The starting point of the chronology of cadres and branches
In the pre-Qin period, China had a tradition of "changing course", that is, the emperor decided the end of the year by decree. According to the Book of Rites, "a reformer who is powerful, examines articles, is original, easy to change colors, wears different emblems, has different clothes and benefits the people." Kong Dui said, "This is the beginning of a year and the beginning of the first day of junior high school. To say that the king has the right to rule means that we should start with me, change the old and use the new, and build with yin, ugliness and children. Zhou Zi, Yin Chou and Yan Xia are the correctors. In the middle of the week, Yin and Xia Pingdan said the same thing. " Legend has it that there is a tradition of correcting the new moon in the pre-Qin Dynasty. The Shang Dynasty took summer December as the right, and the Zhou Dynasty took summer November as the right. After the Qin dynasty unified the world, it inherited this tradition and took summer and October as its power.
Qin zhengshuo was followed in the early Han dynasty, and his own zhengshuo was established in the period of emperor Wu of Han dynasty. In the first year of Taichu (BC 104. ), the Han Dynasty changed to taichu calendar and used Xia Zheng, that is, the first month of the summer calendar was the beginning of the year. In the same year, Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty established the chronological system. In order to show respect for the emperor, he replaced the reign year of the emperor with the chronological year, which changed the chronology in ancient China. After the year number system was put into use, the previous generation's "change one's tune" system changed. Later rulers rarely changed the beginning of the year or the beginning of the month, and the new emperor ascended the throne and changed the title of the year, which became a convention of China's political and cultural traditions.
From the history books of Yuan, Ming and Qing Dynasties, we can see the records of changing cadres and branches on the first day of the first month.
History of Yuan Dynasty: Volume III, Third Chronicle ◎ Xian Zong's "I stayed in the north of your mountain in the first spring of nine years, and bought a reception", corresponding to Gregorian calendar1259 65438+1October 25th, and the calendar year has been changed. This year, beginning of spring Day is 65438+1October 29th.
Records of the Ming Dynasty: Volume 8 of Records of the Ming Dynasty is ugly in the first month of Gengzi Spring. [6] The calendar year of the main branch changed from Gregorian calendar 1360 to 19, while that of beginning of spring was 65438+28 in October. At this time, the title of the emperor was not recorded, because Ming Taizu had not proclaimed himself. Record of Emperor Gaudi in Ming Taizu, Volume XVI, "The first month of Yisichun is Geng Shenshuo", [6] The calendar year of the main branch changed from 1365 to 65438+1October 23, and the year of beginning of spring was 65438+1October 28.
Records of the Qing Dynasty: (1) Volume 776, "Thirty-two years of Qianlong. Ding hai. Spring. The first month. Ben Yin Shuo. Salute in Fengxian Temple "[7] corresponds to Gregorian calendar1767 65438+1October 30th, and the year of the main branch has been changed. "Xin Wei prayed to God. Pay tribute to relatives. This is the day. Spring has begun. Shuntianfu entered the throne of Chunshan, corresponding to the Gregorian calendar1February 4, 767. (2) record volume 811, thirty-two years of Qianlong. Ding Hai]. December. Bingzi It was Japan and beginning of spring in the year of Wuzi. Shuntianfu ascended the throne of Chunshan, a native cow. "This day is1February 16, corresponding to February 4 1768 of the Gregorian calendar. There is some evidence that beginning of spring changed his age on this basis, but the head of this day was marked as Ding Hainian. In fact, because the year of Dinghai is the Spring Festival, in order to distinguish beginning of spring at the beginning of the year, the latter one is marked as beginning of spring in the year of Wuzi, which does not mean that "beginning of spring in the year of Wuzi" has entered. The records of the whole Qing dynasty followed the same chronological system, and only on the first day of the first month did the emperor's year number change with the official year.
After the Revolution of 1911, in 19 14 1 year, the government issued a decree to designate the old New Year as the Spring Festival, and the first day of the first month of the summer calendar was deprived of its original names "New Year's Day" and "New Year's Day". After these terms are transferred to Gregorian calendar 1, it becomes the Spring Festival. But this is only the change of the name of the first day of the first month, and it has not changed its position as the beginning of the year. Later, the government of the Republic of China issued a ban on old calendars, prohibiting the private sale of old calendars and new calendars; Strictly order all organs, schools and organizations inside and outside Beijing not to celebrate the holidays according to the custom of the old calendar, except as stipulated in the national calendar; Move all the lively entertainment activities that should be held on New Year's Day in the old calendar to the New Year 1 month in the national calendar. However, all these policies ended in nothing.
