Chinese calendar

This article is about traditional chinese calendar. For the most commonly used calendar in modern China, see Gregorian calendar and Adoption of the Gregorian calendar#China and Taiwan.

Thu,Jan 26,2017

腊月廿九日癸丑

Làyuè,Bǐngshēnnián

Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
				01	02	03
04	05	06	07	08	09	10
11	12	13	14	15	16	17
18	19	20	21	22	23	24
25	26	27	28	29	30

12:13:3050:56午正初刻

Chinese Calendar of 2017

A page of the Chinese calendar

The traditional Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar which reckons years, months and days according to astronomical phenomena. It is used for traditional activities in China and overseas Chinese communities. It determines the dates of traditional Chinese holidays, and guides Chinese people in selecting the luckiest days for weddings, funerals, moving, or beginning a business.

In the Chinese calendar, the days begin and end at midnight. The months begin on the day with the dark (new) moon. The years begin with the dark moon near the midpoint between winter solstice and spring equinox. The solar terms are the important components of the Chinese calendar. There are one to three solar terms within a month.

The present traditional Chinese calendar is the product of centuries of evolution. Many astronomical and seasonal factors were added by ancient scientists, and people can reckon the date of natural phenomena such as the moon phase and tide upon the Chinese calendar. The Chinese calendar has over 100 variants, whose characteristics reflect the calendar's evolutionary path. As with Chinese characters, different variants are used in different parts of the Chinese cultural sphere. In Korea, Vietnam, and the Ryukyu Islands, the Chinese calendar was adopted completely and evolved into Korean, Ryukyuan, and Vietnamese calendar, with the main difference being the use of different meridians which leads to same astronomical events falling on different dates in different countries and thus the same event may occasionally be assigned a different date in each of those calendars. The traditional Japanese calendar was also derived from the Chinese calendar, based on a Japanese meridian, however it was abolished in the early 20th century and its usage has mostly disappeared since then. Calendars in Mongolia and Tibet have absorbed elements from the Chinese calendar and elements from other systems, so they are not direct descendants of the Chinese calendar.

The official calendar in China is the Gregorian calendar, but the traditional Chinese calendar still plays an important role there. The Chinese calendar is known officially as the Rural Calendar (traditional Chinese: 農曆; simplified Chinese: 农历; pinyin: Nónglì), but is often referred to by other names, such as the Former Calendar (traditional Chinese: 舊曆; simplified Chinese: 旧历; pinyin: Jiùlì), the Traditional Calendar (traditional Chinese: 老曆; simplified Chinese: 老历; pinyin: Lǎolì), or the Lunar Calendar (traditional Chinese: 陰曆; simplified Chinese: 阴历; pinyin: Yīnlì; literally: "yin calendar"). The Chinese calendar is one of the carriers of the Chinese/Japanese/Korean/Vietnamese culture.

Although the month sequences of Chinese calendar is decided by the solar term, which contain words of Grain Full and Grain in Ear, but the Chinese calendar is not an agriculture calendar. People need the extra vernal cattle diagram to calculate the proper date for agriculture work. The Chinese calendar is a cultural calendar.

In ancient China, the calendars marked the name/stem-branch of the year, month names, month length flags(大/小=Long/Short), the stems of 1/11/21(1/11/21 of each month are same in stem, use a character), the branches of 1/11/21, and the date/stem-branch/time of the solar terms in the month. In general, only 67 different characters are used in the calendar (excluding the reign title): 甲乙丙丁戊己庚辛壬癸 子丑寅卯辰巳午未申酉戌亥 元正初廿 一二三四五六七八九十 年月时刻 大小 春夏秋冬 立分至 寒暑 露霜雪雨 水惊蜇清明谷满芒种处降白, and the movable type printing press is economical for calendar printing.

Structure

General

The calendar has a year, month and date frame. The key elements are day, synodic month and solar year. The Chinese calendar system is a little more complex. The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar, like the Hindu and Hebrew calendars.

The concepts in the Chinese, Hindu, and Hebrew calendars:

• day, the time based on the earth's rotation. In the Chinese calendar, a day starts from the midnight; in the Hindu calendars, a day starts from sunrise; and in the Hebrew calendar, a day starts from sunset.
• month, the time is based on the obliquity of the moon path. In the Chinese calendar, a month starts from the dark moon; in the Hindu calendars, a month can start from the dark moon or the full moon; and in the Hebrew calendar, a month starts from the new moon. A month is about 29 ¹⁷/₃₂ days.
• phase, ¹/₃₀ month, 12° obliquity of the moon path. A unique concept of dating method in the Hindu calendar, a phase is about ⁶³/₆₄ day, which derived out the 64 divinatory symbols.
• date, the day number in a month. In the Chinese and Hebrew calendars, days are numbered in sequence from 1 to 29 or 30; and in the Hindu calendars, the days are numbered according to the number of the phase in the days. In the Hindu calendars, some dates may be vacant.
• year, the time based on the earth's revolution. In the Chinese calendar, a year starts from the vernal commence (or the winter solstice); in the Hindu and Hebrew calendar starts from the vernal equinox. A year is about 365 ³¹/₁₂₈ days.
• zodiac, ¹/₁₂ year, 30° ecliptic, a concept of monthing method in the Chinese and Hindu calendars, and the concept of the monthing method in the solar calendars, such as the Gregorian calendar and Persian calendar. A zodiac is about 30 ⁷/₁₆ days. The zodiac in the Chinese calendar is 45° away from the zodiac in the Babylon system.
• solar term, ¹/₂₄ year, 15° ecliptic, a unique concept of monthing method in the Chinese calendar. A solar term is about 15 ⁷/₃₂ days.
• calendric month, the month numbering in a year. In the Chinese and Hindu calendars, the months are numbered according to the zodiac number; and in the Hebrew calendar, months are numbered in sequence from 1 to 12/13 (Adar). In the Chinese, Hindu and Hebrew calendars, some months may be repeated.
• calendric year, the year for the calendric purpose(in culture or religion). In the Chinese calendar, the calendric year starts from the nearest day of the dark moon to the vernal commences; in the Hindu and Hebrew calendars, the calendric year is the month with the vernal equinox. A calendric year is 353/354/355 or 383/384/385 days.

7 Luminaries, Big Dipper, 3 Enclosures 28 Mansions

The movement of Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn are the key reference for calendar calculation, which is called as seven luminaries.

