How did the ancient people of China invent and generalize the 24 solar terms of the lunar calendar?

It is well known that there were many cultural achievements in ancient China, many of which even influenced the course of world history. We like to refer to the four most important inventions as the Four Great Inventions, which represent the pinnacle of science and technology in ancient China, but in fact there are some other scientific achievements that are not less important than the Four Great Inventions, and the 24 Solar Terms is one of them.

Mention of the twenty-four solar terms many people think more of him as traditional culture, more people stay in his knowledge of culture and customs of the stage rather than science, and even some people will also question his scientific nature, that I can categorically say that the twenty-four solar terms is quite scientific and is still one of the most scientific hairdressing throughout the world in ancient times.

Twenty-four seasons we learned as children about his a children's song, he should be the world with the shortest text description of one of the scientific invention only a short forty-eight words. But this forty-eight words but concentrated the ancient Chinese scientists for the sun cycle movement observation and mastery of the essence. Then we will use the facts to tell you how scientific the 24 solar terms are.

One, the content and meaning of the twenty-four solar terms

History

People in ancient times through the night observation of celestial phenomena granting the time to set the law has basically mastered the laws of astronomy, it is precisely because of the ancient period has begun the exploration of the universe and celestial phenomena, so in the beginning of civilization has laid the foundation of the calendar. Among them? The 24 Solar Terms is one of the basic calendars in the ancient Chinese calendar system.

The formation of the complete solar terms was a long process, and on the basis of the ancient times and through the observations and records of later astronomers, they were finally integrated into the laws of agricultural operation in line with the movement of the sun.

The I Ching states: ? There is no greater change than the four seasons. When the cold passes, the summer comes, and when the summer passes, the cold comes. Cold and heat are pushed together, and the year comes to fruition.?

During the Shang Dynasty, there were already four basic seasons, namely, mid-spring, mid-summer, mid-autumn, and mid-winter, and during the Zhou Dynasty, the number of seasons increased to eight.

The first appearance of the twenty-four solar terms in history was in the Huainanzi (淮南子), and the Han Dynasty was one of the eras in which the Chinese calendar was laid down. The twenty-four solar terms? is known as the national legal calendar is in the Western Han Dynasty, the use of earth gui measurement of the sun shadow to determine the shortest shadow of the winter solstice. With the winter solstice as the starting point of the year and the twenty-fourth equinox from then on, the solar calendar was basically finalized in the Chinese lunar calendar.

And now we are using?

The twenty-four solar terms we now use are derived from the Chinese calendar of the winter solstice. The 24 solar terms we now use come from a system called the "qi" (定氣) method, which was established more than 300 years ago during the Qing Dynasty. The 24 solar terms we use now come from the Qing Dynasty's determination of the "qi" method more than three hundred years ago. The method of fixing the qi is a method of Chinese astronomy that has been used throughout the ages. is a collection of observations made by Chinese astronomers throughout the ages, based on the sun's 360-degree ecliptic circumference, which is divided into twenty-four equal parts, which is basically the same as modern science for the principle.

Meaning of the solar terms

The traditional Chinese calendar is known as the lunar calendar, which is not a calendar but a yin and yang calendar, the so-called yin and yang is the moon and the sun. The most important function of the 24 solar terms is to reflect the movement of the sun and to reflect it in the operation of agriculture, so as to organize the agricultural production.

Based on? The method of determining the qi is based on the "qi method". The first day of spring is the beginning of the year. It means the beginning of spring and the beginning of a new cycle for everything.

Rain is a typical geographic meteorological season, located in the spring of the rainy season, the east wind thawing attack brought a lot of moisture so it is the rainy season, rainfall increase means that everything began to sprout. The meaning of hibernation is that spring thunder rolls and startles the hibernating and sleeping animals, ? Hibernation? is the meaning of hibernation. First, the rain woke up the grass and trees, to the grass and trees after the first seedlings before the turn of the animal recovery in line with the laws of nature, and the spring thunder season is also the ancients for the precise control of the weather.

The equinoxes? points? refers to half of spring, the whole spring is divided into two halves of the meaning, belongs to the middle of the gas. Qingming is an important festival and festival fusion of representatives, to Qingming has represented the grass and trees lush spring, the earth has completed the metamorphosis. Grain rain is the season of abundant rain, plants thrive also means that the mission of spring is completed near the end.

