The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1900-07-31
The CHINESE CALENDAR.
Reason W nv the Dates uCabIe Dispatches
Are Sometimes Confusing.

From the New YORK Tribune.
The Sojournrr IN the Far East is some
times driven to wonder why the Chinese
have "a calendar at I'll. They view The
passing of time with SuDerb Indifference:
TuucJuality. II such a thing were ever TO
enter into the Celestial calculation. would
De regarded az uudignined. Nevertheless,
they have a calendar, which Is By TO
means a bad one when one considers its
immense antiquity. a wise monarch
NAMED Yau some time ahCut 800 B. e r--
Visyd The calendar IN use before that daUe
Ia the form in which II is found at pres
ent volume would b. needed to explain
al its paculiarities. but now that DIS
patches are mentioning Chinese dates. II
is as well 10 have some idea as % wners-
i'm the Celestial calendar differs from the
Grcgorian.
The Chinese year is lunar, and therefore
consists Of "a days. Before the time Of
Nao. tradition has it that the year consist
ed of $50 days. and that confusion had re-
suited. That ruler deCreed that time
should be measured by the moon and that
every nineteen years should contain seven
additional months-almos one ezra
month every three years. This reckoning
is excellent: il varies only about an hour
.
Although the year is lunar, its beginning
is regulated by the sun. Thus the new
wear comes between January and Febru-
arv 6. unlike the Mahometan new year,
which is regulated entirely by ;he moon
and comes at any time, winter or summer.
The wear is divided into twelve lunar
months. called by numbers, rs first, sec
oud. ana so on. The extra month that
IL az
ed at the end. as one would suppose. hut
is inserted anywhere. probably according
10 some system too subtle for Western
minds. The months age Subdiyided into
three parts. which are not again subdi-
vided, so that a Chinaman may speak Of
an event without mentioning the exac.
time within ten days The days are also
numbered, so that eNdCtUtSS may be Sc
cured if Il Cinnamon should ever happen
TO want such q thing. There il no week
but foreigners are gradually teaching the
meaning OF such a division. The Chinese
hour is 100 miugteS long. but i'm this in
stance again the foreigner is making some
impression on the ancient custom. and the
Chinese in and near the treaty ports are
familiar with the Western method. II
nav be- added. incidentally, that Pekin Is
inst about twelve hours ahead Of New
York in point OF time.
The Chinese gather the years together
into cycles, as OCyldtntalS do, but for
some extraordinary reason the cycle con-
Sists OF sixty years. This cycle is very an
Client and probably has something TO do
with old astrological SupcrsJiJiuns. An
other method of numbering years Is by the
reignS Of the Emperors. The present year
is The thirty sixth year of the seventy
sixth cycle or the year t26 since the
adoption Of the present chronology.
Each year has a eparate name formed
by some combination Of ten stem" char
acters Joined with twelve branch char
aCteTs These are used in an ingenious
way that could be described only by a
lengthy article. and would probably then
be not quite intelligil'a 10 The Western
mind. To so straight 10 anything is i'm
U0Ssible 20 the Oriental, and the comDi-
cated system Of naming the years Is proof
of Chinese ingenuity.
OF late years it has been supposed that
fhc Chaldeau- and Chinese had some in
tercourse al the time when Yao reformed
The calendar and that the TWO countries
worked together in making The change.
Certain IL is that similar event occurred
I'm Chaldea about the same time But.
whenever the calendar was adopted il is
likely for long time 20 withstand the
march Of progress. ID Is correct enough
and The inconvenience does not WOrry the
Chinaman IN the least