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THE SOLAR TERMS AND
THE CHINESE CALENDAR

Chinese astronomy divides the year into twenty-four parts ("fortnights"), based on the longitude of the sun on the ecliptic. These are called the "Solar Terms," or the , the "Twenty-Four Periods of Ch'i" (where ch'i, , is the "breath" or vital energy of the body, but also simply air, steam, or weather). As recounted in "Groundhog Day and Chinese Astronomy", the Chinese seasons begin at the midpoints between the solstices and equinoxes, not at the solstices and equinoxes themselves. The Chinese New Year, according to the rule of the T'ai-ch'u Era (104 BC) of the Emperor Wu Ti of the Former Han Dynasty, is the Second New Moon after the Winter Solstice, which amounts, roughly, to the Closest New Moon to the Solar Term "Spring Begins" (February 3/4).

In 2015, the Chinese New Year falls on February 19th, fifteen days after Spring Begins on February 4 (and, as luck would have it, two days after Mardi Gras). This appears to violate the rule for the occurrence of the Chinese New Year, which is the second New Moon after the Winter Solstice. The Winter Solstice in 2014 was on December 21st at 23^h02^m, followed by a New Moon on December 22nd at 01^h36^m, on Greenwich Mean Time (GMT; Universal Time, UT; or Coordinated Universal Time). Subsequent New Moons in 2015 are on January 20th at 13^h14^m and February 18th at 23^h47^m. What may be involved is that the Winter Solstice on Chinese time is actually already on December 22nd (as the February 18th New Moon is on the 19th), and we might interpret the T'ai-ch'u rule as meaning the Second New Moon after the day of the Winter Solstice. In terms of closeness to Spring Begins, both January 20th and February 19th are separated by fifteen days from February 4th. So it's a close call; and whatever it comes down to in hours and minutes, obviously Chinese calculation has settled on February 19th. This, however, will clearly be about the latest Chinese New Year, as January 20th would have been about the earliest. This is an issue in all luni-solar calendars

The twelve parts of the year corresponding to the signs of the Zodiac each consists of two Solar Terms, but four Zodiacal periods overlap two seasons. The seasons are of different lengths because, according to Kepler's Second Law, the Earth travels faster the closer it is to the Sun. Between January 2 and 4, the Earth reaches Perihelion, its closest approach to the sun, and travels the fastest. Thus, Chinese winter is only 89 days long, while Summer is (roughly) 94 days long.

The Chinese New Year is often called the "lunar" new year, but it is no more "lunar" than the Babylonian, Jewish, or Islamic new years, which are also based on lunar months. Like the Babylonian and Jewish calendars, the Chinese is "luni-solar," with lunar months adjusted with intercalations for the solar year. The Vietnamese new year, Tet, is often also identified as "the lunar new year," but it is, indeed, just the Chinese New Year. The Chinese calendar was similarly used in Korea, Japan, and Mongolia [note]. Another confusion about the Chinese New Year is the phrase gung hay fat choi, which is often said to be "Happy New Year!" in Chinese. In 2004 I have actually seen a news report that this was the right phrase in Mandarin Chinese. But it is not. It is in one of the other Chinese languages (or "dialects"), or Cantonese, which is spoken in Guandong Province and Hong Kong. Cantonese syllables can end in m, t, p, or k, while Mandarin syllables cannot. The word fat thus shows that the phrase cannot be Mandarin. Its currency is probably due to the circumstance that most Chinese immigrants to the United States before World War II were from Guandong Province, with Hong Kong itself contributing its influence (especially with a large movie industry) since then.

