Chinese Lunar Calendar
From ChinaTravelGuide
The Chinese calendar dates back over 4,000 years, but is still widely followed for festivals (such as Chinese New Year) and other activities. It was designed by using computations combining the phases of the moon with the position of the earth to the sun.
The Chinese word for the "day" is very straight forward and calls one day as one 'Sun' (日), as it takes the sun one day to "move" from East to West across the sky and come back.
The concept of a "week" is less important in the Chinese calendar. The ancient Egyptians had a ten-day week, and so did the Chinese.
The word for "month" in the Chinese language is simply a 'Moon' (月), because each month begins with the new moon, and the appearance of the Moon changes every night. It takes the Moon a "month" (or 29.5 days) to go through one cycle of motion, from 'new moon' to 'full moon' and back. So the Chinese calendar rounds a 'Month' as either 29 days or 30 days.
The Chinese also observed thousands of years ago that that the over a period of many months (12), the position of the Sun shifts from very high overhead to a much lower point at Noon time. The length of daylight time also changes from longer to shorter. And the weather changes from hot to cold, giving rise to the four seasons of winter, spring, summer and fall. The Chinese, therefore, define the length of this time period as a 'Year'. The Chinese word for "Year" is 'Nian' (年) as the word 'Sun' (日) has already assigned the meaning of a 'day' (日).
In 104 B.C. the length of a year was determined to an accuracy of 365.2502 days. By 480 A.D., Zu Chongzhi (祖沖之) refined it to 365.2428 days (a difference of 52 seconds from the modern value of 365.2422 days). The Chinese has provided very accurate and uninterrupted time-line records since more than 1500 years ago.
A normal year contains twelve months. In the case that there are thirteen new moons in a cycle, the year is called a Leap Year with an extra month added to make up to 365.24 days. A new cycle begins every sixty years with the Chinese calendar.
The Chinese lunar calendar also has longer units of time, and they are Great Year (or 12 years), Cycle (or 5 Great Years, or 60 years), and Epoch (or 60 Cycles, or 60 x 60 years, or 3,600 years). The 78th cycle started on February 1984, and will end on February 2044. We are in Year 2008 (third millennium, 21st century, first decade and 8th year) in solar calendar and Year 4705 in Chinese lunar calendar respectively.
The Chinese lunar calendar has many interesting features. The calendar is best known for its 12 year cycle with years named after 12 animals. Legend says that the Lord Buddha summoned all the animals to come to him before he departed from Earth. Only twelve animals came to bid him farewell. As a reward he named a year after each one in the order that it arrived. First came the Rat, then the Ox, the Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog and Pig. Chinese horoscope says that the zodiac (生肖) of twelve animal signs represents twelve different types of personality, and the animal signs assigned by year represent what others perceive you as being or how you present yourself. The most compatible person is always 4 years apart, and the least compatible is likely to be 6 years apart.
Another interesting feature of the Chinese lunar calendar is that it can also be used to choose the gender of their baby. The only information you need is the age of the mother and the month of conception. According to the chart, if a 24 year old (lunar years) woman conceives in September, the baby will be a girl. The belief in Chinese birth calendars is based on the discovery of a chart found in a royal tomb that was hundreds of years old. The original is on display at the Institute of Science in Beijing.