• The distance between the Mercury and sun is within 30°, which is the sun height at chenshi, so the Mercury is called as chen star(Chinese: 辰星)
• The Venus occurs at dawn and dusk, so the Venus is called as break star(Chinese: 启明星) or watch star(Chinese: 长庚星).
• The Mars looks like fire and occurs irregularly, so the Mars is called as fire star(Chinese: 荧惑). Mars is in charge of punishment in the Chinese culture. When the Mars close(Chinese: 荧惑守心) to the Mansion of the heart(Antares), is very unlucky and forebode the death of the emperor or the out of the chancellor.
• The period of the Jupiter revolution is about 11.86 years, so the Jupiter is called as age star(traditional Chinese: 歲星; simplified Chinese: 岁星), which means 30° Jupiter revolution is about a year old.
• The period of the Saturn revolution is about 28 years, so the Saturn is called as guard star(Chinese: 鎮星), which means Saturn guard one of 12 mansions each year.

The Big Dipper was regarded as the compass in the sky, and the direction of the handle decided the season and solar month.
The stars are divided into 3 enclosures and 28 mansions according to the location in the sky. The mansions are named with 28 characters according to the shape.

• Central(3 enclosure): Purple Forbidden(Chinese: 紫微)，Supreme Palace(Chinese: 太微), Heavenly Market(Chinese: 天市)
• Eastern: 角, 亢, 氐, 房, 心, 尾, 箕; Southern:井, 鬼, 柳, 星, 张, 翼, 轸; Western: 奎, 娄, 胃, 昴, 毕, 参, 觜; Northern: 斗, 牛, 女, 虚, 危, 室, 壁

The moon move about a mansion each day. So, the 28 mansions were used to count days too. In the Tang Dynasty, Yuan Tiangang(Chinese: 袁天罡) matched the 28 mansions, 7 luminaries and animal sign, such as horn-wood-flood dragon(Chinese: 角木蛟)

Codes

Several coding systems are used for some special circumstances in order to avoid ambiguity, such as continuous day or year count.

• The heavenly stems is a decimal system.
• The earthly branches is a duodecimal system. The earthly branches are used to mark the shí and climate terms usually.
• There's a different pattern for earthly branches, which is called as 12 characters of jian, chu and others(Chinese: 建除十二字; pinyin: jianchu 12 zi). The 12 characters sequence from the first day with the same branch as the month(first Yinri of Zheng, first Maori of Ery, ...). The 12 characters must be used to count the days of the solar month.
• The stem-branches is a sexagesimal system. The heavenly stems and earthly branches match together and form stem-branches. The stem-branches are used to mark the continuous day and year.
• The stem-branches order may calculate with the stems order and branches order. sb=6s-5b (if less than 10, add 50)
• The unit digit of the stem-branches order is the stems order; the unit digit minus twice the tens digit is the branches order(if less than 2, add 10)
• The five phases are used to match the stems, branches, and stem-branches. And the Yin-yang are used to match the stems, branches, and stem-branches too, odd-yang, even-yin.

Coding system in Chinese calendar and time system

Stem-branches									Heaven stems						Earthly branches						12 chars
Wuxin	Stem-branch									Wuxin	Stem		-gēng			Wuxin	Branch		-shí	-yuè
metal	jaz	rensh	gench		jawu	renyin	genxu		1	wood	jiǎ	甲	19:12	Yig	1	wood	yín	寅	4:00	Zheng	1	jiàn	建
	yicho	guiyo	xins		yiwe	guimo	xinhi		2		yǐ	乙	21:36	Erg	2		mǎo	卯	6:00	Ery	2	chú	除
fire	binyin	jaxu		wuz	binsh	jach		wuwu	3	fire	bǐng	丙	0:00	Sang	3	soil	chén	辰	8:00	Sany	3	mǎn	满
	dinmo	yihi		jicho	dinyo	yis		jiwe	4		dīng	丁	2:24	Sig	4	fire	sì	巳	10:00	Siy	4	píng	平
wood	wuch		renwu	genyin	wuxu		renzi	gensh	5	soil	wù	戊	4:48	Wug	5		wǔ	午	12:00	Wuy	5	dìng	定
	jis		guiwe	xinmo	jihi		guicho	xinyo	6		jǐ	己	7:12	Morn	6	soil	wèi	未	14:00	Liuy	6	zhí	执
water		binz	jash	rench		binwu	jayin	renxu	7	metal	gēng	庚	9:36	Ante	7	metal	shēn	申	16:00	Qiy	7	pò	破
		dincho	yiyo	guis		dinwe	yiyo	guiha	8		xīn	辛	12:00	Noon	8		yǒu	酉	18:00	Bay	8	wéi	危
soil	genwu	wuyin	binxu		genz	wush	binch		9	water	rén	壬	14:24	Post	9	soil	xū	戌	20:00	Jiuy	9	chéng	成
	xinwe	jimo	dinhi		xincho	jiyo	dins		0		guì	癸	16:48	Eve	10	water	hài	亥	22:00	Shiy	10	shōu	收
notes:	jia>ja; bing>bin; ding>din														11		zǐ	子	00:00	Shiyiy	11	kāi	开
	zi>z; chou>cho; mao>mo; chen>ch; si>s; wei>we; shen>sh; you>yo; hai>hi														0	soil	chǒu	丑	02:00	Lay	0	bì	闭

Time system

Explanatory Chart for Chinese time

Currently, people use hour-minute-second system to describe time. In ancient china, people use the shi-ke system to describe the daytime, and the geng-dian system to describe the time at night. For example:

The Chinese standard time is 12:13:30, or 50:56(p.Wush initial).

In the Chinese calendar, the days begin at midnight and end at the next midnight, but people tend to regard the days as beginning at dawn.

• 24 hours system

In Han Dynasty, a day is divided into 24 hours, and the 15 active o'clocks(6:00-20:00) are named as: dawn(晨明), daybreak(朏明), morning(旦明), earlier breakfast(蚤食),later breakfast(宴食),ante noon(隅中),noon(正中),short shadow(少还), drum time(铺时),long shadow(大还), higher setting(高舂),lower setting(下舂), sunset (县东), dusk(黄昏), rest time(定昏)

• shi-ke system

A day is divided into 100 centidays by kes(the scales), or into 12 dual-hours by 12 shis, which are named with 12 earthly branches.

In the earlier stage, the time expression is sss initial, sss 1 ke,..., sss 8 ke, such as wush 3 ke(the third ke after wush)

After Tang dynasty, the time expression is a.sss initial, a.sss 1 ke,..., a.sss 4 ke, p.sss initial, p.sss 1 ke,..., p.sss 4 ke, such as a.wush 3 ke(the third ke of wush), p.yinsh 4 ke(the fourth ke after yinsh)

For the calendar convenience, A day is divided into 6000 fens. 1 centiday = 60 fens, 1 fen = 14.4 seconds.

