Chinese Calendar 2007 is the Year of the Pig (boar)，It is also known by its former name of Ding Hai. Chinese calendar Chinese calendar has been in continuous use for centuries, which predates the International Calendar (based on the Gregorian Calendar 格里历/阳历) we use at the present day which goes back only some 425 years. The calendar measures time, from short durations of minutes and hours, to intervals of time measured in months, years and centuries, entirely based on the astronomical observations of the movement of the Sun, Moon and stars. What's a calendar? A calendar is a system for measuring time, from hours and minutes, to months and days, and finally to years and centuries. The terms of hour, day, month, year and century are all units of time measurements of a calendar system. How does one measure time? Distance can be measured with a stick. Time is measured by observing the movements of the sun, moon and stars. People in all major cultures have since discovered this fact since pre-historical time. What's a 'Day?' Every one knows about the rotation of the Earth about its axis, which causes (apparent) movement of the Sun from East to West across the sky. So we define one cycle of movement of the Sun as one 'Day.' The Chinese word is very straight forward and calls one day as one 'Sun.' What's a 'Week?' 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 ancient Assyrians 亚述人 invented the seven-day week, and the names of days of the week that we use even today are based on a system of assigning the five planets visible to the naked eye, the sun, and the moon to the seven days of the week. What's a 'Month?' For this we look at the Moon! Each night, the appearance of the Moon changes. From 'new moon' to 'full moon' and back. So we define a 'Month' as the time it takes for the Moon to go through one cycle of motion. As it happens, this takes about 29.5 days. So we round the month to be either 29 days or 30 days. Again, in the Chinese language a month is simply a 'Moon.' The English word "month" is derived from the word "moon." What about a 'Year?' The next larger unit of measurement of time is the 'Year.' For this we go back to the Sun again. Careful observations reveal 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. Even more importantly, the weather changes from hot to cold, giving rise to the four seasons of Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall. It is logical, therefore, to define the length of this time period as a 'Year.' The Chinese word for 'Year' is 'Nian'. Since the word 'Sun' has already assigned the meaning of a 'day', a new word has to be used to denote the 'year.' How long is a year? A little more than 365 days. In 104 B.C. the length of a year was determined to an accuracy of 365.2502 days. By 480 A.D., Ju Chongzhi refined it to 365.2428 days, or 52 seconds more than the modern value of 365.2422 days. To put it another way, in 2,000 years the total discrepancy 差异 is less than one day! Together with the voluminous 大量的 annals 记录of Chinese historians, the Chinese has provided the most accurate and uninterrupted time-line records. Although 0.24 day does not look like much, over many years it becomes significant. How do we round it to a whole number of days? There are several different schemes to do this. The Chinese scheme is called the 'lunar calendar', and the nearly standard calendar is called the 'solar' calendar system. Chinese Lunar Calendar A normal year has 12 lunar months, with the length of lunar month defined above. In order to make up to 365.24 days, an extra month is added during the Leap Year 闰年. Solar or Western Calendar In the Solar Calendar system, a normal year has 365 days. Every 4-th year, an extra day is added in February to make up to 365.25 days. This is called the Leap Year. Each year still has 12 months, but the number of days in each month vary illogically, so the start of each month does not coincide with the phase of the New Moon at all. Decades, Century, Millennium vs Great Year, Cycle and Epoch For historical discussions of long periods, longer units of time are handy. In the Western calendar terminology: Decade = 10 years Century = 100 years Millennium = 1,000 years For example, 2006 is in the Third Millennium, 21-th Century, first decade and 6-th year. In Chinese calendar terminology: Great Year = 12 years Cycle = 5 Great Years = 60 years Epoch = 60 Cycles = 60 x 60 years = 3,600 years Year 2006 is now in the Second Epoch, 18th Cycle, 23rd Year. By this method of counting, both the Gregorian Calendar and the Chinese Calendar must pick arbitrarily its Year One. Thus, we are in Year 2006 and Year 4703 respectively. How is a day divided? Since the Han Dynasty, a day is divided into 12 'double-hours' of equal length. More details. title Chinese calendar --> 阴历 = 黄历 = 农历 International calendar --> 阳历0. = 日历 There are three ways to name a Chinese year: By an animal (like a mascot 吉祥的东西). 2007 is known as the Year of the Pig. There are 12 animal names; so by this system, year names are re-cycled every 12 years: Rat Ox Tiger Hare Dragon Snake Horse Sheep Monkey Rooster Dog Pig By its Formal Name (Stem-Branch). The new year is the year of DingHai. In the 'Stem-Branch' system, the years are named in 60-year cycles, and the Name of the Year is repeated every 60 years. 2007 is the 8th year in the current 60-year cycle. Current year is Year 4704 by the Chinese calendar. [A few Chinese astrological/zodiac websites believe this year should be considered as Year 4705 for zodiac calculations.] How is Chinese New Year's Day determined? In one sentence, the Chinese New Year is the second New Moon after the winter solstice. It is based strictly on astronomical observations, and has nothing to do with the Pope, emperors, animals or myths. Due to its scientific and mathematical nature, we can easily and precisely calculate backward or forward for thousands of years. Chinese Zodiac 星宿 / Constellations 星座 Stars The sky is full of countless number of stars. With a few exceptions, these stars maintain their positions relative to each other ( with small changes even over several years). Constellations These stars are not uniformly distributed, but rather appear to be formed in groups, separated by intervening spaces. Naturally the astronomers would name each group of stars is a constellation. Naturally, the astronomers would assign and assign a name to each constellations. To a large extent, how one is to group the stars into constellations is quite arbitrary. The Chinese astronomers define 28 constellations, which are different from the Greek/Western system of constellations. 本文来源：https://www.wddqw.com/doc/6fb535c64028915f804dc291.html