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Chinese Calendar


The lunar calendar (nóng lì) is a traditional Chinese calendar. The beginnings of the Chinese calendar can be traced back to the 14th century B.C.E. Legend has it that the Emperor Huangdi invented the calendar in 2637 B.C.E. The Chinese calendar is based on exact astronomical observations of the longitude of the sun and the phases of the moon. This means that principles of modern science have had an impact on the Chinese calendar.

Chinese New Year is the main holiday of the year for more than one quarter of the world's population. Although the People's Republic of China uses the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes, a special Chinese calendar is used for determining festivals. Various Chinese communities around the world also use this calendar.

Chinese Calendar-Making
An important aspect of the Chinese calendar is the sexagenary cycle (gan zhi), which is 60 years long. This is a combination of the 10 heavenly stems (tian gan), and the 12 earthly branches (di zhi). The following is a table showing the sexagenary: 

Stems 天干 tiān gān Element Branches 地支 dì zhī Animal
1 Jiǎ Wood 1 Rat
2 Wood 2 chǒu Ox
3 bǐng Fire 3 yín Tiger
4 dīng Fire 4 mǎo Rabbit
5 Earth 5 chén Dragon
6 Earth 6 Snake
7 gēng Metal 7 Horse
8 Xīn Metal 8 wèi Goat
9 Rén Water 9 shēn Monkey
10 Guǐ Water 10 yǒu Chicken
        11 Dog
        12 hài Pig
 
To explain how this cycle works, let us denote both the stems and the branches by their numbers. We denote 1 by (1,1) or (甲,子), 2 by (2,2) or (乙,丑) and so on up to (10,10) or (癸,酉). But now we have run out of stems, so we denote 11 by (1, 11) or (甲,戌) and 12 by (2, 12) or (乙,亥). Now we have run out of branches, too, so 13 becomes (3, 1) or (丙,子). We continue in this way through 6 cycles of stems and 5 cycles of branches up to 60, which is (10, 12) or (癸,亥). The next number is then (1,1) or (甲,子), which starts a new sexagenary cycle.

Great importance was attached to the celestial observation in making a new calendar during ancient China. The gnomon (a column for measuring the sun's meridian altitude) and sundial were the timekeeping instruments with the sun as the object for observation. Although simple structures, the two instruments could serve many purposes, and were said to be China' oldest astronomic instruments.

By the middle of the Spring and Autumn Period (770-446 BC), to use the gnomon for making a calendar had become an important calendar-making method, through which the conclusion of a tropical year being 365.25 days long was reached.

Chinese lunar calendar
The Chinese lunar calendar is a traditional calendar in China and it is also called Xia Li  or Yin Li. It is based on exact astronomical observations of positions of the sun and moon. Thus in essence it is a combined solar/lunar calendar.

In the calendar, one year is divided into 12 months and the months have either 29 or 30 days, always beginning on days of astronomical new moons. So each year has 354 or 355 days. To make the average length of the years equal to a tropical year, an intercalary month is added every two or three years.

As a result, an ordinary year has 12 months while a leap year has 13 months. And an ordinary year has 354, or 355 days, and a leap year has 384 or 385 days.


Jiéqì -Solar Terms
Chinese months follow the phases of the moon. The solar-based agricultural calendar is made up of twenty-four points called jieqi. They are essentially seasonal markers to help farmers decide when to plant or harvest crops, as the lunisolar calendar is for obvious reasons unreliable in this respect.

The term Jiéqì is usually translated as "Solar Terms" (lit. Nodes of Weather). Each 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.
 
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. Because the calculation is solar-based, these jiéqì fall around the same date every year in solar calendars such as 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 of the Gregorian calendar. 
 
Jiéqì are published each year in farmers' almanacs. Chinese New Year is usually the new moon day closest to lìchūn. 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° lichun 4 February start of spring spring starts here according to the Chinese definition of a season
1 330° yushui 19 February rain water starting at this point, the temperature makes rain more likely than snow
  345° qizhe 5 March awakening of insects when [hibernating] insects awake
2 chunfen 21 March vernal equinox lit. the central divide of spring (referring to the Chinese seasonal definition)
  15° qingming 5 April clear and bright a Chinese festival where traditionally, ancestral graves are tended
3 30° guyu 20 April grain rains rain helps grain grow
  45° lixia 6 May start of summer refers to the Chinese seasonal definition
4 60° xiaoman 21 May grain full grains are plump
  75° mangzhong 6 June grain in ear lit. awns (beard of grain) grow
5 90° xiazhi 21 June summer solstice lit. summer extreme (of sun's height)
  105° xiaoshu 7 July minor heat when heat starts to get unbearable
6 120° dashu 23 July major heat the hottest time of the year
  135° liqiu 7 August start of autumn uses the Chinese seasonal definition
7 150° chushu 23 August limit of heat lit. dwell in heat
  165° bailu 8 September white dew condensed moisture makes dew white; a sign of autumn
8 180° qiufen 23 September autumnal equinox lit. central divide of autumn (refers to the Chinese seasonal definition)
  195° hanlu 8 October cold dew dew starts turning into frost
9 210° shuangjiang 23 October descent of frost appearance of frost and descent of temperature
  225° lidong 7 November start of winter refers to the Chinese seasonal definition
10 240° xiaoxue 22 November minor snow snow starts falling
  255° daxue 7 December major snow season of snowstorms in full swing
11 270° dongzhi 22 December winter solstice lit. winter extreme (of sun's height)
  285° xiaohan 6 January minor cold cold starts to become unbearable
12 300° dahan 20 January major cold coldest time of year

Note: The third jieqi was originally called (qizhe) but renamed to (jingzhe) in the era of the Emperor Jing of Han (hanjingdi) to avoid writing his given name qi.



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