• geng-dian system

A day is divided into 10 decidays by gengs(The midnight is sang, and each deciday is divided by 5 dians(points).

The time expression is ggg, ggg 1 point,..., ggg 5 point, such as sang 2 point(the second point after sang).

Among a year, the night length is inconstant. At 35°N, it's about 60% at the winter solstice, and about 40% at the summer solstice. So, the night gengs starts from a time between dawn and yig, and end at a time between wug and morn

• 16-parts system

At pre-Qin and Qin-Han, a day was divided into 16 parts from the cock time(3:00; 4:15 / sig 1 point 50 fen). The 16-parts system is established for calendar convenience, for:

A season is about 91 days and 5 parts, and a solar month is about 30 days and 7 parts.

A couple of months is about 59 days and a part.

Week

For more information on the adaption of seven-day week, see Names of the days of the week § East_Asian_tradition.

2017

WS	0	18:44
0	8	14:53
FTC	15	11:55
STC	30	5:23
1	38	8:06
VC	44	23:34
LTC	59	19:31
2	67	22:58
FTR	74	17:32
VE	89	18:28
3	97	10:57
STR	104	22:17
LTR	120	5:26
4	126	20:16
SC	135	15:30
FTG	151	4:30
5	156	3:44
STG	166	19:36
SS	182	12:24
6	185	10:30
FTH	198	5:50
STH	213	23:15
i	214	17:45
AC	229	15:39
7	244	2:30
LTH	245	6:20
FTD	260	18:38
8	273	13:29
AE	276	4:01
STD	291	10:22
9	303	3:11
LTD	306	13:26
WC	321	13:37
10	332	19:42
FTS	336	11:04
STS	351	6:32
11	362	14:30
WS	366	0:27

The Chinese seem to have adopted the seven-day week from the Hellenistic system by the 4th century, although by which route is not entirely clear. It was again transmitted to China in the 8th century by Manichaeans, via the country of Kang (a Central Asian polity near Samarkand). It is the most predominately used system in modern China.

Other than the seven-day week system, in ancient China, the days were grouped into 10-day weeks with the stems, 12-day weeks with the branches, or 9/10-day weeks(Chinese: 旬; pinyin: xún) with the date in the month.

The ten-day week was used in antiquity (reportedly as early as in the Bronze Age Xia Dynasty).

The law in the Han Dynasty (206 BC – AD 220) required officials of the empire to rest every five days, called mu (沐), while it was changed into 10 days in the Tang Dynasty (AD 618 – 907), called huan (澣/浣) or xún (旬).

Months were almost three weeks long (alternating 29 and 30 days to keep in line with the lunation). As a practice, the months are divided into 3 xún. The first 10 days is the early xún (Chinese: 上旬), the middle 10 days is the mid xún (Chinese: 中旬), and the last 9 or 10 days is the late xún (Chinese: 下旬).

Markets in Japan followed the Chinese jun (旬) system; see Japanese calendar. In Korea, it was called "Sun" (순,旬).

Month

Month is the time between the dark moon. In the early days, the month length was estimated, and balanced. In general, 15-months-cycles and 17-months-cycles alternated for compliance with the synodic month.

The 15-months-cycle is 30,29,30,29,30,29,30,29,30,29,30,29,30,29,30

The 17-months-cycle is 30,29,30,29,30,29,30,29,30,29,30,29,30,29,30,29,30

In different ages, the calendar use different major cycle, which contains several 15-months-cycles and 17-months-cycle. The synodic month of Taichu calendar is 29⁴³/₈₁ days, so the major cycle contains three 17-months-cycles and two 15-months-cycles.

In 7th century, the Wùyín Yuán Calendar of Tang dynasty in 7th century, the month length was determined by the real synodic month for the first time, instead of the cycling method, which mean month lengths is determined by observation and prediction starting from Tang dynasty, except a few brief period of time.

A month with 30 days is called a long month (Chinese: 大月), and a month with 29 days is called a short month (Chinese: 小月).

The days of the month are numbered beginning with 1, and in Chinese the day's number is always written with two characters,

such as Chūyī (Chinese: 初一) for 1, Shíwǔ (Chinese: 十五) for 15, and Niànsān (Chinese: 廿三) for 23.

As a convention, the days of the month are numbered with the 60 stem-branches in the history books. For example: Tiansheng 1_st year, Eryue, Dingsiri , Set the portrait of the Great Chris and Pope in the Hongqing Palace of the southern capital. - Volume ix: Biographic Sketches of Pope Ren, History of Song Dynasty.

Because astronomical observation is used to determine month length, date of the Chinese calendar corresponds to the moon phase.

The first day of each month is the dark moon.

In the 7th or 8th day of each month, the first quarter moon is visible in the afternoon and early evening.

In the 15th or 16th day of each month, the full moon is visible all night.

In the 22nd or 23rd day of each month, the last quarter moon is visible late at night and in the morning.

As the beginning of every month is determined by the time when the new moon occur, thus other countries who have adopted the calendar and use time standard that are different from China to calculate their own version of the calendar could result in deviation. For instance, the first new moon in the year 1968 in Gregorian calendar happened in UTC Jan 29 16:29, which would translate to Jan 29 23:29 in UTC+7 timezone (which is what North Vietnam used to calculate their Vietnamese calendar) while it would be Jan 30 00:15 based on the longitude of Beijing (as used by South Vietnam at the time), causing the two countries celebrate Tết holiday in different date that year and result in asynchronized attacks in Tet Offensive.

Solar year and solar term

See also: Solar term

Solar term vs Zodiac

The solar year(traditional Chinese: 歲; simplified Chinese: 岁; pinyin: Suì) is the time between the winter solstices. The solar year is divided into 24 solar terms.

In ancient China, the solar year and solar terms were estimated and balanced, and the solar term is just the ¹/₂₄ of the solar year, about 15⁷/₃₂ days.

Starting from the 17th century, when the Shixian Calendar of Qing dynasty was adopted, the solar year is determined by the real tropical year instead, and the solar terms correspond to intervals of 15° along the ecliptic.

Different version of traditional Chinese calendar might have different average year length. For instance, one solar year of Taichu calendar, which were implemented in 1st century BC, is 365³⁸⁵/₁₅₃₉ days, while one solar year of Shoushi calendar, which were implemented in 13th century, is 365⁹⁷/₄₀₀ days, which is the same as the Gregorian calendar.

