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Chinese Lunar Calendar

According to legend, the Chinese started to compute time during the reign of the Yellow Emperor, Huang Ti. The Chinese used a gnomon, a crude sun dial, to determine the solstice and equinox some time before the twelfth century B.C. This simple instrument was a vertical pole about eight feet in height set vertically in the ground. By measuring the length of the sun's shadow cast by the pole, the solstice (the longest and shortest days of the year) and the equinox (when the days and nights are of equal length) are determined.

Some characteristics of the lunar calendar

  • 29.53 days a month;
  • 354.3 days a year (as opposed to 365.25);
  • some months have 29 days, others have 30 days;
  • one intercalary month added every three years, two every five years, and seven every nineteen years;
  • intercalary month can be inserted after any month except first, eleventh and twelfth months;
  • the first day of the month coincides with the new moon, the fifteenth usually coincides with the full moon;
  • Chinese New Year falls on the second new moon following the winter solstice (about December 22). It comes between January 21 and February 20.

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