The Chinese Calendar

Chinese New Year is the main holiday of the year for more than one quarter of the world's population. Although the People's Republic of China uses the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes, a special Chinese calendar is used for determining festivals. Various Chinese communities around the world also use this calendar.

The beginnings of the Chinese calendar can be traced back to the 14th century B.C.E. Legend has it that the Emperor Huangdi invented the calendar in 2637 B.C.E.

The Chinese calendar is based on exact astronomical observations of the longitude of the sun and the phases of the moon. This means that principles of modern science have had an impact on the Chinese calendar. The Chinese calendar does not use a continuous year count! They used a 60 year cycle and a system of regional years (starting with each emperor).

Chinese Year Names

1. jia-zi	16. ji-mao	31. jia-wu	46. ji-you
2. yi-chou	17. geng-chen	32. yi-wei	47. geng-xu
3. bing-yin	18. xin-si	33. bing-shen	48. xin-hai
4. ding-mao	19. ren-wu	34. ding-you	49. ren-zi
5. wu-chen	20. gui-wei	35. wu-xu	50. gui-chou
6. ji-si	21. jia-shen	36. ji-hai	51. jia-yin
7. geng-wu	22. yi-you	37. geng-zi	52. yi-mao
8. xin-wei	23. bing-xu	38. xin-chou	53. bing-chen
9. ren-shen	24. ding-hai	39. ren-yin	54. ding-si
10. gui-you	25. wu-zi	40. gui-mao	55. wu-wu
11. jia-xu	26. ji-chou	41. jia-chen	56. ji-wei
12. yi-hai	27. geng-yin	42. yi-si	57. geng-shen
13. bing-zi	28. xin-mao	43. bing-wu	58. xin-you
14. ding-chou	29. ren-chen	44. ding-wei	59. ren-xu
15. wu-yin	30. gui-si	45. wu-shen	60. gui-hai

Within each 60-year cycle, each year is assigned name consisting of two components:

The first component is a Celestial Stemm. These words have no English equivalent:

1.	jia	6.	ji
2.	yi	7.	geng
3.	bing	8.	xin
4.	ding	9.	ren
5.	wu	10.	gui

The second component is a Terrestrial Branch. The names of the corresponding animals in the zodiac cycle of 12 animals are given in parentheses.

1.	zi (rat)	7.	wu (horse)
2.	chou (ox)	8.	wei (sheep)
3.	yin (tiger)	9.	shen (monkey)
4.	mao (hare, rabbit)	10.	you (rooster)
5.	chen (dragon)	11.	xu (dog)
6.	si (snake)	12.	hai (pig)

The Chinese believe the animal ruling the year in which a person is born has a profound influence on personality, saying: "This is the animal that hides in your heart." Each new year, people will decorate their homes with many New Year Graphics; the best of which are from the small town called Yangliuqing. Yanliuqing paintings were first produced between 1573 and 1620.

Copyright © 2002 - 2008 ISTA, INC.