Who discovered the twenty-four solar terms? How can you be so accurate?
Who or which organization compiled it?
Wu Xun, an ancient philosopher in China, believes that we human beings are inseparable from heaven and earth, and they are an integral whole. The moon (Yin) is related to the incubation of life, and the sun (Yang) is related to the growth of life. Wu Xun, a sage (a doctor who can communicate with God in ancient times, and the time in ancient medical books preserved in modern times is the chronological method of Jiazi), believes that the intersection of Yin and Yang should be used to guide the life of our nation, so that the survival and life of our nation can conform to heaven and reach the realm of harmony between man and nature.
Therefore, our ancestors carefully observed the change law of the full period and short period of the moon at night and found that this change was between the 29th and 30th (according to modern calculation, the average change of the full period and short period of a moon was 29.5306 days). Therefore, our ancestors formulated the time concept of the moon, which is defined as a small moon with a full period and a short period of 29 days, and a big moon with a full period and a short period of 30 days.
At the same time, our ancestors carefully observed the law of the sun's movement and change, measured the sun's shadow with soil gauges or vertical poles, and alternately set the day with the longest sun's shadow at noon or the shortest sun's shadow at noon as a year (modern people define the tropical year as 365.2422 days). Among them, the day with the longest noon shadow is the winter solstice, which indicates the coming of cold days, and the day with the shortest noon shadow is the summer solstice, which indicates the coming of hot days. It is said that the lunar calendar was originally compiled by the Yellow Emperor, but it is impossible to verify who compiled it. But after the emergence of the lunar calendar, it is still not perfect. Mainly in the setting of leap month:
The real lunar calendar has only 354 days a year, less than the solar calendar 1 1 day. In order to make it conform to the cycle of hot and cold weather changes, it has to be increased by one month every two or three years. "Seven Leaps in Nineteen Years" is just a general statement. In fact, astronomers in the Spring and Autumn Period pioneered the method of seven jumps in nineteen years. Zu Chongzhi Daming Calendar adopts 20 groups of 65438+7 leap years in 2009 1 group1leap 4 years, accounting for 39 1 leap 144 years, which makes the average calendar year of the lunar calendar closer to the tropic year. In addition, there were 123 leap and 102 1 376 leap in 334, and the difference between them was even smaller. However, since the Qing Dynasty, China has completely adopted astronomical phenomena to determine the calendar month and calendar year, so that the average calendar year of the lunar calendar is exactly the same as the tropic year.
Seven leap months are inserted for nineteen years, and the insertion method is exquisite. The position of the lunar leap month is completely artificial from ancient times to the present, and the position of the leap month has been different in all previous dynasties. Before the Qin Dynasty, the leap month was placed at the end of a year and was called "March". The leap month in the early Han dynasty was placed after September, which was called "post-September". In the first year of Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty, leap months were inserted in every month of the year. Later, it was stipulated that "the month without neutral gas was the leap month of the previous month", which is still in use today.
Twenty-four solar terms originated in the Yellow River Basin. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, the ancient sages of China set four solar terms, namely, midsummer, midsummer, midsummer and midsummer, and constantly improved and perfected them. By the Qin and Han Dynasties, the 24 solar terms had been completely established. In BC 104, the taichu calendar written by Deng Ping officially set 24 solar terms in the calendar, and defined the astronomical position of the 24 solar terms. Twenty-four solar terms are the original cultural heritage of working people in China, which can reflect the changes of seasons, guide agricultural activities and affect the food, clothing, housing and transportation of thousands of households.
As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, China was able to measure the length of the midday sun shadow with a soil gauge (a pole was erected on the plane), so as to determine the four solar terms of winter solstice, summer solstice, vernal equinox and autumnal equinox. In a year, the shortest day of the shadow of Tugui at noon is the summer solstice, the longest day is the winter solstice, and the shadow of moderate length is the vernal equinox or autumn equinox. The Book of History in the Spring and Autumn Period recorded the solar terms. The twenty-four solar terms are completely recorded in Huainanzi written by Liu An in the Western Han Dynasty. In ancient China, the lunar calendar was used to record time, and the solar calendar was used to divide the 24 solar terms of spring, summer, autumn and winter. Our ancestors called every five days and every three days as solar terms, and a year was divided into 72 days out of 24 solar terms.
With continuous observation, analysis and summary, the division of solar terms is gradually enriched and scientific. By the Qin and Han dynasties more than 2000 years ago, a complete concept of 24 solar terms had been formed.