Chinese History

Chinese Calendar and Chronology

Having a calendar was a crucial instrument for a ruling dynasty in China. The first edict a dynasty founder proclaimed was to pronounce the calendar of the new dynasty and to pronounce the element and the colors corresponding to this calendar.
The calendar in China is a combination of two cycles, theTen Celestial Stems (Shi Tiangan 十天干; right) and the Twelve Terrestrial Branches (Shier Dizhi 十二地支; below). This system was already in use during the 12th century BC.

1 甲	2 乙	3 丙	4 丁	5 戊
jia	yi	bing	ding	wu
6 己	7 庚	8 辛	9 壬	10 癸
ji	geng	xin	ren	gui

1 子	2 丑	3 寅	4 卯	5 辰	6 巳	7 午	8 未	9 申	10 酉	11 戌	12 亥
zi	chou	yin	mao	chen	si	wu	wei	shen	you	xu	hai

Combining two characters each of these cycles, years are enumerated and make up a cycle of sixty years (only the half of possible permutations is used).

1 甲子 jiazi	2 乙丑 yichou	3 丙寅 bingyin	4 丁卯 dingmao	5 戊辰 wuchen	6 己巳 jisi	7 庚午 gengwu	8 辛未 xinwei	9 壬申 renshen	10 癸酉 guiyou
11 甲戌 jiaxu	12 乙亥 yihai	13 丙子 bingzi	14 丁丑 dingchou	15 戊寅 wuyin	16 己卯 jimao	17 庚辰 gengchen	18 辛巳 xinsi	19 壬午 renwu	20 癸未 guiwei
21 甲申 jiashen	22 乙酉 yiyou	23 丙戌 bingxu	24 丁亥 dinghai	25 戊子 wuzi	26 己丑 jichou	27 庚寅 gengyin	28 辛卯 xinmao	29 壬辰 renchen	30 癸巳 guisi
31 甲午 jiawu	32 乙未 yiwei	33 丙申 bingshen	34 丁酉 dingyou	35 戊戌 wuxu	36 己亥 jihai	37 庚子 gengzi	38 辛丑 xinchou	39 壬寅 renyin	40 癸卯 guimao
41 甲辰 jiachen	42 乙巳 yisi	43 丙午 bingwu	44 丁未 dingwei	45 戊申 wushen	46 己酉 jiyou	47 庚戌 gengxu	48 辛亥 xinhai	49 壬子 renzi	50 癸丑 guichou
51 甲寅 jiayin	52 乙卯 yimao	53 丙辰 bingchen	54 丁巳 dingsi	55 戊午 wuwu	56 己未 jiwei	57 庚申 gengshen	58 辛酉 xinyou	59 壬戌 renxu	60 癸亥 guihai

The begin of the cycle is the year jiazi 甲子, which was last in 1984, and the next jiazi year will be in 2045. the Han Dynasty 漢 on, emperors assumed a reign motto (nianhao 年號) that changed every few years. Ming 明 and Qing 清 emperors only used one motto for their whole reign and are thus recognized their motto instead of their posthumous temple name. For example, "Qianlong 乾隆 - Heavenly abundance" was the motto of the Qing emperor with the personal name Aisin Giorro Hongli 愛新覺羅弘歷, the posthumous title "Gaozong 高宗 - High Ancestor" and the dynastic title "Chundi 純帝 - Sincere Emperor". He acceded to the throne in 1736, a bingchen 丙辰 year, and he retired the government after one whole 60 year cycle, in 1795. Cycle names are sometimes still used today, for example the Wuxu Reform 戊戌變法 of 1898 and the Xinhai Revolution 辛亥革命 of 1911. The normal way to give a date in Chinese history is, to give the year of the reign motto: 建炎元年jianyan 1, the first year of the reign motto "Establishing Brilliance". It is also the first year of Emperor Song Gaozong's 宋高宗 reign, the first emperor of Southern Song 南宋, in 1127 AD. There are only a few reign mottos in Chinese history that were used several times. Before rulers began to create reign mottos, the number of their reigning year was counted: 秦始皇三年 Qin Shihuang 3, the third year of the First Emperor's reign.Every year correlates with one of twelve animals (corresponding to the Twelve Branches), 2001 is the year of snake, the next year of snake will be in 2013. The character of the animal has influence on the character of people born during that year. Many parents want their sons to be born in a dragon year. The sixty year and day cycle is independent of the ruling dynasty and the end of the year, and it must have started some thousands of years ago, around 2000 BC. An example for the Chinese time counting: the Han Dynasty 漢 was founded on a jiawu 甲午 day in a jihai 己亥 year. But what jihai year? It was the fifth reign year of Liu Bang 劉邦 as king of Han, that is the year 202 BC. And which of the six possible jiawu day in that year? the context, we find out that it was the 28th of february in the year 202 BC. Western historians have to be very careful concerning a date at the begin of a year, because the Chinese year begins in the Western february or early march. The 10th of january is already a day in the Western solar new year, but still in the Chinese old year.

