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Chinese Era

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Steven
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« on: December 07, 2011, 03:58:40 pm »

I noticed that some of you might not be able to  read chinese script, I guess this might help a little, and its kind of fun to know some Chinese Era[combination of the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches]

The Chinese sexagenary cycle  is a cycle of sixty terms used for recording days or years. It appears, as a means of recording days, in the first Chinese written texts, the Shang dynasty oracle bones from the late second millennium BC. Its use to record years began around the middle of the 3rd century B.C.[1] The cycle, and variations on it, have been an important part of historical calendrical systems in other, Chinese-influenced Asian states, notably those of Japan, Korea and Vietnam. This traditional method of numbering days and years no longer has any significant role in modern Chinese time keeping or the official calendar. However, the sexagenary cycle continues to have a role in contemporary Chinese astrology and fortune telling.

Each term in the sexagenary cycle consists of two Chinese characters, the first representing a term from a cycle of ten known as the Heavenly Stems (天干; tiāngān) and the second from a cycle of twelve known as the Earthly Branches (地支; dìzhī). The first term (jia-zi 甲子) combines the first heavenly stem (jia 甲) with the first earthly branch (zi 子). The second (yi-chou 乙丑) combines the second stem with the second branch. This continues, generating a total of 60 different terms (the least common multiple of ten and twelve), after which the cycle repeats itself. This combination of two sub-cycles to generate a larger cycle and its use to record time have parallels in other calendrical systems, notably the Akan calendar.[2]

The sexagenary cycle is attested as a method of recording days from the earliest written records in China, records of divination on oracle bones, beginning ca. 1250 BC. Almost every oracle bone inscription includes a date in this format. This use of the cycle for days is attested throughout the Zhou dynasty and remained common into the Han period for all documentary purposes that required dates specified to the day.

Almost all the dates in the Spring and Autumn Annals, a chronological list of events from 722 to 481 BC, use this system in combination with reign years and months (lunations) to record dates. Eclipses recorded in the Annals demonstrate that continuity in the sexagenary day-count was unbroken from that period onwards. It is likely that this unbroken continuity went back still further to the first appearance of the sexagenary cycle during the Shang period.[3]

The use of the sexagenary cycle for recording years is more recent. The earliest document showing this usage is a diagram among the silk manuscripts from Mawangdui tomb 3, sealed in 168 BC. An annotation marking the first year of the reign of Qin Shi Huang 秦始皇 (246 BC) is applied to the diagram next to the position of the 60-cycle term (day 52 of 60, yi-mao 乙卯) corresponding that year.[4] Use of the cycle to record years became widespread for administrative time-keeping during the Western Han Dynasty (202 BC- 8 AD). The count of years has continued uninterrupted ever since: the year 1984 began the present cycle (a jia-zi 甲子 year), and 2044 will begin another.[citation needed] Note that the new year, when the sexagenary count increments, is not January 1st, but rather the lunar new year of the traditional Chinese calendar. For example, the yi-chou 己丑 year (coinciding roughly with 2009) began on February 4th.

In Japan, according to Nihon shoki, the calendar was transmitted to Japan in year 553. But it was not until the Suiko era that the calendar was used for politics. The year 604, when the Japanese officially adopted the Chinese calendar, was the first year of the cycle.[citation needed]

The Japanese tradition of celebrating the 60th birthday (還暦, kanreki?) reflects the influence of the sexagenary cycle as a count of years.

The Tibetan calendar also counts years using a 60-year cycle based on 12 animals and 5 elements, but while the first year of the Chinese cycle is always the year of the Wood Rat, the first year of the Tibetan cycle is the year of the Fire Hare (year #4 on the Chinese cycle).


Ten Heavenly Stems

1 甲 jiǎ
2 乙 yǐ
3 丙 bǐng
4 丁 dīng
5 戊 wù
6 己 jǐ
7 庚 gēng
8 辛 xīn
9 壬 rén
10 癸 guǐ

Twelve Earthly Branches

1 子 zǐ  Rat (鼠) 11 p.m. to 1 a.m.
2 丑 chǒu chū ushi chuk  Ox (牛) 1 to 3 a.m.
3 寅 yín i Tiger (虎) 3 to 5 a.m.
4 卯 mǎo  Rabbit* (兔) 5 to 7 a.m.
5 辰 chén  Dragon (rồng) Dragon (龍) 7 to 9 a.m.
6 巳 sì  Snake (蛇) 9 to 11 a.m.
7 午 wǔ  Horse (馬) 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
8 未 wèi  Goat (羊) 1 to 3 p.m.
9 申 shēn  Monkey (猴) 3 to 5 p.m.
10 酉 yǒu  Rooster (雞) 5 to 7 p.m.
11 戌 xū  Dog (狗) 7 to 9 p.m.
12 亥 hài  Pig (豬) 9 to 11 p.m.

