How did the ancients tell the time? Say in detail,...

In ancient China, people used the "copper pot dripping" method of timekeeping to divide the day and night into twelve hours, i.e., Zi, U, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Huxu, Hai, which corresponds to today's twenty-four hours.

The time from eleven to one in the middle of the night was the Zi Hour, from one to three was the Ugly Hour, from three to five was the Yin Hour, and so on for the rest. In ancient times, an hour was equivalent to two hours today, so when clocks and watches were first introduced to China, some people called an hour "Dashi", and a clock point in the new time was called "Hour".

Later, with the popularization of clocks and watches, the term "Dashi" disappeared, while "Hour" is still in use today.

Carve - the ancient use of the funnel pot time.

The funnel pot is divided into two parts: the sowing kettle and the receiving kettle. Sowing kettle divided into two to four layers, are small holes, can drip water, and finally into the receiving kettle, the receiving kettle with standing arrows, arrows engraved on the score of 100 engraved, arrows with the gradual rise of the water, revealing the number of engraved, to show the time.

A 24-hour day and night for 100 moments, which is equivalent to the current 1440 minutes. It can be seen that each moment is equivalent to 14.4 minutes. Therefore, "three minutes to noon" is equivalent to the present 11:43.2 minutes

Expanded Information

The twelve-hour system

Western Zhou Dynasty has been used. In the Han Dynasty, it was named Midnight, Rooster's Crowing, Pingdan, Sunrise, Eclipse, Corner, Mid-Day, Declining Sun, Asr, Sunrise, Dusk, and People's Settlement. It is also represented by the twelve earthly branches, with twenty-three to one o'clock in the middle of the night as Zi Shi, one to three o'clock as U Shi, and three to five o'clock as Yin Shi, and so on in descending order.

Midnight of Zi Shi, also known as Zi Yi and Zhong Yi: the first of the twelve hours. (23:00 to 01:00).

Cock-crowing at the hour of ugly, also known as Deserted Rooster: the second hour of the twelve-hour period. (0100 to 0300 hours).

Chin Ping Dan, also known as Dawn, Morning, Nidan, etc.: The hour is the time when night and day alternate. (03:00 to 05:00 hours).

Mao Shi Sunrise, also known as the beginning of the day, dawn, rising sun, etc.: the time when the sun is just showing its face and rising. (0500-0700 hours).

Eclipse time, also known as the morning meal, etc.: the ancient "morning meal" time, that is, the time to eat breakfast, (07:00 to 09:00).

Sixth time in the corner of the middle, also known as Riyu, etc.: near noon is called the corner of the middle. (09:00 to 11:00).

Noon Nichijhong, also known as Nissho, noon, etc.: (11:00 to 13:00).

The declining sun at the hour of noon, also known as the declining sun, the central sun, etc.: the declining sun is when the sun is in the west. (13:00 to 15:00).

The Shen time of Asr, also known as the sun store, sunset eclipse, etc.: (15:00 to 17:00).

Sunset at 5 o'clock, also known as sunset, sun sinking, evening: meaning the time when the sun sets. (1700 to 1900 hours).

The twilight of the eleventh hour, also known as sunset, sunset, evening, etc.: At this time, the sun has set, and the sky will be dark. The sky and the earth are dim and everything is hazy, so it is called dusk. (19:00 to 21:00).

October, also known as fixed dusk, etc.: At this time the night is already deep, people have stopped activities, rest and sleep. People have settled down, which means that they are still. (2100-2300 hours).

References

Baidu Encyclopedia Hours