Couples of solar terms are climate terms(solar months). The first of each couples is "pre-climate" (traditional Chinese: 節氣; simplified Chinese: 节气; pinyin: Jiéqì), and the second of the each couple is "mid-climate" (traditional Chinese: 中氣; simplified Chinese: 中气; pinyin: Zhōngqì).

The intercalary months(1862 to 2108)

	0th	3rd	6th	9th	¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦ ¦		0th	3rd	6th	9th
Leap	7/8	6/5	4	3/2		Leap	10	7/6	5	4/3
1862~	8	5	4			1870~	10	6	5	3
1881~	7	5	4	2		1889~		6	5	3
1900~	8	5	4	2		1908~		6	5	2
1919~	7	5	4	2		1927~		6	5	3
1938~	7	6	4	2		1946~		7	5	3
1957~	8	6	4	3		1965~		7	5	4
1976~	8	6	4			1984~	10	6	5	3
1995~	8	5	4	3		2003~		7	5	4
2014~	9	6	4	2		2022~		6	5	3
2033~	11	6	5	2		2041~		7	5	3
2052~	8	6	4	3		2060~		7	5	4
2071~	8	6	4	3		2079~		7	5	4
2090~	8	6	4	2		2098~		7	5	4

Metonic cycle in the Chinese calendar

Interactive chart of the dates of the start of the Chinese year from 1912 to 2101.

1. FTC小寒 First Term of Cold Season
2. STC大寒 Second Term of Cold Season
3. VC立春 Vernal commence
4. LTC雨水 Last Term of Cold Season(惊蛰)
5. FTR惊蛰 First Term of Rainy Season(雨水)
6. VE春分 Vernal Equinox
7. STR清明 Second Term of Rainy Season(谷雨)
8. LTR谷雨 Last Term of Rainy Season(清明)
9. SC立夏 Summer commence
10. FTG小满 First Term of Growing Season
11. STG芒种 Second Term of Growing Season
12. SS夏至 Summer Solstice
13. FTH小暑 First Term of Hot Season
14. STH大暑 Second Term of Hot Season
15. AC立秋 Autumn Commence
16. LTH处暑 Last Term of Hot Season
17. FTD白露 First Term of Dew Season
18. AE秋分 Autumn Equinox
19. STD寒露 Second Term of Dew Season
20. LTD霜降 Last Term of Dew Season
21. WC立冬 Winter Commence
22. FTS小雪 First Term of Snowy Season
23. STS大雪 Second Term of Snowy Season
24. WS冬至 Winter Solstice

In general, there are 11 or 12 complete months and 2 incomplete months, which contains the winter solstice, in a solar year. The 11 mid-climates except the winter solstice are in the 11 or 12 complete months. The first month without a mid-climate is the leap month.

The complete months except the intercalary month, queues up from 0 to 10, and the incomplete months follows this queque, to be 11. The intercalary follows the queque number before by rule.

Civil year

The civil year starts from the first spring month(1), and ends at the last winter month(0/0i). The first and last month is called as Zhēngyuè (Chinese: 正月, capital month) and Làyuè (traditional Chinese: 臘月; simplified Chinese: 腊月, sacrificial month), and the other month is called according to the queque number(except that the 0th month is Shieryue, if the Layue is a leap month).

There are 12/13 months in each year. The years with 12 months are common years, or 353~355 days, is a common year. The years with 13 months, or 383~385 days, is a long year. There're two vernal Commences in a long years.

Years were numbered after the reign title in ancient China, but the reign title was neglected after the founding of PRC. People use the stem-branches to demarcate the years. For example, the year from February 8, 2016 to January 27, 2017 is a Bǐngshēnnían, 12 months or 355 days long.

To Encode the date in the Chinese calendar, the flag of the intercalary month should be considered. For example, Run Liuyue 6, Dingyounian: 408-6i-06(Timestamp: 40806106)

In Tang Dynasty, the earthly branches are used to mark the months for about 150 days (Dec, 761~May, 762). At that time, the year starts from the month with Winter Solstice, and the month from Zhengyue to Layue are named as: Yinyue, Maoyue, Chenyue, Siyue, Wuyue, Weiyue, Shenyue Youyue, Xuyue, Haiyue, Ziyue, and Chouyue.

Estimate the Chinese Date

1. A month in the Chinese calendar is 29/30 days long, and a month in the Gregorian calendar is 30/31 days long. So, we may estimate the Chinese date if we know the bias between Layue 1st and January 1. In general, from Eryue/March, the Chinese date move 1 day backward, after a month; the Chinese date move a day forward after Zhengyue/February. Of course, if the bias is over 29 days, we should consider if there's an intercalary month before.
2. The date of the solar term in the Gregorian calendar is more or less fixed. In general, the date of the solar term in the Chinese calendar swing(±15 days) around the fixed date. The node of the climate term is around the 1st of the corresponding month, and the mid of the climate is round the 15th of the corresponding month.
3. A solar year is about 365 ¹/₄ days, and 12 month is about 354 ³/₈ days. So the Chinese date move for about 11 days backward or 19 days forward.
4. In general, if the Chinese New Year locate at January, there's an intercalary month in this year.
5. The Chinese date is more or less fixed after 19 years(or 11 years occasionally) later. But, the dates near the intercalary month always are naughty. The dates in the winter of the nominal year of Merton cycle are naughty too, such as 2014+19n.

Graphical representation

A typical graphical representation of the Chinese calendar is the vernal cattle diagram(traditional Chinese: 春牛圖; simplified Chinese: 春牛图), which help people calculate the date. In the vernal cattle diagram:

1. The color of the cattle head marks the stem(five phase) of the year,
2. If the cattle mouse closed, it's yin year; if the cattle mouse open, it's a yang year,
3. The color of the cattle body marks the branch of the year.
4. The color of the cattle tail marks the stem(five phase) of the vernal commence.
5. If the cattle tail lay on the left, vernal commence is a yang day; if the cattle tail lay on the right, vernal commence is a yin day,
6. The color of the cattle knee and shin marks the branch of the vernal commence.
7. if the cowherd stand ahead the cattle, the vernal commence is 5+ days ahead the spring festival; if the cowherd stand behind the cattle, the vernal commence is 5+ days behind the spring festival; otherwise the bias between spring festival and vernal commence is within 5 days.

