Brief introduction of the yellow calendar

According to legend, the yellow calendar was created by Xuanyuan Huangdi, so it is called the yellow calendar. According to Cihai, the Huangli calendar refers to the calendar implemented during the period of the Yellow Emperor.

According to historical records, the Yellow Emperor Jian Yuan Jia Zi. Then the first day of the first month of the first year of the Yellow Emperor must be Jiazi Day and Jiazi Month. Oracle Bone Inscriptions was rich in cultural relics in the late Shang Dynasty, so even if there were characters in the Yellow Emperor period, it would be very unpopular, and the calendar at that time would not be very strict.

According to legend, the perpetual calendar was created in the period of Zu Yi, and it was implemented after Zu Yi, who was the king of Shang Dynasty, so the previous calendar was actually impossible to verify. Even before Zu Ti went to the Yellow Emperor, he used a calendar similar to the weekly calendar, and we also doubted the astronomical observation level at that time. Therefore, the first day of the first month of the Yellow Emperor's first year, the first day of Jiazi, the month of Jiazi and the day of Jiazi are based on the weekly calendar, which may be closer to the new moon than the new moon because of the limitation of astronomical observation level. Whether the Yellow Emperor period was built in the month of the winter solstice is not certain, and the possibility of building it one month after the winter solstice is not ruled out.

Huangdi is one of the following five emperors, and its legend can be widely spread to Zhou with written records, which shows that the authenticity of Huangdi should be beyond doubt and its period will not be too far away from Zhou. According to modern people's memory of ancient times, it can be vaguely speculated that the period of the Yellow Emperor will not be two thousand years earlier than the Zhou Dynasty. Zhou is roughly 1000 BC, so the first day of the first month of the first year of the Yellow Emperor should be established from 3000 BC to summer.