthus month) 桂月: osmanthus blossoms.
- Chrysanthemens (chrysanthemum month) 菊月: chrysanthemum blossoms.
- Benimens (good month) 良月: good month.
- Hiemens (hiemal month) 冬月: hiemal month.
- Lamens (last month) 臘月: last month.
Year markings
Regnal years
Traditional Chinese years were not continuously numbered in the way that the BC/AD system is. More commonly, official year counting always used some form of a regnal year. This system began in 841 BC during the Zhou dynasty. Prior to this, years were not marked at all, and historical events prior to this cannot be dated exactly.
In 841 BC, the Li King Hu of Zhou (周历王胡) was ousted by a civilian uprising (国人暴动), and the country was governed for the next fourteen years by a council of senior ministers, a period known as the Regency (共和行政). In this period, years were marked as First (second, third, etc) Year of the Regency.
Subsequently, years were marked as regnal years, e.g. the year 825 BC was marked as the 3rd Year of the Xuan King Jing of Zhou (周宣王三年). This system was used until early in the Han dynasty, when the Wen Emperor of Han (汉文帝刘恒) instituted regnal names. After this, most emperors used one or more regnal names to mark their reign. Usually, the emperor would institute a new name upon accession to the throne, and then change to new names to mark significant events, or to end a perceived cycle of bad luck. In the Ming and Qing dynasties, however, each emperor usually used only one regnal name for their reign.
This sytem continued until the Republic of China, which counted years as Years of the Republic, beginning in 1912. Thus, 1912 is the 1st Year of the Republic, and 1948 the 37th. This system is still used for official purposes in Taiwan. For the rest of China, in 1949 the People's Republic of China chose to use the Common Era system (equivalently, AD/BC system), in line with international standards.
The stem-branch cycle
The other system by which years are marked historically in China was by the stem-branch cycle. This system is based on two forms of counting: a cycle of 10 Heavenly Stems and a cycle of 12 Earthly Branches. Each year is named by a pair of one stem and one branch called a Stem-Branch (干支 gānzhī). The Heavenly Stems are associated with Yin Yang and the Five Elements. Recent 10-year periods began in 1984, 1994, and 2004. The Earthly Branches are associated with the twelve signs of the Zodiac. Each Earthly Branch is also associated with an animal, collectively known as the Twelve Animals. Recent 12-year periods began in 1984 and 1996.
There are a total of 120 different combinations (12 multiplied by 10) of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches. However, only half of the combinations are used, creating 60 unique names. This 60-year, or sexagesimal, cycle, is known as a jiǎzǐ (甲子), which is named after the first year in the 60-year cycle, being the Heavenly Stem of "jiǎ" and Earthly Branch of "zǐ". The term "jiǎzǐ" is used figuratively to mean "a full lifespan"—one who has lived more than a jiǎzǐ is obviously blessed. (Compare the Biblical "three-score years and ten.")
At first, this system was used to mark days, not years. The earliest evidence of this were found on oracle bones dated c.1350 BC in Shang Dynasty. This system of date marking continues to this day, and can still be found on Chinese calendars today. Although a stem-branch cannot be used to deduce the actual day in historical events, it can assist in converting Chinese dates to other calendars more accurately.
Around the Han Dynasty, the stem-branch cycle also began to be used to mark years. The 60-year system cycles continuously, and determines the animal or sign under which a person is born (see #Chinese Zodiac). These cycles were not named, and were used in conjunction with regnal names declared by the Emperor. For example: 康熙壬寅 (Kāngxī rényín) (1662 AD) is the first 壬寅 (rényín) year during the reign of 康熙 (Kāngxī), regnal name of an emperor of the Qing Dynasty
In the early 20th Century, some Republicans began to advocate a system of continuously numbered stem-branch cycles, so that year markings would be independent of the Emperor's regnal name. This was an attempt to delegitimise the Qing Dynasty. To this end, Sun Yat-sen selected 2698 BCE as the first year of the first epoch, and this was adopted by most overseas Chinese communities outside southeast Asia like San Francisco's Chinatown. Under this system, the year 4703 began in early 2005. Many chronologists believe that 2698 BCE is an error for the 2697 BCE epoch obtained from sexagesimal cycles. Of course, to most Chinese people terms such as "year 4703" are meaningless, since the calendar counts only in unnumbered cycles of 60.
The months, days, and hours can also be denoted using Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches, though they are commonly addressed using Chinese numerals instead. In Chinese astrology, four Stem-Branch pairs form the Eight Characters (八字 bāzì).
