Why do people always say that a year's plan lies in spring?

A year's plan lies in spring, and the focus here is on the number of words, that is, calculation and planning. This sentence is the crystallization of thousands of years' valuable experience of China's farming civilization, which contains a series of related cultures such as institutionalism, etiquette, astronomy, calendar and climatology.

In particular, it is completely wrong to understand this sentence as spring is very important in a year. This is a fundamental misunderstanding and misreading of China's traditional culture. Is spring important and summer, autumn and winter not? The difficulty is that only spring needs calculation, and summer, autumn and winter don't need calculation? This understanding is too literal and ignorant of China's traditional culture.

Why does a year's plan lie in spring? First of all, it is a calculator. We should use the knowledge of ancient astronomy to calculate the specific dates of beginning of spring and vernal equinox in the calendar. Then, according to the meteorological characteristics of that year and the knowledge of ancient climatology, it is calculated whether this spring is warmer or colder, earlier or later. The second is planning, which is a national plan after astronomical calendar and meteorological calculation, covering ancient farming etiquette system, agricultural management system and agricultural customs.

Because agriculture is the foundation of the country, take the Ming and Qing Dynasties as an example. On the first day of mid-spring every year, the emperor would lead hundreds of officials to worship the immortal god of agriculture at the altar of immortals, and personally go to the fields to cultivate the fields, so as to show that the world is plowing and pray for a bumper harvest. Of course, due to different latitudes, the days of spring ploughing vary from place to place. Every spring and March, on Meng Chunjia Day, the emperor will also lead hundreds of officials to pray for Gu in front of the altar of praying for Gu.

At the same time, agricultural officials at the provincial, state and county levels should supervise and manage farmers and farmland in the region in a timely manner. Finally, the plan of the year lies in spring. After doctors' temple calculations, emperors' altars and agricultural officials' urging, farmers all over the country began to be busy with farming in spring, so the punctual and cosmopolitan Chinese civilization has lasted for thousands of years.