Age recognition in China

Main article: East Asian age reckoning

In China, age for official use is based on the Gregorian calendar. For traditional use, age is based on the Chinese calendar. From birthday to the end of the year, it's one year old. After each New Year's Eve, add one year. "Ring out the old age and ring in the new one (traditional Chinese: 辭舊迎新; simplified Chinese: 辞旧迎新; pinyin: cíjiù yíngxīn)" is the literary express of New Year Ceremony. For example, if one's birthday is Làyuè 29th 2013, he is 2 years old at Zhēngyuè 1st 2014. On the other hand, people say months old instead of years old, if someone is too young. It's that the age sequence is "1 month old, 2 months old, ... 10 months old, 2 years old, 3 years old...".

After the actual age (traditional Chinese: 實歲; simplified Chinese: 实岁) was introduced into China, the Chinese traditional age was referred to as the nominal age (traditional Chinese: 虛歲; simplified Chinese: 虚岁). Divided the year into two halves by the birthday in the Chinese calendar, the nominal age is 2 older than the actual age in the first half, and the nominal age is 1 older than the actual age in the second half (traditional Chinese: 前半年前虛兩歲，後半年虛一歲; simplified Chinese: 前半年前虚两岁，后半年虚一岁).

Birthday issue

For the intercalary month and month length is float, so there's the birthday issue if someone was born at the 30th day of a month or in an intercalary month.

1. if someone was born in an intercalary month(except intercalary Shieryue), his birthday is in the common month(the month before the intercalary month).
2. if someone was born in Shieryue, and Layue is the intercalary Shieryue, his birthday is in Layue(the last month of a year)
3. if someone was born at 30th day of a month, his birthday is the last day of the month(If the 30th day is inexistent, his birthday of the year is the 29th day of the month; otherwise, the 30th day of the month.

Year number system

Era system

Main article: Chinese era name

In the ancient system, years were numbered from 1, beginning when a new emperor ascended the throne or the authorities announced the era name. The first reign title was Jiànyuán (Chinese: 建元; literally: "era establishment", from 140 BCE), and the last reign title was Xuāntǒng (traditional Chinese: 宣統; simplified Chinese: 宣统, from 1908 CE). The era system was abolished in 1912 CE, after which the Current Era or Republican era was used. The epoch of the Current Era is just the same as the era name of Emperor Ping of Han, Yuánshí (Chinese: 元始; literally: "era beginning").

Stem-branches system

The 60 stem-branches were used to mark the date continually from Shang Dynasty. Before Han Dynasty, people knew the orbital period of Jupiter is about 4332 days, which is about 12*361 days. So, the orbital period of Jupiter was divided into 12 periods, which was used to number the year. The Jupiter was called as the star of age (traditional Chinese: 嵗星; simplified Chinese: 岁星; pinyin: suìxīng), and the ¹/₁₂ Jupiter orbital period was called as the age (traditional Chinese: 嵗; simplified Chinese: 岁; pinyin: suì).

361 days is just 6 cycles of 60-stem-branches, so the stem-branches of the first day move forward one after each sui. The first day of each sui was called as the sui capital(traditional Chinese: 太嵗; simplified Chinese: 太岁; pinyin: tàisuì).

And the stem-branches of the taisui was used to mark the year. Obviously, there're two taisui in some year for the sui is shorter than solar rear. About after each 86 year, a taisui was leaped. The leaped of the sui was called as beyond the star (Chinese: 超辰; pinyin: chāochén).

At the eastern Han Dynasty, the chaochen are abolished, and the 60 stem-branches are used to mark year continually without leap.

The Stem-branches year number system provided a solution for the defect of era system(unequal length of the reign titles)

Continuous year numbering

Occasionally, nomenclature similar to that of the Christian era has been used, such as

Anno Huángdì (Chinese: 黄帝紀年), referring to the beginning of the reign of the Yellow Emperor, 2698+AD=AH

Anno Yáo (Chinese: 唐尧紀年), referring to the beginning of the reign of Emperor Yao, 2156+AD=AY

Anno Gònghé (Chinese: 共和紀年), referring to the beginning of the Gonghe Regency, 841+AD=AG

Anno Confucius (Chinese: 孔子紀年), referring to the birth year of Confucius, 551+AD=AC

Anno Unity (Chinese: 統一紀年), referring to the beginning of the reign of Qin Shi Huang, 221+AD=AU

No reference date is universally accepted. On January 2, 1912, Sun Yat-sen declared a change to the official calendar and era. In his declaration, January 1, 1912 is called Shíyīyuè 13th, 4609 AH which implied an epoch of 2698 BC. The implication was adopted by many overseas Chinese communities outside Southeast Asia such as San Francisco's Chinatown.

In the 17th century, the Jesuits tried to determine what year should be considered the epoch of the Han calendar. In his Sinicae historiae decas prima (first published in Munich in 1658), Martino Martini (1614–1661) dated the ascension of the Yellow Emperor to 2697 BC, but started the Chinese calendar with the reign of Fuxi, which he claimed started in 2952 BCE. Philippe Couplet's (1623–1693) Chronological table of Chinese monarchs (Tabula chronologica monarchiae sinicae; 1686) also gave the same date for the Yellow Emperor. The Jesuits' dates provoked great interest in Europe, where they were used for comparisons with Biblical chronology. Modern Chinese chronology has generally accepted Martini's dates, except that it usually places the reign of the Yellow Emperor in 2698 BC and omits the Yellow Emperor's predecessors Fuxi and Shennong, who are considered "too legendary to include".

Starting in 1903, radical publications started using the projected date of birth of the Yellow Emperor as the first year of the Han calendar. Different newspapers and magazines proposed different dates. Jiangsu, for example, counted 1905 as year 4396 (use an epoch of 2491 BCE), whereas the newspaper Ming Pao (traditional Chinese: 明報; simplified Chinese: 明报) reckoned 1905 as 4603 (use an epoch of 2698 BC). Liu Shipei (劉師培; 1884–1919) created the Yellow Emperor Calendar, now often used to calculate the date, to show the unbroken continuity of the Han race and Han culture from earliest times. Liu's calendar started with the birth of the Yellow Emperor, which he determined to be 2711 BC. There is no evidence that this calendar was used before the 20th century. 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.

Calendric epoch

There is an epoch for each version of the Chinese calendar, which is called Lìyuán (traditional Chinese: 曆元; simplified Chinese: 历元). The epoch is the optimal origin of the calendar, and it's a Jiǎzǐrì, the first day of a lunar month, and the dark moon and solstice are just at the midnight (Chinese: 日得甲子夜半朔旦冬至). And tracing back to a perfect day, such as that day with the magical star sign, there's a supreme epoch (Chinese: 上元; pinyin: shàngyuán). The continuous year based on the supreme epoch is shàngyuán jīnián (traditional Chinese: 上元積年; simplified Chinese: 上元积年). More and more factors were added into the supreme epoch, and the shàngyuán jīnián became a huge number. So, the supreme epoch and shàngyuán jīnián were neglected from the Shòushí calendar.

