Chinese calendar - Purpose of the Intercalary Months

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 determ ...

Including:

• Chinese calendar - History
• Chinese calendar - Legendary beginnings
• Chinese calendar - Early History
• Chinese calendar - The Taichuli calendar
• Chinese calendar - The True Sun and Moon
• Chinese calendar - The Gregorian Reform and the 1929 time change
• Chinese calendar - Calendar Rules
• Chinese calendar - Year Markings
• Chinese calendar - Regnal Years
• Chinese calendar - The Stem-Branch Cycle
• Chinese calendar - Solar Year versus Lunar Year
• Chinese calendar - Hours of the Day
• Chinese calendar - The Chinese Zodiac
• Chinese calendar - Solar term
• Chinese calendar - Holidays
• Chinese calendar - Purpose of the Intercalary Months
• Chinese calendar - The relevance of the calendar today
• Chinese calendar - Practical uses
• Chinese calendar - Cultural issues

Read more here: » Chinese calendar: Encyclopedia - Chinese calendar

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 superstitio ...

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Chinese calendar, Chinese calendar - History, Chinese calendar - Legendary beginnings, Chinese calendar - Early History, Chinese calendar - The Taichuli calendar, Chinese calendar - The True Sun and Moon, Chinese calendar - The Gregorian Reform and the 1929 time change, Chinese calendar - Calendar Rules, Chinese calendar - Year Markings, Chinese calendar - Regnal Years, Chinese calendar - The Stem-Branch Cycle, Chinese calendar - Solar Year versus Lunar Year, Chinese calendar - Hours of the Day, Chinese calendar - The Chinese Zodiac, Chinese calendar - Solar term, Chinese calendar - Holidays, Chinese calendar - Purpose of the Intercalary Months, Chinese calendar - The relevance of the calendar today, Chinese calendar - Practical uses, Chinese calendar - Cultural issues

Read more here: » Chinese calendar: Encyclopedia II - Chinese calendar - Purpose of the Intercalary Months

Chinese calendar - 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 below "Rules") was first used to mark years during the first century BCE. Tradition fixes the first year of the first cycle (the ...

See also:

Chinese calendar, Chinese calendar - History, Chinese calendar - Legendary beginnings, Chinese calendar - Early History, Chinese calendar - The Taichuli calendar, Chinese calendar - The True Sun and Moon, Chinese calendar - The Gregorian Reform and the 1929 time change, Chinese calendar - Calendar Rules, Chinese calendar - Year Markings, Chinese calendar - Regnal Years, Chinese calendar - The Stem-Branch Cycle, Chinese calendar - Solar Year versus Lunar Year, Chinese calendar - Hours of the Day, Chinese calendar - The Chinese Zodiac, Chinese calendar - Solar term, Chinese calendar - Holidays, Chinese calendar - Purpose of the Intercalary Months, Chinese calendar - The relevance of the calendar today, Chinese calendar - Practical uses, Chinese calendar - Cultural issues

Read more here: » Chinese calendar: Encyclopedia II - Chinese calendar - History

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, fall ...

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Chinese calendar, Chinese calendar - History, Chinese calendar - Legendary beginnings, Chinese calendar - Early History, Chinese calendar - The Taichuli calendar, Chinese calendar - The True Sun and Moon, Chinese calendar - The Gregorian Reform and the 1929 time change, Chinese calendar - Calendar Rules, Chinese calendar - Year Markings, Chinese calendar - Regnal Years, Chinese calendar - The Stem-Branch Cycle, Chinese calendar - Solar Year versus Lunar Year, Chinese calendar - Hours of the Day, Chinese calendar - The Chinese Zodiac, Chinese calendar - Solar term, Chinese calendar - Holidays, Chinese calendar - Purpose of the Intercalary Months, Chinese calendar - The relevance of the calendar today, Chinese calendar - Practical uses, Chinese calendar - Cultural issues

Read more here: » Chinese calendar: Encyclopedia II - Chinese calendar - Holidays

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 ...