Sexagenary Cycle
1 甲子 jiǎ-zǐ 
2 乙丑 yǐ-chǒu 
3 丙寅 bǐng-yín 
4 丁卯 dīng-mǎo 
5 戊辰 wù-chén 
6 己巳 jǐ-sì 
7 庚午 gēng-wǔ 
8 辛未 xīn-wèi 
9 壬申 rén-shēn
10 癸酉 guǐ-yǒu
11 甲戌 jiǎ-xū
12 乙亥 yǐ-hài
13 丙子 bǐng-zǐ
14 丁丑 dīng-chǒu
15 戊寅 wù-yín 
16 己卯 jǐ-mǎo
17 庚辰 gēng-chén 
18 辛巳 xīn-sì
19 壬午 rén-wǔ
20 癸未 guǐ-wèi
21 甲申 jiǎ-shēn
22 乙酉 yǐ-yǒu
23 丙戌 bǐng-xū
24 丁亥 dīng-hài
25 戊子 wù-zǐ
26 己丑 jǐ-chǒu
27 庚寅 gēng-yín
28 辛卯 xīn-mǎo
29 壬辰 rén-chén
30 癸巳 guǐ-sì
31 甲午 jiǎ-wǔ
32 乙未 yǐ-wèi
33 丙申 bǐng-shēn
34 丁酉 dīng-yǒu
35 戊戌 wù-xū
36 己亥 jǐ-hài
37 庚子 gēng-zǐ
38 辛丑 xīn-chǒu
39 壬寅 rén-yín 
40 癸卯 guǐ-mǎo
41 甲辰 jiǎ-chén
42 乙巳 yǐ-sì
43 丙午 bǐng-wǔ
44 丁未 dīng-wèi 
45 戊申 wù-shēn 
46 己酉 jǐ-yǒu
47 庚戌 gēng-xū
48 辛亥 xīn-hài
49 壬子 rén-zǐ
50 癸丑 guǐ-chǒu g
51 甲寅 jiǎ-yín
52 乙卯 yǐ-mǎo
53 丙辰 bǐng-chén
54 丁巳 dīng-sì
55 戊午 wù-wǔ
56 己未 jǐ-wèi
57 庚申 gēng-shēn
58 辛酉 xīn-yǒu
59 壬戌 rén-xū
60 癸亥 guǐ-hài

Cyclic years and Western YearsThe cycle repeats continually. Thus 237 BC, 4 AD, 1864, and 1984 were all 甲子 (1) years.

The cyclic designation of a year expressed in the AD/BC system can be found in the following way:

For a year over 3 AD, subtract 3, divide by 60 and take the remainder. (( Year - 3) mod 60 ). For example for 2011, subtract 3 to get 2008. When 2008 is divided by 60 the remainder is 28. So looking for No 28 in the table, 2011 is a 辛卯 year. However, if the remainder is 0, the year is a no. 60 癸亥 year. Equivalently, divide directly the year by 60, obtain a remainder from 0 to 59 and look in column AD (in the example, this leads to AD=31 and again to 辛卯)

For a BC year, add 3 to the (BC) year, divide by 60. Take the remainder and subtract it from 61 to get the cyclic number. However, if the remainder is 0, the cyclic number is 1. ( 61- ((Year+3) mod 60)). For example, for 246 BC, add 3 to 246 to get 249. When 249 is divided by 60, the remainder is 9. Subtract 9 from 61 and you get 52, which by the table is a 乙卯 year. Equivalently, divide directly the year by 60, obtain a remainder from 0 to 59 and look in column BC (in the example, this leads to BC=6 and again to 乙卯). For these computations year 246 BC cannot be treated as -246 AD due to the lack of a year 0 in the AD/BC system.

Note that the year involved is not necessarily a Jan 1- Dec. 31 year; it is the year accepted by the relevant community, and so can vary with the period, the place, or even the purpose.




« Last Edit: December 07, 2011, 07:22:47 pm by Steven » Report Spam   Logged

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George
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« Reply #1 on: December 07, 2011, 04:26:42 pm »

Steven,

Your tops my friend !

Thanks for taking the time to post this !
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« Reply #2 on: December 07, 2011, 05:06:49 pm »

... and the first time I've heard someone mention modular arithmetic (mod 60) in a looooooooooong time Grin
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Peter Bentley 彭达理
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« Reply #3 on: December 08, 2011, 03:48:46 am »

Hi Steven

I tried to  save  your    superb  posting  but  the  Chinese  characters   did not  come  out

Please would  you  email me  the  posting  to my private address, which  you  have?

BTW:   the   USB  stick  with my  DB was posted  last week  to you

Cheers

Peter
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« Reply #4 on: December 08, 2011, 09:01:56 am »

Peter,

You can sane it as a text file with Notepad.

1) Highlight on the web page, CTRL C to copy

2) Open Notepad, CTRL V to paste

3) Save file - the trick is select Unicode for encoding on the save as page

Bill
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Steven
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« Reply #5 on: December 08, 2011, 09:19:23 am »


I tried to  save  your    superb  posting  but  the  Chinese  characters   did not  come  out

Please would  you  email me  the  posting  to my private address, which  you  have?

BTW:   the   USB  stick  with my  DB was posted  last week  to you

Cheers

Peter

Thanks Peter, email sent!
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