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| title | chunk | source | category | tags | date_saved | instance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chinese calendar | 7/8 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calendar | reference | science, encyclopedia | 2026-05-05T14:20:08.278657+00:00 | kb-cron |
For example, the year from 12 February 2021 to 31 January 2022 was a Xīnchǒu year (辛丑年) of 12 months or 354 days. The 60 stem-branches have been used to mark the year since the Shang dynasty (1600 BCE – 1046 BCE). Astrologers knew that the orbital period of Jupiter is about 12×361 = 4332 days, which they divided into 12 years (歲; 岁; suì) of 361 days each. The stem-branches system solved the era system's problem of unequal reign lengths.
Current naming conventions use numbers as the month names, although each month is also associated with one of the twelve Earthly Branches. Correspondences with Gregorian dates are approximate and should be used with caution. Many years have intercalary months.
Historically, Chinese had days of the month numbered with the 60 stem-branches: 天聖元年…二月…丁巳，奉安太祖、太宗御容于南京鴻慶宮. 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. Days rotate through a sexagenary cycle marked by coordination between heavenly stems and earthly branches, hence the referral to the Four Pillars of Destiny as, "Bazi", or "Birth Time Eight Characters", with each pillar consisting of a character for its corresponding heavenly stem, and another for its earthly branch. Since Huangli days are sexagenaric, their order is quite independent of their numeric order in each month, and of their numeric order within a week (referred to as True Animals in relation to the Chinese zodiac). Therefore, it does require painstaking calculation for one to arrive at the Four Pillars of Destiny of a particular given date, which rarely outpaces the convenience of simply consulting the Huangli by looking up its Gregorian date. The Tang dynasty used the Earthly Branches to mark the months from December 761 to May 762. Over this period, the year began with the winter solstice.
China has used the Western hour-minute-second system to divide the day since the Qing dynasty. Several systems were in use historically; systems using multiples of twelve and ten were popular, since they could be easily counted and aligned with the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches.
== Age reckoning ==
In modern China, a person's official age is based on the Gregorian calendar. For traditional use, age is based on the Chinese Sui calendar. A child is considered one year old at birth. After each Chinese New Year, one year is added to their traditional age. Their age therefore is the number of Chinese calendar years in which they have lived. Due to the potential for confusion, the age of infants is often given in months instead of years. After the Gregorian calendar was introduced in China, the Chinese traditional-age was referred to as the "nominal age" (虛歲; 虚岁; xūsuì; 'incomplete age') and the Gregorian age was known as the "real age" (實歲; 实岁; shísùi; 'whole age'). In Hong Kong, they are named as hui ling 虛齡 and sut ling 實齡 respectively.
== Holidays ==
Various traditional and religious holidays shared by communities throughout the world use the Chinese (Lunisolar) calendar:
=== Chinese New Year ===
The date of the Chinese New Year accords with the patterns of the lunisolar calendar and hence is variable from year to year. The invariant between years is that the winter solstice, Dongzhi is required to be in the eleventh month of the year This means that Chinese New Year will be on the second new moon after the previous winter solstice, unless there is a leap month 11 or 12 in the previous year. This rule is accurate, however there are two other mostly (but not completely) accurate rules that are commonly stated:
The new year is on the new moon closest to Lichun (typically 4 February). The new year is on the first new moon after Dahan (typically 20 January) It has been found that Chinese New Year moves back by either 10, 11, or 12 days in most years. If it falls on or before 31 January, then it moves forward in the next year by either 18, 19, or 20 days.
=== Holidays with the same day and same month === 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). In Vietnam it is known as Tết Nguyên Đán (節元旦). Traditionally it was the most important holiday of the year. It is an official holiday in China including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan regions, and, Vietnam, Korea, the Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, and Mauritius. It is also a public holiday in Thailand's Narathiwat, Pattani, Yala and Satun provinces, and is an official public school holiday in New York City. The Double Third Festival is on the third day of the third month. The Dragon Boat Festival, or the Duanwu Festival (端午節), is on the fifth day of the fifth month and is an official holiday in China including Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan regions. The Qixi Festival (七夕節) is celebrated in the evening of the seventh day of the seventh month. The Double Ninth Festival (重陽節) is celebrated on the ninth day of the ninth month.