With the founding of the Chinese Republic in 1912, the Gregorian calendar became official. But the old calendar still commands tremendous influence. The force of folk customs has -compelled official recognition of the lunar new year holiday as Spring Festival.
The Chinese new year, most important of traditional festivals, represents the idea of the year's renascence. It is close to the time of Li-Chung (February 5), or the beginning of spring. In Chinese astrology, it is an occasion of the meeting of Yang and Yin, the masculine and feminine or positive and negative principles of the universe. The two fuse into the harmony that rules the world.
So the Chinese have taken the Gregorian break with the past less seriously than most people. Today the lunar calendar is known as Yin Li because it is based on lunations, or Lung Li, the agricultural calendar, because it is of use to farmers. A mote academic name is Hsia Li or the calendar of the Hsia dynasty (2205-1818 B.C.).
Actually, that dynasty inherited the calendar from still earlier epochs. Hsia only fixed the first lunar month as it is in the present calendar. The three succeeding dynasties, Shang (1766-1154 B.C.), Chou (1122-255 B.C.) and Chin (255-209 B.C.) each were said to have antedated the first month: one month earlier in Shang, two months earlier in Chou, and three months earlier in Chin. In the last case, the new year began with winter.
These calendar differences are based on such scanty and ambiguous historical records as to be still in dispute among scholars. However, it is certain that the new year has been observed as in the present calendar since Emperor Wu of the Western Han Dynasty (206-25 B.C.) restored the Hsia calendar in 104 B.C.
Two Factors
As it is well established now, the Chinese new year may occur as early as January 21 and as late as February 21. This is very confusing to a modern mind adjusted to the Gregorian calendar. In fact, however, the confusion is no greater than the dating of Easter.
In the dim past, all peoples calculated time by following a moon that is clearly visible and seems constant enough to be a reliable guide to time. Ancient Chinese star gazers watched the moon and, through the experience accumulated in many generations, developed the lunar calendar.
Ancient China attached great importance to astronomy. The "observation of heavenly bodies and determination of seasons" became one of the most important functions of the early dynasties. The Emperor was the "son of the heaven." The Chou Li or Book of Rites (exact age uncertain) tells of the building of the Chou Kung Tower, named after a son of the first ruler of the Chou dynasty and used to measure the sun's shadow.
Some Revisions
The cardinal principle of the lunar calendar is that the phases of the moon yield the month. A year consisting of 12 lunar months contains only 354 days; its beginning consequently anticipates that of a solar year by 11 days. It is thus a painstaking job to square the lunar moon with the solar year. In this respect, the Chinese calendar-makers were surprisingly successful.
An accurate calendar system had been established as early as the Yin (or Shang) dynasty in the 14th century before Christ. A solar year averages 365¼ days. There are seven intercalary months in a period of 19 lunar years, forming a lunar cycle. The months remain the same with alternate lunations of 29 and 30 days. Because of the intercalation, the new year is retained at nearly the same seasonal position.
To delineate the four seasons and locate the intercalary months, a Chieh-chi system of series of 24 solar terms was developed, a few at a time. It was completed in the early Han dynasty and incorporated in the calendar. The 24 terms divide a year into nearly equal intervals. Each term is a chi, determined by the sun's apparent longitude.
The 24 terms are further diferentiated as Chieh-chi or "terminus terms" and Chung-chi or "mid-terms,",alternating with each other. Following is a table of the 24 solar terms, the first being a "terminus term":
Solar Term Approximate date
Spring begins Feb. 5
Rain water Feb. 19
Insects waken March 5
Vernal equinox March 20
Clear and bright April 5
Grain rain April 20
Summer begins May 5
Grain fills May 21
Grain in ear June 6
Summer solstice June 21
Moderate heat July 7
Severe heat July 23
Autumn begins Aug. 7
Heat breaks up Aug. 23
White dew Sept. 7
Autumnal equinox Sept. 23
Cold dew Oct. 8
Frost descends Oct. 23
Winter begins Nov. 7
Light snow Nov. 22
Heavy snow Dec. 7
Winter solstice Dec. 22
Moderate cold Jan. 6
Severe cold Jan. 21
Two Factors
The period from the day of a new moon to the day before the next new moon is known as a lunar month. As the solar month is longer than the lunar month, it sometimes happens that there is no "mid-term" found in the period of lunar month. This month then must be regarded as an intercalary month, which is indicated as such but bears the same ordinal number as the preceding month. A leap year thus has only 12 months in ordinal number, because two of them are the same. For example, 1963 had "two Aprils."
