How did the ancients express time?

The core concept of China's ancient time consciousness is "time". The word "time" in Oracle Bone Inscriptions comes from "day" and "knowledge". Although the word "Zhi" is a phonetic symbol, it not only has ideographic function, but also has the meaning of "fitness" and "head". Therefore, the word "time" is the symbol of the sun's movement-the sun's movement was the original timing method of China ancestors. When explaining the word "time", Shuo Wen Jie Zi also thinks: "time, four seasons, from heaven." The sun is the evocator of early human time consciousness. For example, Sun: The original meaning is "Sun". Sunrise to sunset is a day, so "day" extends the meaning of "day". "Hanging like a lamp is greater than the sun and the moon." As a "night light", the moon is also a catalyst for our ancestors' concept of time. Oracle Bone Inscriptions did not distinguish between "moon" and "night", which "shows the close relationship between the moon and night in the eyes of our ancestors, so our ancestors wrote the word" night "in the image of" moon ". Master: From the moon, from the time. " The name of the beginning of the month is also "("Ming Shi "), the original meaning: the first day of the lunar month. In Oracle Bone Inscriptions, "Yi" is like an inverted person, representing the birth of the moon and depicting the original scenery of the first quarter moon. The sun rises and the moon sets, which is normal, but it is also a common sight for the sun and the moon to shine together. Oracle Bone Inscriptions-shaped, from the sun in the grass, from the moon. This word is like the sun appearing from the grass, and the moon has not disappeared. Original meaning: morning. (Advanced Chinese Dictionary) Because the sun and the moon are the catalysts of the ancestors' time consciousness, Chinese characters in later generations often use the radicals of the sun and the moon to express the concept of time, such as "early", "dark" and "late". The rising of the sun and the setting of the moon are just the first feelings about the rotation of day and night. As for the "universe", "Zhou" refers to all abstract time from ancient times to modern times, which appears more in purely academic and literary texts. According to the survey, there are only 13 words rhyming with "Zhou" in Pei Fu, far less than those rhyming with "Shi". "Year" is a unique concept of time in China traditional society. The concept of "year" transcends "time" and manifests itself as a conceptual system of time combination. Year refers to the time period of a year, and time refers to the seasons of the year. A cycle of seasons constitutes a year's time, which is what the ancients called "the four seasons get old" and "getting old", which means that every year depends on the time. ([Song] Shu Wei: "The Book of Rites" (Volume 112) However, "Shang and Zhou Dynasties only implemented the two-hour system, and the four-hour system occurred in the late Western Zhou Dynasty." (Yu: A Preliminary Study on the Origin of Year and Time, Historical Research No.4, 196 1) The concept of year is the progress of time consciousness and the achievement of farming civilization with a sense of the times. The important value of "Sui" makes the following words have existed since ancient times-Sui: there are demons all the year round. Lunar new year: ancestor worship at the end of the year. Lunar New Year's Day: Every autumn, the princes appear before the emperor. Year-old evil: Year-old evil refers to poor harvest. "Time" is a mature form of China's ancient time consciousness. Seasons are the natural laws of different ages. Based on the experience of observing the changes of natural phenology, the ancients also found that there was a certain correspondence between the growth of everything on the earth and the sun, moon and stars in the sky, so they produced the seasonal consciousness of matching time, space and people (farming), also known as "moon order". The Moon Order emphasizes that people should conform to the nature of heaven, which is called "keeping pace with the times". In order to keep pace with the times better, people began to divide the "four seasons" into "eight solar terms" and "twenty-four solar terms". Eight sections: According to legend, in the Yellow Emperor's era, Shaoluo officials were named after birds: Xuanniao (vernal equinox and autumnal equinox), Zhao Bosi (summer solstice and winter solstice), Qingniao (beginning of spring and Changxia) and Danniao (beginning of autumn and beginning of winter). Xuanniao is a swallow, which usually comes and goes at the vernal equinox. Zhao Bo is Shrike. He usually comes from the solstice in summer to the solstice in winter. The bluebird is a tiger, and it may stop moving in early spring and long summer. Danniao is a kind of pheasant, which usually appears when beginning of autumn arrives in beginning of winter. Since the Warring States Period, people have made a more detailed division of the eight major festivals, with 24 solar terms in a year. Twenty-four solar terms are important natural nodes and standard natural time, which provide practical and effective meteorological services for ancient agricultural production and become a guide for agricultural activities. Spring is the main season, and the Emperor of Heaven forbids people to cut down forests, overthrow nests and kill larvae. If spring, summer, autumn and winter are not in accordance with the natural time series, various disasters will occur. "Nian" is a humanistic symbol of people's feelings and division of time in Xia, Shang and Zhou Dynasties, and it is a time system refined by people according to the laws of natural changes, while "Moon Order" is the humanization, ethics and socialization of the concept of Nian. As a set of natural laws summarized by the ancient people in China, "Moon Order" is also the fundamental basis for the emperor to issue decrees. It has dominated people's ideas and behaviors for thousands of years, resulting in a series of reasonable and scientific time consciousness, behavior patterns and national policies. Keep pace with the times-The classical Chinese in Zhouyi says: "A gentleman works all day and keeps pace with the times", which means that a gentleman works hard all day and keeps pace with the times. Zhuan Zhuan in Damaging Gua says: "Profit and loss are surplus and deficit, keep pace with the times." "The Biography of Easy Melon" said: "The way to benefit lies in keeping pace with the times." The gain and loss, advance and retreat of personnel must conform to the development requirements of the times and the conditions provided by opportunities. "Keeping pace with the times" is closely related to modern people's thought of "keeping pace with the times". When you are in heaven-I Ching "Classical Chinese": "Husband is in harmony with heaven and earth, with the sun and the moon, with the four seasons, with ghosts and gods, with good or ill luck, with the violation of heaven, and with the day after tomorrow." Things keep pace with the times-Book of Rites: "Things keep pace with the times, and fame and fortune are in harmony." The Note to the Book of Rites holds that "keeping pace with the times" means "keeping things in the right time", and "Yao granted Shun, Shun granted Yu, Jie, attacked Zhou, and made it timely". When we don't grasp the people-"when we don't grasp the people, we don't despise the people's work ... the county has state-owned classes and orderly people." ("Mandarin Zhou Yu (Middle)") Here is a ruling philosophy: don't delay farming, and don't despise farming. Farmers in the capital and suburban counties should take turns to rest or serve. Do not violate the farming season-that is, the government order does not violate the planting time of crops. The language "Mencius Hui Liang Wang Shang": "If you don't go against the farming season, the valley can't win the grain; If you don't count, neither fish nor turtle can be eaten. Axes and pounds enter the mountains in time, and wood and firewood cannot be used. " It is one of the main contents of "Benevolent Policy" to emphasize that "Wang Zheng" should give the grains, fish, turtles and trees a chance to recuperate.