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, it is still marked by cadres and branches over the years. Important newspapers and periodicals at all levels, various almanacs, and numerous calendars and paintings also use the chronology of cadres and branches as an auxiliary chronology means. The lunar calendar dates of all domestic daily newspapers, including People's Daily, are only changed on the first day of the first month. The Purple Mountain Observatory of Chinese Academy of Sciences, the only institution in China that studies the compilation of calendars, inquired about the official lunar calendar and all published astronomical almanac on its official website. Both the year of the main branch and the year of the zodiac start from the first day of the first month. In all modern printed calendars, the calendar year also changes on the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar.
The official activities of the contemporary Spring Festival show more intuitively that the year of the Zodiac is based on the rule of counting from the first day of the first lunar month. For example, over the years, CCTV Spring Festival Gala held a countdown ceremony at 0: 00 on the first day of the first month to express the blessings for the Chinese New Year. [15]20 14 During the Spring Festival, the state pays New Year greetings to people of all ethnic groups and Chinese people all over the world, and officials will also emphasize that the Lunar New Year is the Year of the Horse.
To sum up, China's traditional calendar adopts "the first day of the first month", that is, the first day of the first month of the lunar calendar as the starting point of the zodiac year, which is recorded in the official history and official almanac of past dynasties, as well as modern newspapers and paper calendars.
After liberation, the Purple Mountain Observatory of China Academy of Sciences was responsible for the compilation of calendars, and the starting and ending points of all almanac and calendar years published by it were also expressed as the date of the first day of the first month of the Gregorian calendar.
And from the official publications of the People's Daily and other newspapers and periodicals, we can know that the calendar year of cadres and branches begins on the first day of the first month of each year. As shown in the figure.
In addition, the changes of calendar years and zodiac signs in Hong Kong and Taiwan are also on the first day of the first month. It can be seen that in China, all officials take the first day of the first month as the year and the date of the zodiac. The picture shows a screenshot of the website of the Hong Kong Observatory.
Official and calendar basis
Astronomer Zhang Peiyu and others cooperated to complete the Ancient Calendar of China, which pointed out that "since 2000, China's trunk and branch years and calendar figures have cooperated with each other and formed their own system. In fact, the chronological system of China calendar is a unique solar calendar system in China. It can be called a dry calendar. It takes beginning of spring as the beginning of the year and festivals as the beginning of the month. When you get old, you will return to that year, and one section is a month. Regrettably, in ancient times, the calendar was mostly coordinated with the diachronic period, and was only indicated in the almanac (yellow calendar) or used by the people for imagery, choice and numerology. Its role in history has not been well understood. "
In addition, Dong Zuobin, an expert on ancient calendars, also proved from another aspect that the branch discipline is based on the ancient solar calendar. He pointed out that the name of the year is an ancient discipline inherited from the branch discipline. Name of month (i.e. positive, February, March, etc.). ), in the name of "lunar month" ... the month was built, that is, the official branch recorded the month, which is also the ancient law of China. Before the Western Han Dynasty, there was a moon without a moon building. Taking the branches to record the moon, although it is above the lunar month, it is actually the sun month, that is, the sun month. There is already a month ... Spring Festival in Han bamboo slips. Although this is the beginning of the establishment of the lunar month in China, it is also the solar calendar in China. Still has nothing to do with the lunar calendar. "The above statement has been quoted by historians such as Luo Ergang and Jane Youwen. In addition, Dong Zuobin's textual research on the Han bamboo slips "The Six-Year Calendar of Yongyuan" and "The Combination of Four-Year Banknotes and Calendars of Datang Tongguang" also talked about the solar calendar of the dry branch since ancient times.
CoCo Lee, Secretary-General of Jiangsu Astronomical Society: Ancient calendars used two systems, while modern people overlapped them. Lu Min, Ph.D. in history, also believes that branches and disciplines are divided according to solar terms, starting from beginning of spring.