Solar year versus lunar year
There is a distinction between a solar year and a lunar year in the Chinese calendar because the calendar is lunisolar. A lunar year (年 nián) is from one Chinese new year to the next. A solar year (歲 suì) is either the period between one Spring Equinox and the next or the period between two winter solstices (see Jiéqì section). A lunar year is exclusively used for dates, whereas a solar year, especially that between winter solstices, is used to number the months.
Hours of the day
Under the traditional system of hour-marking, each day is divided into 12 hours (时辰). Each of these "hours" is equivalent to two hours of international time. Each is named after one of the twelve Earthly Branches. The first hour, Hour of Zi (子时), begins at 11 p.m. of the previous day and ends at 1 a.m. Tradtitionally, executions of condemned prisoners occur at the Hour of Wu (午时), that is around midday.
The Chinese zodiac
The Twelve animals (十二生肖 shí'èr shēngxiào, or colloquially 十二屬相 shí'èr shǔxiāng) representing the twelve Earthly Branches are, in order, the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep (or goat), monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
A legend explains the sequence in which the animals were assigned. Supposedly, the twelve animals fought over the precedence of the animals in the cycle of years in the calendar, so the Chinese gods held a contest to determine the order. All the animals lined up on the bank of a river and were given the task of getting to the opposite shore. Their order in the calendar would be set by the order in which the animals managed to reach the other side. The cat wondered how he would get across if he was afraid of water. At the same time, the ox wondered how he would cross with his poor eyesight. The calculating rat suggested that he and the cat jump onto the ox's back and guide him across. The ox was steady and hard-working so that he did not notice a commotion on his back. In the meanwhile, the rat snuck up behind the unsuspecting cat and shoved him into the water. Just as the ox came ashore, the rat jumped off and finished the race first. The lazy pig came to the far shore in twelfth place. And so the rat got the first year named after him, the ox got the second year, and the pig ended up as the last year in the cycle. The cat finished too late to win any place in the calendar, and vowed to be the enemy of the rat forevermore. See Chinese zodiac for more details.
Solar term
Chinese months follow the phases of the moon. As a result, they do not accurately follow the seasons of the solar year. To assist farmers to help farmers decide when to plant or harvest crops, the drafters of the calendar put in 24 seasonal markers, which follow the solar year, and are called jiéqì 節氣.
The term Jiéqì is usually translated as "Solar Terms" (lit. Nodes of Weather). Each node is the instant when the sun reaches one of twenty-four equally spaced points along the ecliptic, including the solstices and equinoxes, positioned at fifteen degree intervals. Because the calculation is solar-based, these jiéqì fall around the same date every year in solar calendars (e.g. the Gregorian Calendar), but do not form any obvious pattern in the Chinese calendar. The dates below are approximate and may vary slightly from year to year due to the intercalary rules (i.e. system of leap years) of the Gregorian calendar. Jiéqì are published each year in farmers' almanacs. Chinese New Year is usually the new moon closest to lìchūn.
In the table below, these measures are given in the standard astronomical convention of ecliptic longitude, zero degrees being positioned at the vernal equinox point. Each calendar month under the heading "M" contains the designated jiéqì called a principle term, which is an entry into a sign of the zodiac, also known as a cusp. Here term has the archaic meaning of a limit, not a duration. In Chinese astronomy, seasons are centered on the solstices and equinoxes, whereas in the standard Western definition, they begin at the solstices and equinoxes. Thus the term Beginning of Spring and the related Spring Festival fall in February, when it is still very chilly in temperate latitudes in the Northern Hemisphere.
