Selection of backbone calendar

In addition to calculating calendars and observing astronomical phenomena, China's official astronomical institutions were also responsible for the selection. For example, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, the duties of the civil servants in China included: "It is forbidden to play good days and festivals when the country is sacrificed, mourned and married." Later, in the official astronomical institutions, there was a department to deal with this kind of affairs. In Song and Yuan Dynasties, it was called Sanshi Division, and in Qing Dynasty it was called Missed Division. At the beginning of the Qing Dynasty, the responsibilities of this department were: "Look at the architecture of the inner and outer palaces, look at the geomantic omen of the mountains, promote marriage, choose auspicious days, adjust the quality of pots, manage the entrance of the building, and pay attention to the direction of setting up special schools." On the surface,

From the end of the Yuan Dynasty to the end of the Qing Dynasty, the government set up a wide range of Yin-Yang studies in prefectures and counties, sharing the same clan with Confucianism and doctors, in order to deal with local affairs of "choosing the right time and face".

With the recognition of bureaucracy and education system, the influence of selective technology in China society is deepening. For example, in the Ming Dynasty, we can see rich escape contents in daily encyclopedias published by the people, such as Complete Works of Household Necessities, Necessary for Confucian Businessmen, Compilation of Convenient Maps, etc., as well as professional books such as Lu Ban Jing and Compilation of Acupuncture and Moxibustion in the Choice of Days published by the Imperial Craftsman's Office and officials of the Inner Court.

The traditional art of mate selection in China was quite mature as early as the Qin and Han Dynasties. At that time, the contents that should be avoided when waiting time was recorded in Japanese books involved not only daily activities such as marriage and travel, but also military events such as attacking and sending troops. However, Japanese books are special reference books for artists, which are not easy for ordinary people to understand. If people at that time wanted to choose good or ill luck, they might have to ask the so-called "Japanese". Therefore, the unearthed Han bamboo slips mainly record the size of the moon and the order of days, and only a few calendars are occasionally marked with names such as "Eight Kui", "Anti-branch" or "Blood Scare". After the Tang Dynasty, with the maturity of block printing technology, the government began to print calendar days (that is, yellow calendars). On the basis of these engraved calendars, a lot of things about bank taboos began to appear.

However, the method of choosing good or bad luck is only related to the dry branches of the year, month and day, that is, the dry branch calendar. In order to increase the "accuracy" of techniques and create the image of the sky, later generations emphasized that the month in the paving rules is from the beginning of the solar term of the current month to the beginning of the solar term of the next month. Zhang Yuxi of the Southern Song Dynasty said: "When choosing a day, the solar terms of the month should be correct, and the gas should be used every day to match the calendar."