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The 24 chieh generally correspond to specific dates in the Gregorian calendar, as shown in Table 9.33. The first of the Chinese year can fall in the range of 21 January to 19 February in the Gregorian calendar year. On average, the Chinese New Year starts around the date of 5 February in the Gregorian calendar. In this example, I use the year A.D. 1993, which starts toward the early part of the range. Each chieh has a name, which describes the dominant characteristic of the period. The peasantry use the system as a guide for their annual work schedule. |
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The interval between two chung-ch'i is 30.436 days, which is longer than a synodic lunar period. Hence, in some lunar months, the sun does not enter a new sign, or a chung-ch'i does not occur in a certain lunation. Such months are intercalary, or jun, and are designated by the ordinal number of their predecessor months with a prefix of jun. This system is reminiscent of the Greek convention of intercalating a second month with the name of the first. |
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9.10.2.1.5
The Twenty-Eight Hsiu |
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The Chinese distinguish 28 hsiu, or lunar mansions, which are the stars or star clusters used to divide the night sky into roughly equal parts, for the purpose of charting the progress of the Moon and other objects from night to night. The concept is essentially the same as the Indian nakshatra. |
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9.10.2.1.6
The Civil Year |
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The Chinese civil year consists of 12 lunations, generally alternating as months of 29 days (small months) and months of 30 days (big months). |
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Historically, the Chinese first added intercalary months as required to adjust for the length of the solar year but then adopted formal schemes of intercalation. The Chinese were using a regular cycle of 19 years for intercalation well before the time of Meton in Greece (432 B.C.). |
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Once intercalation had been regularized, the Chinese slowly shifted from a monthly to a yearly focus for their calendar schemes. They then concentrated on increasingly accurate determinations of the length of the solar year. By the 12th century A.D., the Chinese had recognized tiny variations in the length of the year that went unnoticed in the West until well after the Renaissance. |
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9.10.2.1.7
Parts of the Day |
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The traditional Chinese day is divided into 12 shih, named after the 12 Earthly Branches. The first period begins at midnight. Each lasts two hours. In earlier times, the day was divided into 100 k'e, and the water clock was used to determine the time of day. The night was divided into five watches, each of two hours, with the first watch beginning at 8 p.m., the time of curfew from ancient times. |
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The Chinese used a regnal dating system until the 20th century. In this system, the years of reign of an emperor were numbered according to a strict set of rules. At the |
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