1996/ 2008	1997/ 2009	1998/ 2010	1999/ 2011	2000/ 2012	2001	2002	2003	2004	2005	2006	2007
rat shu 鼠	ox niu 牛	tiger hu 虎	hare tu 兔	dragon long 龍	snake she 蛇	horse ma 馬	sheep yang 羊	monkey hou 猴	cock ji 雞	dog gou 狗	pig zhu 豬

The Ten Celestial Stems are connected with the Five Elements or Phases (wuxing 五行) and their corresponding colors. The Qin Dynasty 秦 chose Water as her element and black as its color. The Han Dynasty 漢 chose the element Fire and therewith used the imperial color red. Four of these colors and elements are likewise connected to the four seasons: wood and green with the spring, red and fire with the summer, yellow and earth with the autumn, and black and water with the winter.

The character for year (nian 年) is compounded of a ripe ear 禾 and a man 人 or a thousand 千, showing us that the original meaning of this word was not "year", but rather "harvest". The Chinese lunar year (yueli 月曆 or "old calendar" 舊曆 jiuli) has twelve lunar months with 29 and 30 days. The first month is called "correct month" (zhengyue 正月), the others are simply numbered as "second month" (eryue 二月) etc. The season is also divided in first, middle and last part (meng 孟, zhong 仲 and ji 季) Every third year, a thirteenth intercalary month (runyue 閏月) was inserted to adjust the lunar year with the solar year. One month is divided into three ten day weeks (xun 旬). Days are also counted as a combination of the Stems and the Branches, also in sixty day cycles like the years. This sixty day monthly cycle is divided into two months. When China came into contact with the Western seven day week, new names for each of the seven was introduced by the Jesuits, following the names of the western days, and following the Five Elements: 日曜日 riyaori "sunday", 月曜日 yueyaori "monday", 火曜日 huoyaori "fire-day: tuesday" (the fire-planet is Mars, hence the same like the Romance languages, e.g. Italian martedì: tuesday), 水曜日 shuiyaori "water-day: wednesday" (the water-planet is Mercury, hence the same like the Italian mercoledì: wednesday), 木曜日 muyaori "wood-day: thursday" (the wood-planet is Jupiter, Italian giovedì: thursday), 金曜日 jinyaori "metal-day: friday" (the water-planet is Venus, friday in Italian is venerdì), 土曜日 tuyaori "earth-day: saturday". This pattern to count days is still in use in Korea and Japan (calling the days iryoil, woryoil etc. resp. nichiyobi, getsuyobi etc.). The Chinese today simply numerate their days: 星期一 xingqiyi "star-time one: monday", 星期二 xingqier "star-time two: tuesday", 星期日 "star-time sun: sunday", or 禮拜一 libaiyi "ritual-prayer one: monday", and so on.

The Twelve Earthly Branches and the corresponding hours with the names of animals and cardinal points.

Hours are counted in double-hours, beginning at 11:00 PM just before midnight. The "hour of the horse" was midday. The southern gate of the imperial palace in Peking is called Wumen 午門, according to the Branch wu 午 corresponding to the south. There are also other animals connected with the four cardinal points: The Black Dragon (xuanwu 玄武) symbolizes the north, the Green Dragon (qinglong 青龍) the east, the Red Bird (zhuque 朱雀, jap. suzaku) the south, and the White Tiger (baihu 白虎) the west.
The begin of the year changed during early history dynasty to dynasty. During the Zhou Dynasty 周, the year began with the lunar month that contained the winter solistice (zi 子), today the year starts two months after the full moon that follows the winter solistice (yin 寅).

Like Western calendars have some fixed days according to the lunar year (for example, Easter is falling of the first sunday after the first fullmoon of the spring), the Chinese calendar has fixed days within the year with a special name, like the first day of the first month (lichun 立春 "spring begins") or the summer solistice (xiazhi 夏至 "summer arrives"). Buddhist names for the days are also in use.
The calendar made problems when several emperors or rulers claimed to be the righteous at the same time. During the Warring States period 戰國時代, the feudal states challenged the political power of the Zhou kings, but not their ethical position as Heaven appointed kings. The first problem arised during the Three Kingdoms period 三國 and during the time of division between north and south, because every ruler proclaimed his own calendar.

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Chinese Calendar and Chronology