The solar calendar of the National Time Service Center of Chinese Academy of Sciences has a complete calendar, with the solar terms in beginning of spring as the dividing line of the year.
Political influence and folk custom foundation
In ancient times, the first day of the first month was called New Year's Day; The beginning of spring is called the Spring Festival. 19 12 years, the Qing dynasty was overthrown and the emperor's chronology was abolished. Sun Yat-sen announced the use of the Gregorian calendar and designated 1 as New Year's Day. Later, Yuan Shikai changed the first day of the first lunar month to the Spring Festival. -Since the above-mentioned calendar has been changed, the calendar years of the main branches (including the zodiac) have been counted from beginning of spring since ancient times. Historian Ni, folklore expert Fang Binggui, Fuzhou folklore researcher Zheng Ziduan, director of Beijing Folklore Association, famous folklorist Ye Chunsheng and chairman of Jilin Folklore Association Shi all hold the same view.
The Spring Festival and the first day of the first month are both important festivals before the Republic of China. There is a strict difference between the ancient "year" and the "year" with similar meaning today. The ancients regarded beginning of spring as "the beginning of the New Year", and celebrating "New Year's Day" is often more powerful than celebrating "New Year's Day". From the Zhou Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, beginning of spring was celebrated as an annual ceremony. There is a folk proverb "beginning of spring celebrates the New Year". In beginning of spring, the Emperor personally led three officials and nine ministers, and the princes and doctors went to the eastern suburbs to welcome the Spring Festival and pray for a bumper harvest. This kind of activity has influenced the common people, making it a national spring festival activity for generations, such as welcoming the spring, biting the spring and playing the spring.
Fundamentals of Chinese medicine
Huangdi Neijing: "the twelve meridians corresponds to December. December is divided into four seasons. At four o'clock, the atmosphere of spring, summer, autumn and winter is different. " He also said: "Six Qi means time, and four seasons mean age." . See the right figure for the corresponding relationship between the twelve branches of the Moon and the twelve meridians. Changing the discipline of the main branch to lunar calendar will not correspond to the meridians.
Zhang Congzheng, a famous doctor, thinks that seasonal factors should be considered in drug use, such as "it is too hot at three o'clock in the afternoon, so it should be spicy and cool;" The ugly moon is not as hot and warm as it is. " Zhang et al., a scholar of traditional Chinese medicine, pointed out that "the cycle of global meteorological climate change, individual genetic constitution and health characteristics are directly related to the performance of related diseases at different ages." Studies have shown that the time of birth is related to schizophrenia, epilepsy, brain tumors and other diseases. Yu Dan also studied that stroke is related to the date of birth of the trunk calendar. Mao Xiaomei and Bai Guidun's research also proved that people's physique and frequently-occurring diseases are related to the birth date of the calendar.
Operation number basis
In addition to calculating calendars and observing astronomical phenomena, China's official astronomical institutions were also responsible for the selection. For example, the duties of civil servants in the Eastern Han Dynasty include: "When offering sacrifices, funerals, weddings and funerals in any country, the taboos of auspicious days and festivals should be played in time." From the Yuan Dynasty to the late Qing Dynasty, the government set up Yin and Yang Studies in counties, which was the third largest among Confucianism and medicine. However, the skill of choosing good luck is only related to the stem and branch of year, month and day. In order to increase the "accuracy" of techniques and create the image of the sky, the selectors of later generations emphasized that the month in the (Gregorian calendar) laying out rules is from the beginning of the solar term of the current month to the beginning of the solar term of the next month. Zhang Yuxi of the Southern Song Dynasty said: "When choosing a day, the solar terms of the month should be correct, and the gas should be used every day to match the calendar."
China's metaphysics is closely related to the 24 solar terms, so "beginning of spring" has always been regarded as the beginning of a new year in the fields of art and mathematics. Traditional astrology and astrology started in beginning of spring in one year.
Other evidences, such as the 95th chapter of the famous Dream of Red Mansions: "beginning of spring on December 18th, Jiayin year, and Yuan Chun's day on December 19th, Yinyue year", clearly point out the transition point of the main branch in years. The basis for counting from beginning of spring involves many fields, so I won't go into details because of the limitation of space.