What are the ways and how to operate the ancient chronology?

The so-called AD calendar is a kind of solar calendar, originally a European calendar, starting with the year when Jesus was born.

The date after the birth of Jesus is called the main year (AD), that is, after AD; Before the birth of Jesus, it was called B.C., that is, BC. After the Revolution of 1911, in 19 12, the government of the Republic of China announced the adoption of the Gregorian calendar as the national calendar. In chronology, the chronology of the AD is parallel to that of the Republic of China.

1949 On September 27th, the first plenary session of China People's Political Consultative Conference decided to adopt the AD calendar year in New China, which has been in use ever since.

That is to say, the calendar year in China is only 107, so how did China record the year, month and day in ancient times?

1, date

In ancient China, heavenly stems and earthly branches was used to mark the sun. There are ten heavenly stems, namely "Fufeng, Youmeng, Rouzhao, Qiang Hui, Zhu Yong, Tu Wei, Zhang Shang, Shiguang, Xuannuo and Zhaoyang", which are simplified as "A, B, C, D, E, Ji, G, Xin and Zhaoyang".

There are twelve earthly branches, namely, "Zi, Ugly, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai", and the twelve earthly branches are matched with the twelve zodiac signs.

Ten days' work and twelve earthly branches can form sixty units, which is the so-called sixty-year-old Jiazi.

Sixty jiazi

Each unit represents a day. If today is Jiazi Day, it will be Ugly Day and Bingyin Day, then Guihai Day and Ren Xuri Day.

For example, "Turn Left" wrote: "May was ugly, and uncle ran away."

Sixty years go on and on, and this method of keeping track of the day began in Oracle Bone Inscriptions's time.

The ancient land day was generally divided into twelve hours, and one hour was exactly equal to two hours now. Every day from 23: 00 to 1: 00, 23: 00 is the beginning of children, 0: 00 is the beginning of children, 1 is the beginning of ugliness, and so on.

Twelve o'clock direction

In addition, starting from midnight, twelve o'clock is also called midnight, crow, pingdan, sunrise, eclipse, horn, sun, sundial, dawn, dusk, and people decide.

And there are five classes every night, every two hours. "Midnight" is midnight, so it is called "Midnight".

2. Yue Ji

The ancient calendar was relatively simple, that is, it was recorded by ordinal numbers, that is, January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November and December, among which January is also called the "first month", and today's lunar calendar still records months in this way.

But every month there is another name:

The first month ── Liu Yue Liu Yin inserted the bottle head, also known as Liu Yue.

February-Apricot Moon Apricot blossoms as branches, also known as Apricot Moon.

March-Taoyue Taohua Shame, also known as Taoyue.

April-Sophora japonica is full of branches, also known as Sophora japonica.

May-pomegranate is as red as fire, also known as pomegranate month.

June-Lotus blossoms are full of lotus flowers, also known as lotus blossoms.

July-Spirit Moon-Impatiens bloom one after another, also known as Spirit Moon.

August-Guiyue osmanthus is fragrant everywhere, also known as Gui Yue.

September-chrysanthemum is proud of frost and snow, also known as chrysanthemum.

October-Furong Xiu Xiao Yang, also known as Xiao Yang.

November-Jia Yuecao spits green head, also known as Jia Yue.

December-plum blossoms smell sweet, also called plum blossoms.

3. Chronology

1) The earliest dating method in ancient China was to date the emperors and princes according to the year when they ascended the throne, until the new monarch ascended the throne.

For example, 770 BC was the first year of Zhou Pingwang and the eighth year of Qin Xianggong in ancient China.

2) Starting from Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, use the year number.

In BC 140, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty created the year number, which was the "first year of Jianyuan".

This chronological method was later used by successive dynasties, and it was counted again when the year number was changed.

3) branch and branch chronology

In fact, the chronology of the main branches is similar to that of the main branches, only from the Eastern Han Dynasty, and it is also a cycle of sixty children, which will never be interrupted.

For example, the Sino-Japanese War, the "Sino-Japanese War" is the year of the Sino-Japanese War, which is 1894.

4, 24 solar terms

The ancients gradually realized the laws of seasonal change and climate change in long-term production practice, so they divided a year into 20 solar terms.

Twenty-four solar terms were gradually completed, which was recorded in Shangshu, but in Huainanzi, the latest in the Western Han Dynasty, we saw the twenty-four solar terms exactly the same as today.

For farming season, solar terms are very important. The genius of the ancients in inventing solar terms is that people find that natural phenomena, vegetation, fish and insects are not gradual changes in each solar term, but abrupt changes. Friends living in the Yellow River valley may have a deeper feeling about the 24 solar terms, and the local people still plant spring seeds and autumn harvests according to the 24 solar terms.