| M | Ecliptic Long. |
Chinese Name | Gregorian Date (approx.) |
Usual Translation |
Remarks |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 315° | 立春 lìchūn | 4 February | start of spring | spring starts here according to the Chinese definition of a season | |
| 1 | 330° | 雨水 yǔshuǐ | 19 February | rain water | starting at this point, the temperature makes rain more likely than snow |
| 345° | 啓蟄 qǐzhé (驚蟄 jīngzhé) |
5 March | awakening of insects | when [hibernating] insects awake | |
| 2 | 0° | 春分 chūnfēn | 21 March | vernal equinox | lit. the central divide of spring (referring to the Chinese seasonal definition) |
| 15° | 清明 qīngmíng | 5 April | clear and bright | a Chinese festival where, traditionally, ancestral graves are tended | |
| 3 | 30° | 穀雨 gǔyǔ | 20 April | grain rains | rain helps grain grow |
| 45° | 立夏 lìxià | 6 May | start of summer | refers to the Chinese seasonal definition | |
| 4 | 60° | 小滿 xiǎomǎn | 21 May | grain full | grains are plump |
| 75° | 芒種 mángzhòng | 6 June | grain in ear | lit. awns (beard of grain) grow | |
| 5 | 90° | 夏至 xiàzhì | 21 June | summer solstice | lit. summer extreme (of sun's height) |
| 105° | 小暑 xiǎoshǔ | 7 July | minor heat | when heat starts to get unbearable | |
| 6 | 120° | 大暑 dàshǔ | 23 July | major heat | the hottest time of the year |
| 135° | 立秋 lìqiū | 7 August | start of autumn | uses the Chinese seasonal definition | |
| 7 | 150° | 處暑 chùshǔ | 23 August | limit of heat | lit. dwell in heat |
| 165° | 白露 báilù | 8 September | white dew | condensed moisture makes dew white; a sign of autumn | |
| 8 | 180° | 秋分 qiūfēn | 23 September | autumnal equinox | lit. central divide of autumn (refers to the Chinese seasonal definition) |
| 195° | 寒露 hánlù | 8 October | cold dew | dew starts turning into frost | |
| 9 | 210° | 霜降 shuāngjiàng | 23 October | descent of frost | appearance of frost and descent of temperature |
| 225° | 立冬 lìdōng | 7 November | start of winter | refers to the Chinese seasonal definition | |
| 10 | 240° | 小雪 xiǎoxuě | 22 November | minor snow | snow starts falling |
| 255° | 大雪 dàxuě | 7 December | major snow | season of snowstorms in full swing | |
| 11 | 270° | 冬至 dōngzhì | 22 December | winter solstice | lit. winter extreme (of sun's height) |
| 285° | 小寒 xiǎohán | 6 January | minor cold | cold starts to become unbearable | |
| 12 | 300° | 大寒 dàhán | 20 January | major cold | coldest time of year |
Note: The third jiéqì was originally called 啓蟄 (qǐzhé) but renamed to 驚蟄 (jīngzhé) in the era of the Emperor Jing of Han (漢景帝) to avoid writing his given name 啓 (also written as 啟, a variant of 啓).
The "Song of Solar Terms" (節氣歌; pinyin: jiéqìgē) is used to ease the memorization of jiéqì:
- 春雨驚春清穀天 chūn yǔ jīng chūn qīng gǔtiān,
- 夏滿芒夏暑相連 xià mǎn máng xià shǔ xiānglián,
- 秋處露秋寒霜降 qiū chù lù qiū hán shuāng xiáng,
- 冬雪雪冬小大寒 dōng xuě xuě dōng xiǎo dà hán.
Holidays
The Chinese calendar year has nine main festivals, seven determined by the lunisolar calendar, and the other two derived from the solar agricultural calendar. (Note that the farmers actually used a solar calendar, and its twenty-four terms, to determine when to plant crops, due to the inaccuracy of the lunisolar traditional calendar. However, the traditional calendar has also come to be known as the agricultural calendar.)
The two special holidays are the Tomb-Sweeping Festival (Qingming Festival and the Winter Solstice Festival, falling upon the respective solar terms, the former occurring at ecliptic longitude 15 degrees, the latter at 270 degrees. As for all other calendrical calculations, the calculations use civil time in China, eight hours ahead of UTC.
| Date | English Name | Chinese Name | Remarks | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| month 1 day 1 |
Chinese New Year, lit. Spring Festival |
春節 chūnjié |
Family gathering and major festivities for three days; traditionally 15 days | Feb 1 | Jan 22 | Feb 9 | Jan 29 | Feb 18 | Feb 7 |
| month 1 day 15 |
Lantern Festival | 元宵節 yuánxiāojié |
Yuanxiao eating and lanterns |
Feb 15 | Feb 5 | Feb 23 | Feb 12 | Mar 4 | Feb 21 |
| Apr 4 or 5 |
Qingming Festival, lit. Clear and Bright Festival |
清明節 qīngmíngjié |
Graves tending | Apr 5 | Apr 4 | Apr 5 | Apr 5 | Apr 5 | Apr 4 |
| month 5 day 5 |
Dragon Boat Festival | 端午節 duānwǔjié |
Dragon boat racing and zhongzi eating |
Jun 4 | Jun 22 | Jun 11 | May 31 | Jun 19 | Jun 8 |
| month 7 day 7 |
The Night of Sevens, |
七夕 qīxì |
A festival for lovers, equivalent to Valentine's Day | Aug 4 | Aug 22 | Aug 11 | Jul 31 | Aug 19 | Aug 7 |
| month 7 day 15 |
Ghost Festival or Spirit Festival |
中元節 zhōngyuánjié |
Aug 12 | Aug 30 | Aug 19 | Aug 8 | Aug 27 | Aug 15 | |
| month 8 day 15 |
Mid-Autumn Festival or Moon Festival |
中秋節 zhōngqiūjié |
Family gathering and moon cake eating |
Sep 11 | Sep 28 | Sep 18 | Oct 6 | Sep 25 | Sep 14 |
| month 9 day 9 |
Double Ninth Festival, lit. Double Yang Festival |
重陽節 chóngyángjié |
Mountain climbing and flower shows |
Oct 4 | Oct 22 | Oct 11 | Oct 30 | Oct 19 | Oct 7 |
| Dec 21 or 22 |
Winter Solstice Festival | 冬至 dōngzhì |
Family gathering | Dec 22 | Dec 21 | Dec 22 | Dec 22 | Dec 22 | Dec 21 |
Purpose of the intercalary months
Most people, upon using or studying the Chinese calendar, are perplexed by the intercalary month because of its seemingly unpredictable nature. As mentioned above, the intercalary month refers to additional months added to the calendar in some years to correct for its deviation from the astronomical year, a function similar to that of the extra day in February in leap years.
