Before their adoption of the Western solar calendar system, the Chinese almost wholly followed their own lunar calendar for determining the times of planting and harvesting and festival holidays. Although people in China today use the Western calendar for almost all business, governmental and practical matters of daily life, the old method still serves as the basis for working out numerous seasonal holidays. This coexistence of two calendar systems has long been acknowledged by the people of China.
However, this does not only happen in China, it also occurs in most other Eastern countries, like Thailand, and most Arabic countries.
A lunar month is calculated by measuring the period of time needed for the moon to complete its full cycle of 29 and a half days, a standard that makes the lunar year a whole 11 days shorter than its solar counterpart. This disparity is made up every 19 years by the addition of seven lunar months.
The 12 lunar months are further divided into 24 solar divisions distinguished by the four seasons and times of heat and cold, all of which bear a close relationship to the annual cycle of agricultural work.
The Chinese calendar - very much like the Hebrew calendar- is a mixture of the solar and lunar calendars in that it attempts to have its years concur with the tropical year and its months coincide with the synodic months. It is not surprising that a few similarities exist between the Chinese and the Hebrew calendar.
For instance, an ordinary year has 12 months, a leap year has 13 months. An ordinary year has 353, 354, or 355 days, a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days. When determining what a Chinese year will be like, one needs to make a couple of astronomical calculations.
First of all, you have to work out the dates of the new moons. In these cases, a new Moon is the completely black Moon (that is to say, when the Moon is in conjunction with the Sun), not the first visible crescent, as is used in the Islamic and Hebrew calendars. The date of a new moon is then the first day of a new month.
The reason why the majority of countries which had their own calendars had to dump them in favour of the Western, Julian calendar that we use today, is business. First the British and then the Americans ran international business and they used the Gregorian calendar. Anyone who wanted to work with them had to follow suit. This is why national policy often varies from local custom in Third World countries.
The government desires to trade on the International markets, but the ordinary family in the country can not. So, the government adopted the Gregorian calendar but the people only pay lip service to it. I live in Thailand and people here do not even use the 24 hour day divided into two halves. Their day has four sections of six hours each and the first part starts at 6AM, not midnight. Therefore, they have four 4 o'clocks a day, for example but no 7 o'clocks. They are also 543 years ahead of us, although this is more common, for instance in Muslim countries.
However, this does not only happen in China, it also occurs in most other Eastern countries, like Thailand, and most Arabic countries.
A lunar month is calculated by measuring the period of time needed for the moon to complete its full cycle of 29 and a half days, a standard that makes the lunar year a whole 11 days shorter than its solar counterpart. This disparity is made up every 19 years by the addition of seven lunar months.
The 12 lunar months are further divided into 24 solar divisions distinguished by the four seasons and times of heat and cold, all of which bear a close relationship to the annual cycle of agricultural work.
The Chinese calendar - very much like the Hebrew calendar- is a mixture of the solar and lunar calendars in that it attempts to have its years concur with the tropical year and its months coincide with the synodic months. It is not surprising that a few similarities exist between the Chinese and the Hebrew calendar.
For instance, an ordinary year has 12 months, a leap year has 13 months. An ordinary year has 353, 354, or 355 days, a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days. When determining what a Chinese year will be like, one needs to make a couple of astronomical calculations.
First of all, you have to work out the dates of the new moons. In these cases, a new Moon is the completely black Moon (that is to say, when the Moon is in conjunction with the Sun), not the first visible crescent, as is used in the Islamic and Hebrew calendars. The date of a new moon is then the first day of a new month.
The reason why the majority of countries which had their own calendars had to dump them in favour of the Western, Julian calendar that we use today, is business. First the British and then the Americans ran international business and they used the Gregorian calendar. Anyone who wanted to work with them had to follow suit. This is why national policy often varies from local custom in Third World countries.
The government desires to trade on the International markets, but the ordinary family in the country can not. So, the government adopted the Gregorian calendar but the people only pay lip service to it. I live in Thailand and people here do not even use the 24 hour day divided into two halves. Their day has four sections of six hours each and the first part starts at 6AM, not midnight. Therefore, they have four 4 o'clocks a day, for example but no 7 o'clocks. They are also 543 years ahead of us, although this is more common, for instance in Muslim countries.
About the Author:
Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on many subjects, but is currently involved with researching Franklin planner pages. If you have an interest in calendars, organizers or promotional calendars, please go over to our web site now at Promotional Desk Calendars