The beginning of summer and spring, as well as the beginning of summer, a year into the second season and should change the makeup of heaven and earth. According to the ancient saying summer is the season of indulgence of all things grow, but also the most prosperous season of the year. Xiaoman refers to the spring germination of seeds have begun to seed full is an important judgment in the agricultural operation of the festival.

Mango is the season of crop transition, in the vast north (the main political and economic center of ancient times is the north) two ripe wheat at this time of the year to ripen and to hurry to plant rice, is the harvest of farmers busy season. The summer solstice? to? and? and? are the same as the middle of the year, meaning that summer is halfway through. At the same time, the summer solstice is also the time of the year when the day is the longest, which is an accurate scientific record of solar observation in ancient times. The summer solstice has reached the sixth month of the lunar calendar, meaning that the weather has begun to feel hot, half a month after the summer is the hottest season of the year, in line with the laws of the northern hemisphere.

Liqiu is the arrival of autumn, when heaven and earth change face once again. It is worth mentioning that the second solar term of autumn is the heat, meaning that the summer is nearing its end, this should have appeared at the end of summer on the festival dragged to the fall, and this is exactly and China's regional climate fit is called ''autumn tiger''. White Dew is when the weather starts to turn cooler and you can already see the dew whitening from the condensation of the heat.

The autumnal equinox is the middle of the fall season and is the festival of the equal division of day and night, from this day onwards the night is greater than the day. Cold dew by the ninth month of the lunar calendar can already be felt slightly cold, the dew has begun to ice cold. Frost is the heat of the night is not condensed into dew but directly condensed ice into frost, the appearance of frost means that the end of the fall winter is coming.

Lidong is the beginning of winter, when heaven and earth change their appearance again and everything starts to collect. Snow is the first wave of winter to announce its arrival, and it begins to change heaven and earth into a new look. The snow is the peak of winter, after which the sky and the earth are white and everything falls into silence. The winter solstice is the middle of winter, and this day is the shortest day of the year. The small cold cohesion of the wisdom of the ancients, snow to the day rather than the cold, snow after the temperature continues to fall, ushered in the coldest time of the year.

Two, twenty-four seasons of scientific observation

The earliest method of human observation of the sun is ? The earliest method of solar observation was the "Liguanzhi" (立竿见影). In all astronomical instruments, the oldest is a simple construction, upright on the ground rod.

Based on modern archaeology, we can be sure that there was a complete system of observation at least 4,000 years ago, as the instruments used to observe the sun at that time have been unearthed.

There were two props for measuring the sun's shadow in ancient times, a vertical pole called a ? Table? and a ruler placed horizontally in the south and north is called ? Kei? By reading the length and direction of the time can also master the four seasons of the year and the law of the sun movement, is an important step in the ancient Chinese astronomical observation. It is through continuous observation of the ancients found that between the year has the longest and shortest shadow of the sun two days and thus established the summer solstice and winter solstice.

Ancient China set up a special official position to observe the sun and natural changes early on, called? The Hsihe Clan? The book recorded: "Hsihe made the sun? Hsihe made to occupy the sun? Song Zhi note:? The first time I saw him, I was in the middle of a journey to the end of the world.

Zhang Zixin of the Northern Qi Dynasty discovered the law that the sun's motion is not uniform, and put forward the conclusion that the sun runs fast after the fall equinox and slow after the spring equinox. This explains the prior to this ? The Law of Equalization of Qi? This explains why the twenty-four solar terms were always a few days off in actual use.

And it was not until a thousand years later, with the help of modern instruments, that it was discovered that this was due to the elliptical nature of the Earth's orbit. This is the reason why the 24 solar terms were later changed to the "fixed qi" method. The first scientific observations were made on the basis of the "fixed qi" method. the earliest scientific basis for observation.

After the Sui Dynasty, there were more and more observations of the unevenness of the sun's motion, and in the Tang Dynasty, although the fixed-quality calendar was still using the "Pingqi" method, the "Pingqi" method was still being used. Fixed-qi method was adopted for actual calculation and use. According to the observation of modern precision instruments, it is the same as that of a thousand years ago. The "fixed qi method" is the same as the "fixed qi method" used thousands of years ago. The scientific nature of the method is self-evident.

While the political and other factors have made it difficult for the government to recognize the importance of the qi method, it is important to note that the method has not yet been adopted.

So it is not just a traditional culture, not just a traditional custom, it represents the highest achievement of ancient China in the exploration of the universe and astronomy. The creation and correction of the twenty-four solar terms also represents the rigorous attitude of the Chinese towards scientific research, which is an important scientific and technological achievement that cannot be ignored.