Yuán-Huì-Yùn-Shì system

Shao Yong (Chinese: 邵雍 1011–1077), a philosopher, cosmologist, poet, and historian who greatly influenced the development of Neo-Confucianism in China, introduced a timing system in his The Ultimate which Manages the World (traditional Chinese: 皇極經世; simplified Chinese: 皇极经世; pinyin: Huángjíjīngshì)

In his time system, 1 yuán (Chinese: 元), which contains 12'9600 years, is a lifecycle of the world. Each yuán is divided into 12 huì (traditional Chinese: 會; simplified Chinese: 会). Each huì is divided into 30 yùn (traditional Chinese: 運; simplified Chinese: 运), and each yùn is divided into 12 shì (Chinese: 世). So, each shì is equivalent to 30 years. The yuán-huì-yùn-shì corresponds with nián-yuè-rì-shí. So the yuán-huì-yùn-shì is called the major tend or the numbers of the heaven, and the nián-yuè-rì-shí is called the minor tend or the numbers of the earth.

The minor tend of the birth is adapted by people for predicting destiny or fate. The numbers of nián-yuè-rì-shí are encoded with stem-branches and show a form of Bāzì. The nián-yuè-rì-shí are called the Four Pillars of Destiny. For example, the Bāzì of the Qianlong Emperor is Xīnmǎo, Dīngyǒu, Gēngwǔ, Bǐngzǐ (辛卯、丁酉、庚午、丙子). Shào's Huángjíjīngshì recorded the history of the timing system from the first year of the 180_th yùn or 2149_th shì (HYSN 0630-0101, 2577 BC) and marked the year with the reign title from the Jiǎchénnián of the 2156_th shì (HYSN 0630-0811, 2357 BC, Tángyáo 1, traditional Chinese: 唐堯元年; simplified Chinese: 唐尧元年). According to this timing system, 2014-1-31 is HYSN/YR 0712-1001/0101.

The table below shows the kinds of year number system along with correspondences to the Western (Gregorian) calendar. Alternatively, see this larger table of the full 60-year cycle.

Year in cycle	s,b	Gānzhī (干支)	Year of the...	CE[1]	AR[1]	HYSN[2]	AH[3]	Begins
27	7,3	gēngyín (庚寅)	Metal Tiger	2010	99	0712-0927	4707	February 14
28	8,4	xīnmǎo (辛卯)	Metal Rabbit	2011	100	0712-0928	4708	February 3
29	9,5	rénchén (壬辰)	Water Dragon	2012	101	0712-0929	4709	January 23
30	10,6	guǐsì (癸巳)	Water Snake	2013	102	0712-0930	4710	February 10
31	1,7	jiǎwǔ (甲午)	Wood Horse	2014	103	0712-1001	4711	January 31
32	2,8	yǐwèi (乙未)	Wood Goat	2015	104	0712-1002	4712	February 19
33	3,9	bǐngshēn (丙申)	Fire Monkey	2016	105	0712-1003	4713	February 8
34	4,10	dīngyǒu (丁酉)	Fire Rooster	2017	106	0712-1004	4714	January 28
35	5,11	wùxū (戊戌)	Earth Dog	2018	107	0712-1005	4715	February 16
36	6,12	jǐhài (己亥)	Earth Pig	2019	108	0712-1006	4716	February 5

¹ As of the beginning of the year. AR=Anno the Republic of China
² Timestamp according to Huángjíjīngshì, as a format of Huìyùn-Shìnián.
³ Huángdì era, using an epoch (year 1) of 2697 BC. Subtract 60 if using an epoch of 2637 BC. Add 1 if using an epoch of 2698 BC.

Phenology

The plum rains season is the rainy season during the late spring and early summer. The plum rains season starts on the first Bǐngrì after the Corn on Ear, and ends on the first Wèirì after the Moderate Heat.

The Sanfu days are the three sections from the first Gēng-day after the summer solstice. The first section is 10 days long, and named the fore fu (Chinese: 初伏; pinyin: chūfú). The second section is 10 or 20 days long, and named the mid fu (Chinese: 中伏; pinyin: zhōngfú). The last section is 10 days long from the first Gēng-day after autumn commences, and named the last fu (Chinese: 末伏; pinyin: mòfú).

The Shujiu cold days are the nine sections from the winter solstice. Each section is 9 days long. The shǔjǐu are the coldest days, and named with an ordinal number, such as Sìjǐu (Chinese: 四九).

Festivals

In the Sinosphere, the traditional festivals are upon date or solar term, and always with good numbers. The festivals seldom related to specific person or organization.

