How are the years in the Chinese lunar calendar arranged?

The Chinese Lunar Calendar uses the stem and branch chronology to arrange the years.

For example, A Zi is the first year, B Chou is the second year, and C Yin is the third year? Sixty years is one week. After the week is over, the cycle starts again from the year of the first son.

Ten heavenly stems: A, B, C, D, E, F, G, C, N, D;

Twelve earthly branches corresponding to the twelve Chinese zodiac signs: Zi: rat; ugly: cow; Yin: tiger; U: rabbit; Chen: dragon; Si: snake; afternoon: horse; not: sheep; Shen; monkey; You: chicken; Huxu: dog; Ohio: pig. Ten stems and twelve branches in order to match, composed of sixty basic units, the ancients as the year, month, day, hour serial number.

In A, B, C, D, E, F, G, C, N, N, K ten heavenly stems of the nature of the five characteristics, showing that A B carries the wind, C D carries the fire, E, H carries the moisture, G, C, X carries the dryness, N, K, K, carries the coldness, which indicates that the heavenly five elements of the air in order to comply with the procedures of the five phases of the operation of the changes.

In the son, ugly, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Huxu, Ohio twelve earthly branches of the nature of the five elements of the characteristics, showing that the Yin and Mao carries the wind, Si and Wu carries the fire, Shen and You carries the dry air, the Oh son carries the cold air, the Chen, Huxu and Ugly carries the wet air, with a unique program, showing that the five elements on the ground with a gas has a different kind of follow the law of the five phases of the five elements.

Expanded:

The advantages of the lunar calendar

1. The Lunar Calendar is a fixed calendar, which has the characteristics of an astronomical calendar, and can correspond well with a variety of celestial phenomena, such as its nodes strictly correspond to the altitude of the sun, the calendar day more strictly corresponds to the lunar phases, the frequency of the leap month does not occur and occurs corresponds to the Earth's perihelion and aphelion, and other celestial phenomena such as sunrise, sunrise and sunset, the five stars, the five stars, the five stars, the five stars and the five stars. morning and evening shadow, five-star orientation, solar and lunar eclipses, tides, etc., even the calendar month also roughly corresponds to the sun's altitude.

2, the number of days in the lunar calendar month is only 29 and 30 days, and by the fixed solstice provisions, the human factor is minimal, it is not easy to change at will.

3. The first day of the year has a strong astronomical significance, and has the astronomical significance of the yin and yang years.

4, the yin and yang calendar, the most reflective of the traditional culture of the Han Chinese people of the unity of mankind and the harmony of yin and yang.

5, the cycle of the stem and branch calendar and the zodiac calendar; because it contains festivals is very conducive to the division of the four seasons, because it contains the phases of the moon, so it is also very reflective of the tides, eclipses of the sun and the moon and other celestial phenomena and the moon's influence on the climate.

The Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches were mainly used in ancient China to record the day, but also used to record the month, the year, the time, etc. During the Spring and Autumn and the Warring States Periods, the 12 celestial branches were used. During the Spring and Autumn and Warring States Periods, the twelve eons (Earthly Branches) were used for the month, and the twelve eons system was adopted by the Western Han Dynasty at the latest. At the end of the Western Han Dynasty, the stem and branch were used for the year.

After the Tang Dynasty, the Five Dynasties Calendar began to note the name of the month with the stems and branches, the Northern Song Dynasty and the ten stems and twelve hours with the time, so that the year, month, day and hour were all noted with the stems and branches, which is the stems and branches of the calendar (the A Zi Calendar), which is a kind of solar calendar.

Additionally, the way of noting the time by stem and branch is at least from the Yin calendar, attached to the Yin and Yang calendars formulated in each dynasty so far, the two calendars are used simultaneously. The stem and branch notation of time has been used in ancient China without interruption. Therefore it is very helpful in studying history and very easy to project historical time.

Baidu Encyclopedia - Lunar Calendar

Baidu Encyclopedia - Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches