What are all the ways of dating?

China's history used in the chronology of the important four kinds:

(1) stem and branch chronology. Stem and branch is the heavenly stems (a b c d e h e g h e n g x i n g n e n d e r ) and the earthly branches (Zi ugly c d e c h e s s i n w u s n s e n y o u x u h e s ) of the collective name, to ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches of the cycle match, can be matched into sixty groups, commonly known as the "sixty ja zi," used to indicate that the annual calendar, after sixty years of the cycle begins again and again.

(2) the emperor's name. Western Zhou **** and fourteen years later, the Zhou Dynasty history books appeared in the "King Xuan one year", "King Xuan two years". The history book of the state of Lu, "Spring and Autumn Annals", is the history from "the year of the Duke Yin of Lu" to "the fourteenth year of the Duke Ai of Lu". Both "King Xuan" and "Duke Yin" were the posthumous names of emperors or lords, and this was the emperor's reign name.

(3) The chronicle of the year. In 141 B.C., Liu Che, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, assumed the throne, using the year "Jianyuan", the first year of the chronicle. Subsequent generations of emperors followed his example and created their own year numbers. From Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty to the third year of Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty, more than 600 emperors had established their year numbers in 2051 years.

(4) Huangdi Nian. During the Xinhai Revolution, some newspapers and revolutionaries opposed the Qing Dynasty, instead of using the Qing Emperor's reign name, they used the legendary ancestor of the Chinese nation, Emperor Huangdi, as their reign name, which was called the "Huangdi reign". Due to the different starting time of the calculation, the age of the Yellow Emperor Chronicle adopted by various newspapers and magazines at that time was not uniform. In 1911, the Chinese League organ newspaper Minbao deduced that it was the year 4609 of the Yellow Emperor, the Jiangsu newspaper edited and printed by the Jiangsu Fellowship Association of Chinese students in Japan deduced that it was the year 4402 of the Yellow Emperor, and the Yellow Emperor Soul edited by Huang Zao and published in the first issue of the Yellow Emperor deduced that it was the year 4622 of the Yellow Emperor. Among them, "Minbao" used for most of the revolutionaries to accept the age of the Wuchang Uprising issued by the military government of Hubei that is based on this, the provinces responded to the uprising of the bulletin is also much to adopt this statement. Dr. Sun Yat-sen assumed office as provisional president, telegrams to the provinces, set the Yellow Emperor's year 4609 November 13 (January 1, 1912 AD) for the Republic of China New Year's Day. From this date onward, the Yellow Emperor's Chronicle was no longer used.