Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar formed by combining a purely lunar calendar with a solar calendar. In modern times Chinese usually use the Gregorian Calendar for most day to day activities, but the Chinese calendar is still used for the dating of traditional holidays such as Chinese New Year (Spring Festival) and the Mid-Autumn Festival and in astrology, including choosing the most auspicious date for a wedding or the grand opening of a building. The primary use in day to day activities is for determining the phase of the moon, which is important for farmers and is possible because each day in the calendar corresponds to a particular phase of the month. Other traditional east Asian calendars are similar to if not identical to the Chinese calendar: the Korean calendar is identical, the Vietnamese calendar substitutes the cat for the rabbit in the twelve animals,

Related Topics:
Lunisolar calendar - Lunar calendar - Solar calendar - Gregorian Calendar - Chinese New Year - Mid-Autumn Festival - Asia - Korean calendar - Vietnamese calendar - Twelve animals

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the Tibetan calendar differs slightly in animal names,

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and the traditional Japanese calendar used (and still uses) a different method of calculation, resulting in disagreements between the calendars in some years. Elements of the Chinese (or Sino-Uighur) calendar were introduced to the Islamic world following the Mongol invasions. The twelve year cycle, including Turkish/Mongolian translations of the animal names, remained in use for chronology, historiography, and bureaucratic purposes in the Persian and Turkish speaking world from Asia Minor to India throughout the Medieval and Early Modern periods. In Iran it remained common in agricultural records and tax assessments until a 1925 law (see Iranian calendar) deprecated its use.

Related Topics:
Japanese calendar - 1925 - Iranian calendar

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In China, the native calendar is the "farmer's calendar" (農曆 nónglì), as opposed to the "civil calendar" (公曆 gōnglì), or "Western calendar" (西曆 xīlì). The Chinese calendar was also called the "old calendar" (舊曆) after the "new calendar" (新曆), i.e. the Gregorian calendar, was adopted as the official calendar.

Related Topics:
China - Gregorian calendar

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