Chinese Astrology calculation before 1900

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Rachel Udin

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Math is not my strong suit. Yes, I can divide by 12, but then throw in the 5 elements and other stuff out of Chinese astrology and my head gets muddled because I start trying to put associations where there should be calculations. It's also a 60 year cycle--not 12, if you're being technical.

I need the years from about 42 BCE to 200 CE in Chinese astrology, or at least an anchor to work off of in that time period. I can't find a Chinese Astrology calculator that goes back that far.

For example Year X was definitely a Wood Pig.

I also need the exact transition dates in the lunar speak of the Chinese Calendar (Finding this on the internet in English is a pain in the butt and none of my English books on the subject cover it well). Non-Gregorian, please. Going for Historical accuracy here... and Monk Gregory didn't exist for at least another 1200+ years.

42 CE and 199 CE are of particular interest to me... because then I can calculate the character's ages and astrologies which should add some depth to the book as they discuss them. (I hope)

Thanks!
 

Mac H.

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I need the years from about 42 BCE to 200 CE in Chinese astrology, or at least an anchor to work off of in that time period. I can't find a Chinese Astrology calculator that goes back that far.
I'm not sure the suggested one is accurate back then .. but I can't image one that is accurate.

Yes - you can type in the number, but I suspect it uses the modern Chinese Calendar. It has changed a number of times over the years - back then the Taichu Calendar was used. (In fact the modern Chinese Calendar was made with the help of the Jesuits & Johannes Kepler - who impressed the emperor in 1629 with their better prediction of the exact time of an eclipse. But the new calendar was hated by traditionalists - after a major funeral occurred on an unlucky date number the execution of the Jesuits was ordered. )

At various times the meridian used for calculations has changed - it has been Beijing, Nanjing or something else. So the 'exact transition dates' can be tricky.

If you are going for accuracy .. for goodness sake don't refer to the 'Year of the Rabbit'. The Chinese didn't have Rabbits back then .. they are a species introduced later.

It's actually a Hare. And the Chinese dragon of the era didn't look like our modern idea of dragons ... a scholar of the period (Wang Fu) described them as having a head of a camel but with ears like a cow ... and horns like a deer.

Not at all like our idea of Chinese dragons!

Good luck,

Mac
(PS: Anyone interested in the history can read this: http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/calendar/cal.pdf)
 
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Rachel Udin

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This converter looks like it should work:
http://www.hermetic.ch/cal_sw/ch_years.php

Thanks!

I'm not sure the suggested one is accurate back then .. but I can't image one that is accurate.

Yes - you can type in the number, but I suspect it uses the modern Chinese Calendar. It has changed a number of times over the years - back then the Taichu Calendar was used. (In fact the modern Chinese Calendar was made with the help of the Jesuits & Johannes Kepler - who impressed the emperor in 1629 with their better prediction of the exact time of an eclipse. But the new calendar was hated by traditionalists - after a major funeral occurred on an unlucky date number the execution of the Jesuits was ordered. )

At various times the meridian used for calculations has changed - it has been Beijing, Nanjing or something else. So the 'exact transition dates' can be tricky.

If you are going for accuracy .. for goodness sake don't refer to the 'Year of the Rabbit'. The Chinese didn't have Rabbits back then .. they are a species introduced later.

It's actually a Hare. And the Chinese dragon of the era didn't look like our modern idea of dragons ... a scholar of the period (Wang Fu) described them as having a head of a camel but with ears like a cow ... and horns like a deer.

Not at all like our idea of Chinese dragons!

Good luck,

Mac
(PS: Anyone interested in the history can read this: http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/calendar/cal.pdf)
Thank you.

I'm aware of that. However, though the astrology system didn't come into widespread use until the Tang Dynasty it was still used in certain regions of China before then. I'm more interested in looking at the astrology part of it, though, than a recorded years version of it. I'm avoiding listing years because I have about 4 countries who believes the year number to all be different and I don't think it serves anyone to list them all. =P

Thanks for the link though.
 
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