Traditional festivals in the Sinosphere

Festival	English	Define	Original Define (Han Dynasty)	Date of the following...	Remark
Major traditional festivals on fixed date
臘日/腊日 Lari	0008 Sacrifice Day	Làyuè 8	The third Xuri (戌) after the Winter Solstice	2017-01-05
小年 Xiaonian	0023/0024 Preliminary Eve	Làyuè 23/24	23-officers, 24-civilians, 25-monks, for convenience	2017-01-20 2017-01-21	the cleanup day before New Year's Week
除夕 Chuxi	0100 New Year's Eve	the last day of the year, Làyuè 29 or 30		2017-01-27	a statutory holiday
春節/春节 Chunjie	0101 New Year's Day	The first day of the year, Zhēngyuè 1		2017-01-28	a statutory holiday
上元 Shangyuan	0115 Shangyuan	Zhēngyuè 15	The first full moon of the year	2017-02-11	Also called as Yuanxiao (the night of the first full moon), an annual carnival in ancient China
上巳 Shangsi	0303 Outing Festival	Sānyuè 3	The first Siri(巳) of Sanyue	2017-03-30	a version of Qingmin Festival, The origin of Thailand water splashing festival
佛誕/佛诞 Fodan	0408 Buddha's Birthday	Sìyuè 8		2017-05-03	a statutory holiday in Hong Kong SAR
端午 Duanwu	0505 Dragon Boat Festival	Wǔyuè 5	The First Wuri(午) of Wuyue	2017-05-30	a statutory holiday
七夕 Qixi	0707 Star Festival	Qīyuè 7		2017-08-28	Ingenuity Maiden's Day
中元 Zhongyuan	0715 Ghost Festival	Qīyuè 15	The full moon at the mid-year	2017-09-05	the worship of ancestors
中秋 Zhongqiu	0815 Mid-autumn	Bāyuè 15	The full moon at the mid-autumn	2017-10-04	Reunion Day, a statutory holiday
重陽/重阳 Chongyang	0909 Climbing Festival	Jiǔyuè 9		2017-10-28	Regarded as Elder's Day in China a statutory holiday in Hong Kong SAR
十月朝 Shiyue Chao	1001 Shiyue Worship	Shíyuè 1	The New Year's Day of Qin Calendar	2017-11-18	Issue Royal calendar (almanac) for the following year.
下元 Xiayuan	1015 Spirit Festival	Shíyuè 15	The first full moon in Qin calendar	2017-12-02	the worship of worthy
Major traditional festivals on solar term
立春 Lichun	Vernal commences	The day of the Vernal commences about February 4		Zhēngyuè 8 (February 3)	The day of the Stimulation of Agriculture
寒食 Hanshi	Cold Food Festival	the 105th day after the Winter Solstice about April 4		Sānyuè 7, 2017 (April 3)	The fast before the worship of ancestors at Qingming Festival.
清明 Qingming	Qingming Festival	The day of the solar term of Bright and Clear about April 5		Sānyuè 8, 2017 (April 4)	The day of the worship of ancestors, a statutory holiday
冬至 Dongzhi	Winter Solstice	The day of the Winter Solstice about December 21		Shíyīyuè 5, 2017 (December 22)	The node of the solar years
春社/秋社 Chunshe/Qiushe	Vernal/Autumn Pray	the fifth Wùrì(戊) after the Vernal/Autumn Commences		March 21 September 23	a version of Vernal/Autumn equinox
The traditional business festivals
開市/开市 Kaishi	0105 Opening Day	Zhēngyuè 5	In the old days, merchants used to open their stores from Zhēngyuè 5, and host a prayer service on that day. God of Wealth's Day, which the prayer service is called God of Wealth is Welcome.
頭牙/尾牙 头牙/尾牙 Touya & Weiya	0202/0016 First/Last Thanksgiving	Èryuè 2 / Làyuè 16	In the ancient China, businesses owner host Thanksgiving rites(Chinese: 牙祭; pinyin: Yaji) at the 2nd and 16th day of each month from Eryue to Layue, reward the local guardian god and employees. The First/Last Thanksgiving rite is hold on Èryue 2/Làyuè 16.

History

Earlier Chinese calendars

Before the Zhou Dynasty, the Chinese calendars were solar calendars.

The History of Chinese Calendar

According to literature, the first version was the five-phases calendar (traditional Chinese: 五行曆; simplified Chinese: 五行历), which came from the tying knots culture. In the five-phases calendar, a year was divided into five phases which were expressed by five ropes. Each rope was folded into halves, and the day in the corner was the capital day(traditional Chinese: 行禦; simplified Chinese: 行御). There're three sections in each halves, and the Chinese Character of phase is the pictograph of the rope of the tying knots. The ten half-ropes were arranged into a row, and a man shape was engraved by the ropes. The part of man shape derived into 10 heaven stems. The days in each sections were recorded with 12 earthly branches. So, in five-phases calendar, a year is fives phases or ten months, and a phase is six sections or 73 days. The remainder of each phases are marked in the Hetu, which is found in Song Dynasty.

The second version is the four-seasons calendar (traditional Chinese: 四時八節曆; simplified Chinese: 四时八节历). In the four-seasons calendar, the days were counting by ten, and three ten-days weeks were built into a month. There were 12 months in a year, and a week were intercalated in the hot month. In the age of four-seasons calendar, the 10 heaven stems and 12 earthly branches were used to mark days synchronously.

The third version is the balanced calendaralendar (traditional Chinese: 調曆; simplified Chinese: 调历) is In the balanced calendar, a year was defined into 365.25 days, and the month was defined into 29.5 days. And after each 16 months, a half-month was intercalated. There half-months were merged into months later, and the archetype of the Chinese calendar was brought out in the Spring and Autumn ages.

The oracle bone records indicate that the calendar of Shang Dynasty were a balanced calendar, and the 12, 13, even 14 months were packed into a year roughly. Generally, the month after the winter solstice was named as the capital month(Chinese: 正月).

Ancient Chinese calendars

Pre-Qin dynasty calendars

In Zhou dynasty, the authority issued the official calendar, which is a primitive lunisolar calendar. The year beginning of Zhou's calendar (traditional Chinese: 周曆; simplified Chinese: 周历) is the day with dark moon before the winter solstice, and the epoch is the Winter Solstice of a Dīngyǒu year.

Some remote vassal states issued their own calendars upon the rule of Zhou's calendar, such as:

The epoch of the Lu's calendar (traditional Chinese: 魯曆; simplified Chinese: 鲁历) is the winter solstice of a Gēngzǐ year.

During the Spring and Autumn period and Warring States period, Some vassal states got out of control of Zhou, and issues their own official calendar, such as:

Jin issued the Xia's calendar (traditional Chinese: 夏曆; simplified Chinese: 夏历), with an year beginning of the day with the nearest darkmoon to the Vernal Commences. The epoch of Xia's calendar is the Vernal Commences of a Bǐngyíng year.

Qin issued the Zhuanxu's calendar (traditional Chinese: 顓頊曆; simplified Chinese: 颛顼历), with an year beginning of the day with the nearest darkmoon to the Winter Commences. The epoch of Zhuanxu's calendar is the Winter Commences of a Yǐmǎo year.

Song resumed the Yin's calendar (traditional Chinese: 殷曆; simplified Chinese: 殷历), with an year beginning of the day with the darkmoon after the Winter Solstice. The epoch of Yin's calendar is the Winter Solstice of a Jiǎyíng year.

These six calendars are called as the six ancient calendars (traditional Chinese: 古六曆; simplified Chinese: 古六历), and are the quarter remainder calendars (traditional Chinese: 四分曆; simplified Chinese: 四分历; pinyin: sìfēnlì). The months of these calendars begin on the day with the darkmoon, and there are 12 or 13 month within a year. The intercalary month is placed at the end of the year, and called as 13th month.

The modern version of the Zhuanxu's calendar is the Chinese Qiang calendar and Chinese Dai calendar, which are the calendar of mountain peoples.