However, because of the complex astronomical knowledge required to calculate if and when an intercalary month needs to be inserted, to most people, it is simply a mystery. This has led to a superstition that intercalary months in certain times of the year bring bad luck.
The main purpose of the intercalary month is to correct for deviations of the calendrical year from the astronomical year. Because the Chinese calendar is mainly a lunar calendar, its standard year is 354 days, whereas the astronomical year is approximately 365.25 days. Without the intercalary month, this deviation would build up over time, and the Spring festival, for example, would no longer fall in Spring. Thus, the intercalary month serves a valuable purpose in ensuring that the year in the Chinese calendar remains approximately in line with the astronomical year.
The intercalary month is inserted whenever the Chinese calendar moves too far from the stage of progression of the earth in its orbit. Thus, for example, if the beginning of a certain month in the Chinese calendar deviates by a certain number of days from its equivalent in a solar calendar, an intercalary month needs to be inserted.
The practical benefit of this system is that the calendar is able to approximately keep in pace with the solar cycle, while at the same time retaining months that roughly correspond with lunar cycles. Hence the term lunisolar calendar. The latter is important because many traditional festivals correspond to significant events in the moon's cycle. For example, the mid-autumn festival is always on a day of the full moon.
The relevance of the calendar today
There have been calls for reform in recent years from experts in China, because of the increasing irrelevance of the Chinese calendar in modern life. They point to the example in Japan, where during the Meiji Restoration the nation adopted the Western calendar, and simply shifted all traditional festivitives onto an equivalent date. However, the Chinese calendar remains important as an element of cultural tradition, and for certain cultural activities.
Practical uses
The original practical relevance of the lunisolar calendar for date marking has largely disappeared. Firstly, the Gregorian calendar is more accurate and more in line with both international standards and the astronomical year. Its adoption for official purposes has meant that the traditional calendar is rarely used for date marking. This, in turn, means that it is more convenient to remember significant events such as birth dates by the Gregorian rather than the Chinese calendar.
Secondly, the 24 solar terms were important to farmers who would not be able to plan agricultural activities without foreknowledge of these terms. However, the 24 solar terms (including the solstices and equinoxes) are more predictable on the Gregorian calendar than the lunisolar calendar since they are based on the solar cycle. It is easier for the average Chinese farmer to organise their planting and harvesting with the Gregorian calendar.
Cultural issues
Nevertheless, the Chinese calendar remains culturally essential. For example, most of the traditional festivals, such as Chinese New Year and the Mid-Autumn Festival, traditionally occur at new moon or full moon. Furthermore, the traditional Chinese calendar, as an element of traditional culture, is invested with much cultural and nationalistic sentiment.
Thus, while the traditional calendar could be removed without much practical effect, its sentimental and cultural significance will probably see its retention for some time yet.
External links
- Rules for the Chinese Calendar
- The Structure of the Chinese Calendar
- Chinese Zodiac Chart Find your Chinese Zodiac sign based on your date of birth.
- Calendar Conversion
- Chinese Calendrics Windows software, converts all dates
- Gregorian-Chinese calendar converterOnline: only for the republican age (after 1912)
- Two Thousand Year Chinese Calendar Converter (in Chinese)- works for all dates from the Han Dynasty until 2100
- Pages from the Hong Kong Observatory website
- Chinese Lunar Calendar 2006