The Chinese calendar is based on the combination of the 5 phases of change (5 elements) in its Yin or Yang version (called the celestial trunk) combined with the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, more correctly translated as earth branches, in the possible 4 pillars of the year, month, day and hour.
From the 5 phases of change (5 elements) and the 12 branches of the earth (signs of the zodiac 1 ), there are 60 possible combinations in each of the 4 pillars (year, month, day and hour). Whereby the 60 combinations of the month together with the yearly columns are only 720 combinations possible, as the monthly columns are repeated after 5 years. The same applies between the day column and the hour column. This results in a total of 518,400 possible combinations for a time description.
Source: Wikipedia: Chinese astrology https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinesische_Astrologie
The Chinese calendar includes a lunar calendar (traditional farmers’ calendar, which is also used for the dates of festivals) and the solar calendar with its 24 climate phases. Bazi Suanming consultants usually work with the solar calendar.
The Chinese lunar year begins on the 2nd new moon after the winter solstice. At this time, the Chinese New Year takes place in China, Taiwan and other East Asian countries with large Chinese ethnic groups.
The Chinese solar year begins around February 4/5 and takes place exactly halfway between the winter solstice and the equinoxes of spring. Astronomically, however, it should begin at the winter solstice.
This means that the Chinese calendar is a climate calendar / astronomical calendar and has no relation to European astrology.
Historical review
The Chinese calendar has constantly adapted to new findings in its 2,500 years of development. In the 17th century. During the Ming dynasty (1368-1644), the Chinese calendar was modified by the astronomical calculations of the Jesuits.
2
reformed.
This Shixian calendar was used until the end of the Chinese imperial period (1911). The Gregorian calendar has since found its way into the economic calendar with the start of the year on January 1, 1912.
Dr. Manfred Kubny, a sinologist with a scientific background in traditional Chinese chronobiology and chronopsychology, Bazi Suanming, has linked the Chinese calendar with our European calendar and translated the Chinese terms into a form that can be understood using Latin characters.
Application
The classic Chinese lunar calendar is still in use in Chinese culture and is of course required for determining Chinese festivals. The classic solar calendar is also still used for the calculations of Feng Shui and Bazi Suanming (Chinese chronopsychology).
Literature
Sources
- Training as a Bazi Suanming consultant according to IATCA
Internet
- In Wikipedia: Chinese calendar https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinesischer_Kalender retrieved on April 9, 2024
- In Time And Date: The Chinese calendar https://www.timeanddate.de/kalender/chinesischer-kalender retrieved on 9.4.2024
Books
- Kubny, Manfred Dr.: Traditional Chinese Lunar Calendar – The Chinese Lunar Year and the Western Solar Year from 1910 – 2020. Heidelberg, Kehrer-Verlag 2000 (ISBN 3 – 933257 – 09 – 3)
- Horst Görtz: Praxis der chinesischen Astrologie: Lehrbuch des Bazi Suanming mit vielen Anwendungsbeispielen 568 Seiten, Drachen Verlag 2008 ISBN-10: 3927369314, ISBN-13: 978-3927369313 (Edition Manfred Kubny)
