The ＂Korean Lunar New Year＂ has caused controversy, and astronomical experts have analyzed how to say the Chinese New Year in English.
As a combined calendar of Yin and Yang, how does the China Lunar calendar achieve "harmony between Yin and Yang"?
Recently, a tweet released by the British Museum caused controversy, and the organization invited the public to participate in the celebration of the Korean Lunar New Year. How did the Lunar New Year, which originated in China, become the "Korean Lunar New Year"? This message immediately caused protests from many Chinese at home and abroad. Under the pressure of public opinion, the British Museum, which has a cooperative relationship with the Korean Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism, deleted this message on Twitter.
Controversial Twitter messages released by the British Museum
This is not the first time that the English expression of the Lunar New Year has caused controversy overseas. More than a decade ago, foreign heads of state and heads of international organizations all said "Happy Chinese New Year" when they paid New Year greetings to Chinese people. However, this statement was protested by some Koreans and Vietnamese in the United States. They said that they also celebrated the Lunar New Year, but they were not "Chinese".
In order to "respect the diversity of community culture", then US President Barack Obama used "Lunar New Year" instead of "Chinese New Year" when congratulating the Lunar New Year. Since then, more and more westerners have begun to use the expression "Lunar New Year".
On January 20th, the Empire State Building lit up the China Spring Festival theme lights. Xinhua news agency
Shi Kun, director of the Network Science Department of the Exhibition and Education Center of the Shanghai Planetarium and deputy secretary-general of the Shanghai Astronomical Society, thinks that it is appropriate to call the Lunar New Year "lunar new year", but it is not accurate, because from the calendar point of view, the China lunar calendar is not a lunar calendar, but a yin-yang calendar. "lunar" means "of the moon", which is equivalent to treating the lunar calendar as a pure lunar calendar. The English for the calendar of Yin and Yang is "lunisolar calendar".
The lunar calendar is a calendar based on the "Shuowangyue", that is, the change period of the moon phase. This kind of calendar does not consider the factor of the earth’s revolution, and accumulates in a "new moon" (with an average of 29.5306 days), with a year of 354 or 355 days, 10 or 11 days less than the solar calendar. This error is accumulated for three years, which is equivalent to one month in the solar calendar. In the long run, it will lead to "inversion of cold and heat". If the lunar calendar in China is a pure lunar calendar, then "Lunar New Year" will not necessarily come in winter, but also appear in other seasons.
In order to avoid this situation and better guide agricultural production, the ancients in China formulated a calendar of Yin and Yang, which has continued to this day. Shi Yun introduced that the combined calendar of Yin and Yang is a calendar that takes into account two periods, namely, the tropic year (the time interval when the sun passes through vernal equinox twice in a row) and the first lunar month. The purpose of following the previous cycle is to reflect the timely change of seasons, avoid "inversion of cold and summer" and guide agriculture, fisheries and animal husbandry; The purpose of following the latter cycle is to reflect the moon phase, which is convenient for observing the day and time, and can also guide agriculture, fishery and animal husbandry. Coastal areas along the Yangtze River can also associate it with tides.
As a combined calendar of Yin and Yang, how does the China Lunar calendar achieve "harmony between Yin and Yang"? The leap month is mainly set by the 24 solar terms. The twenty-four solar terms are the "yang" part of the lunar calendar, which can be regarded as 24 equal points on the trajectory of the sun’s annual view. There is a solar term every 15 degrees, which begins in the beginning of spring and ends in the great cold. Twenty-four solar terms accurately reflect the change of natural rhythm, which is a seasonal system guiding agricultural production and also contains rich folk culture.
Schematic diagram of the 24 solar terms (Source: Astronomical Tea Restaurant)
The leap month is set to ensure that in a certain period, the solar calendar and the lunar calendar are basically the same in number of days. Yao Yuan, founder of Shanghai Hanyangyang Traditional Culture Promotion Center and master of history department of Fudan University, introduced that as early as the pre-Qin period, Chinese ancestors put forward the rule of "leap every three years" and "leap every five years" based on a large number of observation data, and finally discovered the ideal cycle of "seven leap years in nineteen years", that is, seven leap months were added every 19 years, and a total of 235 "moons" (12× 19 The total duration of 19 "tropical years" is 6939.6018 days (365.2422×19=6939.6018), which is almost identical with the former.
Schematic diagram of "Seven Leaps in Nineteen Years" (Source: Han Weiyang)
It is precisely because of the principle of "seven leaps in nineteen years" that the coincidence period between the western Gregorian calendar and the China lunar calendar is once every 19 years. Take everyone’s birthday as an example. The date of birth corresponds to a Gregorian calendar and a lunar calendar. Starting from the first birthday, these two dates no longer coincide, and one has either a Gregorian birthday or a Lunar birthday. It is not until the 19th birthday that the Gregorian calendar birthday and the Chinese calendar birthday can "meet again".
Thus, the Lunar New Year inherits the unique traditional calendar logic of China. Strictly speaking, it is not accurate to call the Lunar New Year "Lunar New Year". When foreigners greet Chinese in English, they can say "Happy Chinese New Year". You can also say "Happy Spring Festival" when greeting people in Japan, South Korea, Vietnam and other countries who also have Spring Festival customs.
Shi Kun pointed out that "Spring Festival" is the standard English translation of the Spring Festival, and the Astronomical Terminology Examination Committee of the Chinese Astronomical Society has long made a conclusion on this, and the relevant translation names are included in the book "English-Chinese Astronomical Terminology". "I think it is more appropriate to use Spring Festival to avoid country-specific disputes."
(Source: Shangguan News)
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