How to determine the time at night in ancient times?

In fact, the ancient methods and habits of determining night time have been used to this day. It was only in the 1960s that China began to forget the ancient method of timing at night, when clocks and radios were everywhere. Of course, modern western mechanical watches were used earlier by the royal family in the Qing Dynasty and the Republic of China.

In ancient times, there were several ways to determine the time of night:

1, sundial and drip pot. After the sundial is determined by Sina, the time of the day is determined according to the direction of the shadow of the stone needle projected by the noon sun on the twelve marker plates in Tatsumi, Zi Chou Yin Mao. The shadow of the stone needle is located near this position at noon, so the specific time of 12 hours per day and the time of "night shift" are based on the hourly (two hours) for the water in the drip pot.

However, this method is generally used by the royal family and nobles. It is also an essential facility for the imperial court to study and use the "Yellow Calendar" calendar.

2. "Animals tell the time"-"Cockcrow" is the oldest method to determine the time at night, which is still used in rural areas. It determines the night time according to the regularity of rooster crowing (not hybrid chickens and chickens in farms). There is a saying that a rooster crows three times. Cocks don't crow at midnight. After midnight, a little more cock crow is midnight, the second time is four o'clock, and the third time is clear-five o'clock. That's how "class five at night" came about.

The method of "astrological timing" is older than the way animals look at time. It determines the time stage of the night according to the change of the position of the moon and stars at night. According to the fact that the moon is "the first day rises, the second day grows, and the third day and the fourth day see the moon" and "the twenty-ninth moon", the night time is generally calculated as "the middle of October" and "the twenty-third moon is due south", and there is also a saying that it is due south in winter (refer to Samsung). In addition, according to the rotation position of the Big Dipper in the evening of each season, it is an important method to tell the time and study the four seasons in ancient times. The positions of the Big Dipper at 6: 00 p.m. and 6: 00 a.m. and at 12 p.m. at the vernal equinox and the autumnal equinox, the winter solstice and the summer solstice-Shi Mao, Shenshi and Zishi-are very accurate, and the Big Dipper is just in the east-west and north-south directions. People who walk at night often judge what time it should be at night according to the position of the Big Dipper in the season, so the ancients had a whole set of techniques for watching the sky at night.