Chinese Lunar Calendar

Chinese Lunar Calendar Prior to adoption of the Western solar calendar system, China exclusively followed a lunar calendar in determining the times of planting, harvesting, and festival occasions. Though today people in China use the western calendar for most practical matters of daily life, the old system still serves as the basis for determining numerous seasonal holidays. This coexistence of two calendar systems has long been accepted by the people of China. A lunar month is determined by the period required for the moon to complete its full cycle of and a half days, a standard that makes the lunar year a full days shorter than its solar counterpart. This difference is made up every years by the addition of seven lunar months. The lunar months are further divided into solar divisions distinguished by the four seasons and times of heat and cold, all bearing close relationship to the yearly cycle of agricultural work. The Chinese calendar - like the Hebrew - is a combined solar/lunar calendar in that it strives to have its years coincide with the tropical year and its months coincide with the synodic months. It is not surprising that a few similarities exist between the Chinese and the Hebrew calendar: An ordinary year has months, a leap year has months. An ordinary year has , , or days, a leap year has , , or days. When determining what a Chinese year looks like, one must make a number of astronomical calculations: First, determine the dates for the new moons. Here, a new moon is the completely black moon (that is, when the moon is in conjunction with the sun), not the first visible crescent used in the Islamic and Hebrew calendars. The date of a new moon is the first day of a new month.