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Chinese calendar, Chinese calendar - History, Chinese calendar - Legendary beginnings, Chinese calendar - Early History, Chinese calendar - The Taichuli calendar, Chinese calendar - The True Sun and Moon, Chinese calendar - The Gregorian Reform and the 1929 time change, Chinese calendar - Calendar Rules, Chinese calendar - Year Markings, Chinese calendar - Regnal Years, Chinese calendar - The Stem-Branch Cycle, Chinese calendar - Solar Year versus Lunar Year, Chinese calendar - Hours of the Day, Chinese calendar - The Chinese Zodiac, Chinese calendar - Solar term, Chinese calendar - Holidays, Chinese calendar - Purpose of the Intercalary Months, Chinese calendar - The relevance of the calendar today, Chinese calendar - Practical uses, Chinese calendar - Cultural issues

Read more here: » Chinese calendar: Encyclopedia II - Chinese calendar - Solar term

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, such that the first day of each month beginning at midnight is the day of the astronomical new moon. 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 re ...

See also:

Chinese calendar, Chinese calendar - History, Chinese calendar - Legendary beginnings, Chinese calendar - Early History, Chinese calendar - The Taichuli calendar, Chinese calendar - The True Sun and Moon, Chinese calendar - The Gregorian Reform and the 1929 time change, Chinese calendar - Calendar Rules, Chinese calendar - Year Markings, Chinese calendar - Regnal Years, Chinese calendar - The Stem-Branch Cycle, Chinese calendar - Solar Year versus Lunar Year, Chinese calendar - Hours of the Day, Chinese calendar - The Chinese Zodiac, Chinese calendar - Solar term, Chinese calendar - Holidays, Chinese calendar - Purpose of the Intercalary Months, Chinese calendar - The relevance of the calendar today, Chinese calendar - Practical uses, Chinese calendar - Cultural issues

Read more here: » Chinese calendar: Encyclopedia II - Chinese calendar - Calendar Rules

Chinese calendar - 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 fourte ...

See also:

Chinese calendar, Chinese calendar - History, Chinese calendar - Legendary beginnings, Chinese calendar - Early History, Chinese calendar - The Taichuli calendar, Chinese calendar - The True Sun and Moon, Chinese calendar - The Gregorian Reform and the 1929 time change, Chinese calendar - Calendar Rules, Chinese calendar - Year Markings, Chinese calendar - Regnal Years, Chinese calendar - The Stem-Branch Cycle, Chinese calendar - Solar Year versus Lunar Year, Chinese calendar - Hours of the Day, Chinese calendar - The Chinese Zodiac, Chinese calendar - Solar term, Chinese calendar - Holidays, Chinese calendar - Purpose of the Intercalary Months, Chinese calendar - The relevance of the calendar today, Chinese calendar - Practical uses, Chinese calendar - Cultural issues

Read more here: » Chinese calendar: Encyclopedia II - Chinese calendar - Year Markings

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 t ...

See also:

Chinese calendar, Chinese calendar - History, Chinese calendar - Legendary beginnings, Chinese calendar - Early History, Chinese calendar - The Taichuli calendar, Chinese calendar - The True Sun and Moon, Chinese calendar - The Gregorian Reform and the 1929 time change, Chinese calendar - Calendar Rules, Chinese calendar - Year Markings, Chinese calendar - Regnal Years, Chinese calendar - The Stem-Branch Cycle, Chinese calendar - Solar Year versus Lunar Year, Chinese calendar - Hours of the Day, Chinese calendar - The Chinese Zodiac, Chinese calendar - Solar term, Chinese calendar - Holidays, Chinese calendar - Purpose of the Intercalary Months, Chinese calendar - The relevance of the calendar today, Chinese calendar - Practical uses, Chinese calendar - Cultural issues

Read more here: » Chinese calendar: Encyclopedia II - Chinese calendar - The Chinese Zodiac