China Travel Deals, China Tourist, China Vacation, Chinese Travel

The Chinese calendar, whose shape set more or less under the Hans, is a luni-solar calendar formed during several centuries while combining various observations:  movements of the moon, the sun and the Jupiter planet, length of the shades, relative length of the days and nights, agricultural phenomena. The tradition pretends that it was created by the Yellow emperor in -2697 the Gregorian calendar. This mythical sovereign would also have created the cycle sexagesimal, the most former Chinese system of numbering of the years. Currently we would be in the 79th cycle.

The Gregorian calendar was adopted officially in 1912, but because of the maintenance of the popular habits and the occupation of the North of China by the Lords of the war, it was necessary to wait January 1st, 1929 so that it is applicable on all the extent of the country. The chosen official hour was the one of the first open ports to the west, on the East coast (120°de longitude is) and either the one of Peking.

This traditional calendar is not used anymore that to determine the dates of the traditional or religious feasts as the New Chinese Year (the Feast of Spring) and the Feast of the mid-fall, as well as for the astrology.

One gives him several name, the most current being the one of " calendar of the farmer"  (.. nónglì), by opposition to him " civil calendar"  (.. g.nglì), or " western calendar"  (.. x.lì).

The non Han populations had their own calendar, again used by the national minorities of popular China to determine their days of feast, in general.