THE SOLAR TERMS	Prin- cipal Terms	Japanese	Length		Date	Zodiac
1. Spring Begins		Risshun	15d	91d	February 4	Aquarius
2. Rain Water	P-1	Usui	15d		February 19	Pisces
3. Excited Insects		Keichitsu	15d		March 6	Pisces
4. Vernal Equinox	P-2	Shumbun	15d		March 21	Aries
5. Clear & Bright		Seimei	15d		April 5	Aries
6. Grain Rains	P-3	Kokuu	16d		April 20	Taurus
7. Summer Begins		Rikka	15d	94d	May 6	Taurus
8. Grains Fills	P-4	Shôman	16d		May 21	Gemini
9. Grain in Ear		Bôshoû	15d		June 6	Gemini
10. Summer Solstice	P-5	Geji	16d		June 21	Cancer
11. Slight Heat		Shôsho	16d		July 7	Cancer
12. Great Heat	P-6	Daisho	16d		July 23	Leo
13. Autumn Begins		Risshû	15d	91d	August 8	Leo
14. Limit of Heat	P-7	Shosho	16d		August 23	Virgo
15. White Dew		Hakuro	15d		September 8	Virgo
16. Autumn Equinox	P-8	Shûbun	15d		September 23	Libra
17. Cold Dew		Kanro	15d		October 8	Libra
18. Frost Descends	P-9	Sôkô	15d		October 23	Scorpius
19. Winter Begins		Rittô	15d	89d	November 7	Scorpius
20. Little Snow	P-10	Shôsetsu	15d		November 22	Sagittarius
21. Great Snow		Daisetsu	15d		December 7	Sagittarius
22. Winter Solstice	P-11	Tôji	15d		December 22	Capricorn
23. Little Cold		Shôkan	14d		January 6	Capricorn
24. Great Cold	P-12	Daikan	15d		January 20	Aquarius

Ch'ing Ming, , "Clear and Bright," contains a major spring festival, used to visit the family tombs, to clean them up, venerate the ancestors, and have a picnic. This practice is called , "sacrifice [and] sweep," although the "sacrifice" these days is mostly burning incense and paper money. Ch'ing Ming also happen to be the names of the last two Chinese Imperial Dynasties, the Ming (1368-1644) and the Ch'ing (1644-1912), chosen for their auspicious associations.

The term "White Dew," , whose Japanese on reading (i.e. with the words borrowed from Chinese) is Hakuro, also figures in its kun reading (i.e. with Japanese words), Shiratsuyu, as the name of a Japanese World War II destroyer.

Since length of all terms may vary slightly from year to year, all dates may occur a day earlier.

The terms given "P" numbers are called "principal terms," , "ch'i centers" to Joseph Needham [Science & Civilisation in China, Volume III, p.404]. They correspond to the beginning of Zodiacal periods and are used to determine the numbering of the lunar months. The terms that are not prinicpal terms are , "sectional terms" ("ch'i-nodes" to Needham), though it will be noted that this is also the term for all the solar terms also. Five rules determine the numbering of the months and the occurrence of intercalary months:

The first day of the month is the day on which the New Moon occurs.
Calculations of New Moons are based on the meridian 120^o East.
An ordinary year has twelve lunar months; an intercalary year has thirteen lunar months.
The Winter Solstice (term P-11) always falls in the 11th Month.
In an intercalary year, a month in which there is no Principal Term is the intercalary month. It is assigned the number of the preceding month, with the further designation of intercalary. If two months contain no Principal Term, only the first such month after the Winter Solstice is considered intercalary.

These rules, which may be found in the Explanatory Supplement to the Astronomical Almanac [prepared by The Nautical Almanac Office, U.S. Naval Observatory, edited by P. Kenneth Seidelmann, University Science Books, Mill Valley, California, 1992, p.596], do not provide a simple means for amateurs to construct a Chinese calendar. This was always done by Court Astronomers and still calls for precise astronomical data and special calculations, though it should be reliable enough to use the data for New Moons and for the ecliptic longitude of of the sun in The Astronomical Almanac for the year in question [U.S. Government Printing Office, Washington, and Her Majesty's Stationery Office, London]. A table with the Chinese characters for all the Solar Terms may be found in Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary [Harvard University Press, 1972], p. 1178. My original information about the Chinese calendar was from O.L. Harvey's pamphlet, "The Chinese Calendar and the Julian Day Number" [1977], which was based on Chronological Tables of Chinese History, by Tung Tso-pin [Hong Kong University Press, 1960], a rare work that I have never examined independently. The locus classicus for Chinese astronomy may be Joseph Needham, Science & Civilisation in China, Volume III, Mathematics and the Sciences of the Heavens and the Earth [Cambridge U. Press, 1959, 2005].

Curiously, the history of the Chinese calendar at one point becomes mixed with that of the Western astronomy. This was because Matteo Ricci (1552-1610), a student of Christopher Clavius (1537-1612) -- the Papal astronomer responsible for the Gregorian calendar reform of 1582 -- was sent to China by the Jesuit Order in that very year. Ricci was permitted to travel to Peking in 1596, and then in 1601 presented a mechanical clock to the Emperor and was allowed to appear at Court. Ricci, who soon became impressively learned in the Chinese language and literature, was able to introduce Western theoretical and technical astronomy to China. This was, unfortunately, Ptolemaic rather than Copernican astronomy, but it nevertheless included methods that were better than had been used in China. This created a position of influence for the Jesuits at the Imperial Court that lasted from the Ming into the 19th century, with a steady stream of inventions like the telescope and even Copernican ideas following in their wake. Indeed, in 1611, the Jesuits were charged with reforming the calendar. There was considerable resistance to this from the Chinese astronomers and matters were delayed, but the Imperial order was renewed in 1629. This Jesuit influence was continued into the Manchu Ch'ing Dynasty. The political opposition to this perhaps reached a peak in the time of Johann Adam Schall von Bell (1591-1666), who was given charge of the Jesuit mission in 1630. In 1644, Schall and the other Jesuits were arrested for treason and imprisoned. In 1665 Schall was condemned to death. However, this judgment was soon revoked and the position of Schall (soon to pass away naturally) and the Jesuits restored. In 1669, in the time of Father Ferdinand Verbiest (1623–1688), the Manchu K'ang-Hsi Emperor again renewed the charge of the Jesuits with reforming the calendar and even ordered a belated official funeral, with an Imperial Inscription, for Father Schall. Even when Christianity was prohibited in China in 1724, the Jesuits were retained at Court. Thus, as noted, since the Chinese calendar is governed, not by the simple rules of the Julian or Gregorian calendars, but by the astronomical determination of New Moons, this process came under the influence of the Jesuits and of Western astronomy. This influence may be said to have continued until today, since Western astronomy has grown into the modern international science.

The Chinese 60 Year Calendar Cycle

The Occurrence of the Solar Terms 1995-2013

History of Philosophy, Chinese Philosophy

History of Philosophy

Philosophy of Science, Calendars

Philosophy of Science

Philosophy of Religion

Philosophy of History

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Copyright (c) 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2013, 2015, 2019 Kelley L. Ross, Ph.D. All Rights Reserved

The Solar Terms and The Chinese Calendar, Note

I have had one Mongolian correspondent claiming that Chinese astronomy, attested from antiquity, was derived from the Mongols. Since the Mongols adopted writing only in the time of Chinggiz Khan, and so Chinese civilization antedates any Mongolian documents by a couple of thousand years, I don't think there is much doubt, from the historical evidence, that Chinese astronomy originated in China.

This sort of thing must be added to the list of nationalistic and propriety claims made by various ethnic groups and counrties. We might be surprised at claims for the antiquity of Mongolia despite the total lack of evidence, but that sort of thing is not unusual in the genre.

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THE CHINESE 60 YEAR
CALENDAR CYCLE