Therefore, it takes two factors, lunations and solar terms, to compute the Chinese years. In this sense, the calendar is not lunar but a lunar-solar measurement of time.
Besides, the self-evident names of the solar terms, each indicates a change of weather or temperature, or of an agricultural season. Together they constitute an oversimplified weather and phenological guide for Chinese agriculture.
How could such a system forecast the weather of a big, sprawling country like China, and direct its farmers in their seasonal work? Chinese weather varies as much as its terrain.
The 24-term guide was formulated so as to generalize about weather conditions. The first half covers the warm and rainy Yangtse valley and points south, while the second half follows the cold and dry Yellow River plain northward. Farmers do not expect to find "rain water" in the northwest or "heavy snow" in the south.
Actually, the calendar is a frame of reference. Farmers have supplementary jingles to indicate regional differences and help them do the right thing at the right time. The jingles vary from area to area, but all relate to the master guide.
Here are two sample jingles for the Yangtse and Yellow River estuaries. The line referring to solar terms is good for both. The first indented line belongs to the Yangtse jingle, the second to the Yellow River jingle.)
"Severe cold" follows "moderate cold"—Plow and plant your upland rice field; Gather manure to fertilize your fields
After "spring begins" comes "rain water"—Finish weeding, then sow your wheat; Plow your fields in icy weather.
During the "clear and bright" "grain rain"— Wheat ripens while rape is flowering; All crops are sprouting ever-green.
After "summer begins" the "grain fills"—Reap wheat first and plant rice; Dig your land after the rains.
The "summer solstice" follows "grain in ear"
The torrential monsoon lashes here; Cotton-sowing, wheat-cutting leave no leisure.
"Severe heat" follows "moderate heat"— Weed your fields in hot sunlight; Work your fields in hot sunlight.
The "heat breaks up" after "autumn begins"—Collect your corn and sorghum crops; Enjoy your fruits and melons.
The "autumnal equinox" follows "white dew"—Plow wheat fields when rice harvest is due; Corn and sorghum harvests are all due.
After "cold dew" the "frost descends" Reap your soy beans and sweet potatoes; Have peanuts growing in the fields.
The "light snow" comes after "winter begins"—Sell all your surplus grains; Sell your wheat and cotton.
The "winter solstice" follows "heavy snow"— Feasting in the new year, build a fire aglow (same for both jingles).
Some Revisions
Such jingles are found nearly everywhere in China. Even in Taiwan, which was occupied by the Japanese for half a century, the older farming generation can recite the local version. The Japanese themselves adopted the Chieh-chi system. Coupled with the jingles, the solar terms can conventionalize all sorts of farming practices through the year. These are still listed in the present-day Chinese calendar, be it Gregorian, lunar, or a combination of the two.
Basic principles of the Chinese lunar calendar remain unchanged, but several revisions have been made to increase time-keeping accuracy. In 1946 an Emperor of the Manchu dynasty promulgated a new standard calendar, Shih Hsieh Shu, which accepted the more precise Western rules of calculating the solar year and the solar terms. Before that, the 24 terms were fixed at regular intervals in a solar year, and there might be a difference of a day or two between calendar and the time supposedly represented.