Calendar of the Qin and early Han dynasties

After Qin Shi Huang unified China under the Qin dynasty, the Qin's calendar (traditional Chinese: 秦曆; simplified Chinese: 秦历) was released. The Qin's calendar follows the rules of Zhuanxu's calendar, but the months order follows the Xia calendar. The months in the year are from the 10th month to the 9th month, and the intercalary month is called as the second Jiuyue (traditional Chinese: 後九月; simplified Chinese: 后九月). In the early Han dynasty, the Qin calendar continued to be used.

Taichu calendar and the calendars from the Han to Ming dynasties.

Emperor Wu of the Han dynasty introduced reforms in the halfway of his administration. His Taichu or Grand Inception Calendar (traditional Chinese: 太初曆; simplified Chinese: 太初历) introduced 24 solar terms which decides the month names. The solar year was defined as 365 ³⁸⁵/₁₅₃₉ days, and divided into 24 solar terms. Each couples of solar terms are associated into 12 climate terms. The lunar month was defined as 29 ⁴³/₈₁ days and named according to the closest climate term. The mid-climate in the month decides the month name, and a month without mid-climate is an intercalary.

The Taichu calendar established the frame of the Chinese calendar, Ever since then, there are over 100 official calendars in Chinese which are consecutive and follow the structure of Tàichū calendar both. There're several innovation in calendar calculation in the history of over 2100 years, such as:

In the Dàmíng Calendar released in Tiānjiān 9 (Chinese: 天监九年, 510) of the Liang dynasty, Zhu Chongzhi introduced the equation of equinoxes.

Actual syzygy method was adopted to decide the month from the Wùyín Yuán Calendar, which was released in Wǔdé 2 (Chinese: 武德二年, 619) of the Tang dynasty.

The real measured data was used in calendar calculation from Shòushí Calendar, which was released in Zhìyuán 18 (Chinese: 至元十八年, 1281) of the Yuan dynasty. And the tropical year is fixed at 365.2425 days, the same as the Gregorian calendar established in 1582., and derived spherical trigonometry.

Modern Chinese calendars

The Chinese calendar lost the status of the statutory calendar in China from the beginning of the 20th century, however it is continually being used for various purposes.

As the govenment of Republic of China have adopted the UTC+8 timezone instead of using Beijing Mean Solar Time in year 1928, the production of chinese calendar in mainland china have switched to use UTC+8 in the following year. However, the switch in calendar production time standard is not universally adopted in areas like Taiwan and Hong Kong, and some calendars were still publishing according to the last calendar from Qing dynasty that was published in 1908. In year 1978, this parctice caused a confusion in which day should the 1978 Mid-autumn festival occur, and caused those area switch into the UTC+8-based Chinese calendar thereafter.

Shíxiàn calendar

Main article: Shixian calendar

In the late Ming dynasty, Xu Guangqi and his colleagues worked out the new calendar upon the western astronomical arithmetic. But, the new calendar is not released before the end of the Ming dynasty. In the early Qing dynasty, Johann Adam Schall von Bell submitted the calendar to the Shunzhi Emperor. The Qing government released the calendar with a name, the Shíxiàn calendar, which means seasonal charter. In the Shíxiàn calendar, the solar terms each correspond to 15° along the ecliptic. It makes the Chinese calendar develop into an astronomical calendar. However, the length of the climate term near the perihelion is shorter than 30 days and there may be two mid-climate terms. The rule of the mid-climate terms decides the months, which is used for thousands years, lose its validity. The Shíxiàn calendar changed the rule to "decides the month in sequence, except the intercalary month".

Current Chinese calendar

The version of the traditional Chinese calendar currently being used follows the rules of the Shíxiàn calendar, except that:

1. The baseline is Chinese Standard Time rather than Beijing local time.
2. Actual astronomical data is used rather than only theoretical calculation.

Proposals to optimize the Chinese calendar

To optimize the Chinese calendar, astronomers and astrophiles released many proposals. A typical proposal was released by Gao Pingzi (Chinese: 高平子; 1888-1970), a Chinese astronomer who was one of the founders of Purple Mountain Observatory. In his proposal, the month numbers are calculated before the dark moons and the solar terms were rounded to day. Upon his proposal, the month numbers are the same for the Chinese calendar upon different time zones.

As intercalary month is determined by the first month without mid-climate and the exact time when each mid-climate happen would vary according to time zone, countries that have adopted the calendar but calculate with their own time could vary from the one used in China because of this. For instance, the 2012 FTG happened in UTC May 20 15:15, which would translate to May 20 23:15 in UTC+8, making FTG the mid-climate for the fourth month of that traditional Chinese year [April 21 ~ May 20 in Gregorian calendar], but in Korea it happen in May 21 00:15 in UTC+9, and as new moon take place in May 21 in that month, therefore the month before that would only consist of the SC solar term, lacking mid-climate. As a result, the month starting at April 21 would be an intercalary month in Korean calendar, but not in Chinese Calendar, and the intercalary month in Chinese calendar would start in the month after, in the fifth month starting from May 21, which would only consist of the solar term STG, while the month in Korean Calendar would have both FTG and STG solar term in it.

Other practices

Among the ethnic groups inhabiting the mountains and plateaus of southwestern China, and those living in the grasslands of northern China, the civil calendars shows a diversity of practice upon the characteristic phenology and culture, but they are based on the algorithm of the Chinese calendar of different periods, especially those of the Tang dynasty and pre-Qin dynasty period.

See also

• Culture of China
• Dates in Chinese
• East Asian age reckoning
• Festivals of Korea
• Guo Shoujing, an astronomer tasked with calendar reform during the 13th century
• List of festivals in Vietnam
• Public holidays in China
• Sexagenary cycle
• Chinese Traditional Time System
• Chinese Traditional Date and Time

Further reading

• Cohen, Alvin (2012). "Brief Note: The Origin of the Yellow Emperor Era Chronology" (PDF). Asia Major. 25 (pt 2): 1–13. 
• Ho, Kai-Lung (何凱龍) (2006). “The Political Power and the Mongolian Translation of the Chinese Calendar During the Yuan Dynasty”. Central Asiatic Journal 50 (1). Harrassowitz Verlag: 57–69. http://www.jstor.org/stable/41928409.

External links

Calendars

• Chinese months
• Gregorian-Lunar calendar years (1901–2100)
• Chinese calendar and holidays
• Chinese calendar with Auspicious Events

Calendar conversion

• 2000-year Chinese-Western calendar converter From 1 AD to 2100 AD. Useful for historical studies. To use, put the western year 年 month 月day 日in the bottom row and click on 執行.
• Western-Chinese calendar converter

Rules

• Mathematics of the Chinese Calendar
• The Structure of the Chinese Calendar