Time in China

Abstract

Chinese methods of calculating time are of great antiquity. According to the Shi Ji (Book of Records), as early as 2254 BCE, Emperor Yao employed astronomers to calculate solstices and equinoxes and predict seasonal change so that farmers would know when to plant crops. Oracle bones dating to ca. 1200–1181 BCE attest to the fact that Shang dynasty Chinese calculated time using a 60-day divinatory calendar that still is in widespread use. The early development of methods of measuring time was not entirely endogenous to China; cultures throughout the ancient world exchanged astronomical ideas and data. Striking similarities exist between calendrical systems in widely separated regions, including parallels between the form and names of the Chinese and Maya divinatory calendars (Whittaker, 1990). At least as early as the first century BCE, the Chinese used a lunisolar calendar resembling the standardized Babylonian calendar developed in the fourth century BCE. The similarities suggest borrowing, and it is possible that the Babylonians were the original inspiration for the Chinese lunisolar calendar. In the Sui and Tang dynasties (589–960), Indian astronomers resided in China, and during the Yuan dynasty (1280–1368) Chinese collaborated with Persian and Arab astronomers. The technology of observation and measurement included an observatory built in Beijing during the Yuan dynasty. Contrasting with the astronomical system developed in Greek andmedieval European astronomy, Chinese astronomy was polar and equatorial rather than ecliptic. Although at times the Chinese borrowed astronomical ideas and technologies, these became incorporated into a system of time reckoning rooted in Chinese society. Sociologists have observed that time is a symbolic structure that represents a society’s collective rhythms. In the Chinese calendar, some elements are based on astronomical cycles, while others have been shaped by the temporal rhythms of social life. Chinese notions of the seasonal cycle are integrated into a system of classification based on the dualism of yang and yin. While yang and yin are often defined in terms of the complementary dualism of male and female, in Chinese they originally referred to sun and shadow, the very elements used to measure the changing seasons. For Chinese metaphysicians, yang and yin came to denote primal cosmic forces that interacted to generate a cycle of five phases (wuxing) which were identified with five primary elements (wood, fire, metal, water, and earth). These phases and their associated elements were in turn identified with the seasons. Thus, Chinese classified spring with wood, summer with fire, autumn with metal, and winter with water, while earth was associated with the midpoint of the year. This model of cyclical process associated the five phases with five colors (green, red, yellow, white, and black), directions (east, south, the center, west, and north), organs of the body, tastes, planets, virtues, passions, etc. Chinese elaborated rituals designed to control this cyclical process. Throughout the yearly cycle, the emperor performed rites to inaugurate the seasons, and his performance gave concrete expression to the association of season, direction, color, and ritual. Chinese thought that by means of these ritual performances, the emperor could ensure harmony in the universe and interpreted natural calamities as evidence of his loss of the “mandate of heaven”