What timing tools are there?

sundial

The first is the "sundial (three sounds of Guangxi)". In ancient times, there was an instrument for measuring time called a sundial, which consisted of a huge dial with scales and a vertical needle in the center of the dial. The sun moved and the pointer was pointing at the scale on the dial. You can see the sundial in the Forbidden City in Beijing (10 years ago in the Forbidden City in Beijing, and later in Hengdian, Zhejiang, such a copy of the Ming and Qing Dynasties was much rougher).

gaping holes

The second is "leakage". Water leakage is timed by dripping water, which is made up of four copper pots filled with water, which are stacked on top of each other. There are holes in the bottom of the first three, and an arrow-shaped buoy is vertically placed on the bottom one. The water level rises with the drop of water, and the pot body has scale timing. The original day and night was divided into 65,438+000 minutes, which was later changed to 96,65,438+008 and 65,438+020 minutes, and it was officially set as 96 minutes in Qing Dynasty.

China made outstanding contributions to the creation of astronomical instruments in ancient times, and creatively designed and manufactured a variety of exquisite observation and measuring instruments. The oldest and simplest astronomical instrument in China is the earth gauge, also called the ghost watch. It is used to measure the length of the sun's shadow, and it is impossible to verify when it was first produced.

sundial

The manometer is a simple and important astronomical instrument, which consists of a vertical manometer (usually eight feet high) and a horizontal manometer. The main function of a standard watch is to determine the position of the winter solstice, and then determine the length of the tropical year. In addition, we can also determine the direction and solar terms by observing the changes of surface shadows.

Ancient timing method

Specific appellation timing method

In ancient times, people divided a year into four seasons: spring, summer, autumn and winter, and each season was divided into three different periods: Bangladesh, China and Kyrgyzstan. For example, spring is divided into Meng Chun, Midspring and Ji Chun. Meng Chun is early spring or early spring, mid-spring is a period of time in the middle of spring, and Ji Chun is late spring or late spring. The same is true in summer, autumn and winter.

The ancients also recorded the moon according to the presence or absence of the moon in the sky, which is called gloom, new moon, chord and hope. Darkness is the end of the month; The new moon is the first day; Chords are divided into upper chord (that is, the seventh and eighth day of each month) and lower chord (the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth day of each month); I hope it is fifteen.

Ancient people divided a day into several periods according to the rotation of day and night. For example, according to the appearance of the sun, it can be divided into sunrise, noon and sunrise. Sunrise is also called Dan, Zao, Chao and Chen. The daytime is called sunset, dusk, evening and fainting, also called sunset. In ancient times, people had two meals a day, and breakfast was after sunrise, which was called "food time".

Dinner was called "feeding time" before the Japanese entered (there are still many places that maintain the habit and tradition of eating two meals a day). After sunset is "dusk", then "people decide", and after people decide, it is "midnight" (that is, midnight). Then there is "cock crow", also called "ignorance" or "ignorance", which is the time when the sky is about to dawn. After the crow, it is called "Ping Dan", also called "Ping Ming", which refers to the early morning just before dawn.