The Earthly Branches
China	Japan		Viet- nam	Mongolia	associations
1.	shi	ne	tý	qulughana	2008 2020	Rat	23:00	Aries
2.	chu	ushi	sù^. u	üker	2009 2021	Ox	01:00	Taurus
3.	in	tora	d'ân	bars	2010 2022	Tiger	03:00	Gemini
4.	bo	u	mão	taulai	2011 2023	Rabbit	05:00	Cancer
5.	shin	tatsu	thìn	luu	2000 2012 2024	Dragon	07:00	Leo
6.	shi	mi	ty	moghai	2001 2013	Snake	09:00	Virgo
7.	go	uma	ngo.	morin	2002 2014	Horse	11:00	Libra
8.	bi	hitsuji	mùi	qonin	2003 2015	Sheep	13:00	Scorpio
9.	shin	saru	thân	bechin	2004 2016	Monkey	15:00	Sagittarius
10.	yu	tori	dâ.u	takiya	2005 2017	Cock, Rooster	17:00	Capricorn
11.	jutsu	inu	tuâ't	noqai	2006 2018	Dog	19:00	Aquarius
12.	gai	i	ho: i	ghaqai	2007 2019	Pig	21:00	Pisces

Chinese years are classified according to 10 "Heavenly Stems" and 12 "Earthly Branches." The succession of Stems and Branches produces a sixty year calendar cycle. The Earthly Branches are more familiar, since one association is with 12 Zodiacal animals, which in Buddhist tradition are supposed to be the animals that responded when the Buddha called to them, like St. Francis, to hear him preach the Dharma. Most people hear about the Chinese New Year and know, for a while, that a year like 2000 is the "Year of the Dragon." The Chinese names, in Pinyin, are not the names of animals, but the proper names of the "Branches." The Japanese list gives the Japanese pronunciation of the Chinese name followed by the Japanese name of the corresponding animal. The Vietnamese names are the Vietnamese pronuncation of the Chinese names. The Mongolian names are the animal names.

The primary association of the Heavenly Stems is with the five elements. These are divided into yang or "elder brother" and yin or "younger brother" forms. The Chinese names are not the element names, but the proper names of the "Stems." Note that these figure as the second element in the names of the Kings of the Shang Dynasty. The Japanese and Mongolian lists give their pronunciation of the Chinese names followed by the elder/younger version of the element names. The Vietnamese list is just the pronunciation of the Chinese names.

The Heavenly Stems
China	Japan		Viet- nam	Mongolia		associations
1.	ko	ki-no-e	giáp	ga	ere modun	2004 2014	yang	wood	fir	Jupiter blue/ green
2.	otsu	ki-no-to	â't	yi	eme modun	2005 2015	yin	wood	bamboo	Jupiter blue/ green
3.	hei	hi-no-e	bính	bing	ere ghal	2006 2016	yang	fire	burning wood	Mars red
4.	tei	hi-no-to	ðinh	ding	eme ghal	2007 2017	yin	fire	lamp flame	Mars red
5.	bo	tsuchi- no-e	mâ.u	u	ere shiroi	2008 2018	yang	earth	hill	Saturn yellow
6.	ki	tsuchi- no-to	ký	gi	eme shiroi	2009 2019	yin	earth	plain	Saturn yellow
7.	kô	ka-no-e	canh	ging	ere temür	2000 2010 2020	yang	metal	weapons	Venus white
8.	shin	ka-no-to	tân	sin	eme temür	2001 2011	yin	metal	kettle	Venus white
9.	jin	mizu- no-e	nhâm	shim	ere usun	2002 2012	yang	water	waves	Mercury black
10.	ki	mizu- no-to	quí	güi	eme usun	2003 2013	yin	water	brooks	Mercury black

A table with the Chinese characters for all the Earthy Branches and Celestial Stems may be found in Mathews' Chinese-English Dictionary [Harvard University Press, 1972], p. 1176. Treatments of the Japanese Branches and Stems, and other calendar features, may be found in the Historical and Geographical Dictionary of Japan, E. Papinot [Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1910, 1972], p. 836, and in The Princeton Companion to Classical Japanese Literature, Earl Miner, Hiroko Odagiri, and Robert E. Morrell [Princeton University Press, 1985], p. 399. The Vietnamese names here are taken from Nguyên Ðình-Hoà's Vietnamese-English Dictionary [Charles E. Tuttle Company, 1966, 1991], under listings for chi (the Earthly Branches, p. 62) and can (the Heavenly Stems, p. 31). Vietnamese diacritics cannot be rendered precisely in HTML.