Calendar conversion: lunar calendar to Western calendar
Oct 8, 2020 12:00:07 GMT -5
Post by gckimm on Oct 8, 2020 12:00:07 GMT -5
Hi Everyone:
At Roger's suggestion, I am posting here some information about resources for converting lunar calendar dates to Western calendar dates.
There are now two ways to go about this. For those who are literate in Chinese or can at least figure out months, days, and years in Chinese, Chinese book stores often sell books that contain charts showing lunar dates and the corresponding Western calendar dates. If you can find one with a thousand years in it, that will be a great help in translating the dates in a genealogy. Of course, there are now many internet sites that provide calendar conversion. Most, though, like this one from the Hong Kong Observatory, www.hko.gov.hk/en/gts/time/conversion.htm, only seem to convert from the year 1900. This one goes back thousands of years: www.chinesecalendaronline.com/lunar-calendar/
The problem with the dates in genealogies is that the dates usually come in the traditional format, which may include the name of the emperor's reign, the year of the emperor's reign, and the "heavenly stems and earthly branches" marking the year's designation in the 60-year cycle of years. Sometimes you have only the emperor's reign name and the heavenly stems and earthly branches; sometimes you have only the heavenly stems and earthly branches, forcing you to choose from identical years spaced 60 years apart. For example, 2020, 1960, and 1900 are all known as the year 庚子 .
The best site that I have found for converting dates in a traditional format is the one from the Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures (Taipei, Taiwan): sinocal.sinica.edu.tw/. However, this converter requires some knowledge of Chinese in order to use it, as you have to be able to choose the correct information from the correct pull-down menus and enter the correct numbers in the correct boxes.
I also want mention that the dates on grave markers are sometimes confusing. Sometimes it is difficult to determine if a date in Chinese characters is according to the lunar calendar or the Western calendar, especially if the grave is from modern times. It really depends on how traditional the decedent was and how traditional his/her family is. Sometimes, a grave marker will have a combination of dates: perhaps a birth date according to the lunar calendar and a death date according to the Western calendar. Two clues are a reference to the 60-year cycle of years (the use of heavenly stems and earthly branches, mentioned above) and the use of the character 初 (Mandarin chu/Cantonese choh) in combination with the numbers 1-10 to mark the first ten days of a month: 初一,初二,初三, etc.. This character is generally used only in reference to the lunar calendar. Western calendar dates are numbered simply 一日,二日,三日, etc.
Greg
At Roger's suggestion, I am posting here some information about resources for converting lunar calendar dates to Western calendar dates.
There are now two ways to go about this. For those who are literate in Chinese or can at least figure out months, days, and years in Chinese, Chinese book stores often sell books that contain charts showing lunar dates and the corresponding Western calendar dates. If you can find one with a thousand years in it, that will be a great help in translating the dates in a genealogy. Of course, there are now many internet sites that provide calendar conversion. Most, though, like this one from the Hong Kong Observatory, www.hko.gov.hk/en/gts/time/conversion.htm, only seem to convert from the year 1900. This one goes back thousands of years: www.chinesecalendaronline.com/lunar-calendar/
The problem with the dates in genealogies is that the dates usually come in the traditional format, which may include the name of the emperor's reign, the year of the emperor's reign, and the "heavenly stems and earthly branches" marking the year's designation in the 60-year cycle of years. Sometimes you have only the emperor's reign name and the heavenly stems and earthly branches; sometimes you have only the heavenly stems and earthly branches, forcing you to choose from identical years spaced 60 years apart. For example, 2020, 1960, and 1900 are all known as the year 庚子 .
The best site that I have found for converting dates in a traditional format is the one from the Academia Sinica Center for Digital Cultures (Taipei, Taiwan): sinocal.sinica.edu.tw/. However, this converter requires some knowledge of Chinese in order to use it, as you have to be able to choose the correct information from the correct pull-down menus and enter the correct numbers in the correct boxes.
I also want mention that the dates on grave markers are sometimes confusing. Sometimes it is difficult to determine if a date in Chinese characters is according to the lunar calendar or the Western calendar, especially if the grave is from modern times. It really depends on how traditional the decedent was and how traditional his/her family is. Sometimes, a grave marker will have a combination of dates: perhaps a birth date according to the lunar calendar and a death date according to the Western calendar. Two clues are a reference to the 60-year cycle of years (the use of heavenly stems and earthly branches, mentioned above) and the use of the character 初 (Mandarin chu/Cantonese choh) in combination with the numbers 1-10 to mark the first ten days of a month: 初一,初二,初三, etc.. This character is generally used only in reference to the lunar calendar. Western calendar dates are numbered simply 一日,二日,三日, etc.
Greg