The new calendar was the work of Hsu Kwang-chi, scholar-official of the Ming dynasty that preceded the Manchu, who had the help of Catholic missionaries Mathieu Ricci from Italy and Juan Adam Schall from Germany. With other Christian missionaries, they served the Chinese court during the 17th century and persuaded the long-established Royal Board of Astronomy to accept some Western calendar ideas.
As a rule, monarchical China obliged all states to observe the calendar of the ruling dynasty. Because of this rule and the widespread extent of Chinese cultural influences, the calendar was introduced in Japan, Korea, and Vietnam. In these countries, the lunar system still retains much of its old-time standing and influence among the people.
Oldest in World
For chronological purposes, the Chinese also employ a cycle of 60 to reckon days, months, and years. It is said that Huangti or the Yellow Emperor (2697-2596 B.C.) first adopted the sexagenary cycle to reckon days.
The sexagenary cycle is formed by two subordinate cycles or two series of characters. One represents the ten "celestial stems" and the other the twelve "terrestial branches." The "stems" and "branches" are joined together to afford 60 combinations. In other words, each combination becomes a two-character name for a time period.
This is a time-reckoning system independent of calendar dating. As proved by oracle bones unearthed in archaeological exploration, it was in use during the Yin (or Shang) dynasty (1766-1122 B.C.) and still exists. It is the oldest chronological system in the world. Chinese historians use it to keep track of a long sweep of history.
In the first century of the Christian era, the sexagenary cycle was adopted by the Eastern Han dynasty (25 B.C.-220 A.D.) to reckon years, months, and hours in addition to the days.
The quadruple use of the cycle has produced a peculiar birth identification for the Chinese—pa-tse or eight characters in four pairs to indicate the year, month, day, and hour of birth. The pa-tse is used by fortune-tellers in the casting of horoscope.
Animal Names
The twelve characters of the "terrestial branches", used separately, can represent the 12 periods of a day, each covering two hours. For example, the midnight tse is 11 p.m. and the noontime Wu, 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. By the same token, they also designate the 12 months of a year.
By Chin or early Han times, Chinese astronomers had categorized the stars into 28 constellations, seven each in the north, east, west, and south. They bisected the heavenly sphere along the celestial equator into 12 divisions corresponding to the 12 "terrestrial branches". To each was assigned an animal as a zodiacal symbol. The order is mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, cock, dog, and hog.
The reasons for assignment of a given animal to a given "branch" are varied and complicated. Some animals were chosen because of linguistic origin of the character, others because of legendary connections. As a whole, they are based on astrological principles relating to the Yin-Yang harmony.
In the case of hog and snake, one theory says the characters for their "branches", hai 亥 and Szu came from pictographs of hog and snake (the word for snake has changed from its original form). As for horse, the "branch" character is Wu 午 , which rhymed with horse 馬 in ancient times.
For the dragon, symbol of the new lunar year, the "branch" character is Sheng. This means the hour between 7 and 8 a.m., .a time when both sun and moon sometimes can be seen along with the seven constellations of the east. The seven constellations look like a dragon, thus the animal is used to represent Sheng.
Each year in the sexagenary cycle is named with a combination of two characters —one for the "stem" and one for the "branch". Thus the year itself is called by the animal representing the "branch" character. The new year will be Chia-Sheng. Sheng being dragon, it is the year of the dragon.
A Chinese often will be identified with the animal of his birth year. This has become an easy way to tell age. A man born in a dragon year, if looking thirtyish, must be 35. The animal also helps fortunetellers read his horoscope. Astrological aspects of the Chinese calendar are intertwined with 'many superstitions and folk customs.
As of this new year of the dragon, 1964 of the Christian era, the lunar calendar is very much alive, not only for the farmer, but for his sophisticated city cousin who reckons festivals and anniversaries by the old-fashioned system.
After half a century of official endorsement of the Gregorian calendar, its lunar competitor is still going strong. From all indications, it will remain first in the hearts of the people for a long time to come.