(year begins on 1/26/2009)(First Day of the Year of the Ox falls on 1/26/2009)
(year begins on 1/26/2009)
(First Day of the Year of the Ox falls on 1/26/2009)
Chinese New Year
By the Chinese Calendar
2009 is the Year of the Ox,
which is also known by its formal name of Ji Chou. 己丑
Last modified: 1-15-2009
2009 is the Year of Ji Chou.
In the 'Stem-Branch' system, the years are counted in 60-year Cycles, so that the Name of the Year is repeated
every 60 years.
A "Cycle" is analogous to a "century" in the International Calendar system
which is 100 years long.
(printable monthly calendar)
2009
Jan
| Feb
| Mar
| Apr
| May
| Jun
| Jul
| Aug
| Sep
| Oct
| Nov
| Dec
At some web sites, the year quoted may be off by one year.
For a detailed explanation as to how this happened, see the Reference
Here.
Chinese calendar has been in continuous use for centuries. It predates the
International Calendar (based on the Gregorian Calendar) in
use at the present, which goes back only some 430 years.
Basically, a calendar is a system we use to measures the passage of time,
from short durations of minutes and hours, to intervals of time
measured in days, months, years and centuries.
These are fundamentally based on the
astronomical observations of the movement
of the Sun, Moon and stars.
Days are measured by the duration of time of one self rotation of the earth.
Months are measured by the duration of time of rotation of the moon around the earth.
Years are measured by the duration of time it takes for the earth to rotate
around the Sun.
Read more about it.
January 26, 2009 is the first day of the Chinese new year.
There are three ways to name a Chinese year:
2009 is the Year of the Ox.
There are 12 animal names; so by this system, year names
are repeated every 12 years. More.
2008 is the year of Wu Zi.
2008 is the 9-th year in the current 60-year Cycle.
2009 is the 10-th year in the current 60-year Cycle.
2009 is Year 4706 in the Chinese Calendar.
Just think. If you get paid by the month, instead of working an extra
day for nothing, you would get an extra month's pay !!!
This time around, the Leap Month comes after the regular 7-th Month. The "Leap Second Month"
begins on August 24,2006.
Read more about this here
And here.
For those interested in astrology, it is the year of the Black Horse.
[Some says this is Year 4638, which is also plausible.
Just think. If you get paid by the month, instead of working an extra
day for nothing, you would get an extra month's pay !!!
This time around, the Leap Month comes after the regular 4-th Month. The "Leap 4-th Month"
begins on May 23, 2001. More about this...
It is based strictly on astronomical observations, and has nothing to
do with the Pope, emperors, animals or myths. Due to its scientific
and mathematical nature, we can easily and precisely calculate
backward or forward for thousands of years.
2009 is the Year Heisei 21 in Japan.
It was a Leap Year! Unlike the western calendar, where one extra day is added
in February, one whole leap month is added in a Chinese Leap Year.
February 1, 2003. It was the first day in the Year of the Ram (sheep, goat).
This is Year 4700 by Chinese calendar.
February 12, 2002. It was the first day in the Year of the Horse.
It is Year 4699 by Chinese calendar.
January 24, 2001. This was the first day in the Year of the Snake.
This is Year 4698.
Others claim this year to be either 4699 or 4399, which are almost certainly wrong.]
It was a Leap Year! Unlike the western calendar, where one extra day is added
in February, one whole leap month is added in a Chinese Leap Year.
February 5, 2000. It was the first day in the Year of the Dragon.
That year ended on January 23,2001.
Each year is also designated by one of the 12 Animals
For instance, 2005 is Year of Rooster;
2006 is Year of Dog; and 2007 is the Year of Pig.
2008 is the Year of the Rat
This system is extremely practical. A child does not have to learn a new answer to
the question, "How old are you?" in each new year. Old people often lose track of their age, because they
are rarely asked about their present age. Every one just have to remember that he
or she was born in the "Year of the Dog" or whatever.
When 2009 comes, the person is still born in the Year of the Rat. but he/she
is 2,14, 26, 38, 50, 62, 74, 86 or 98 yeas old.
Thus, instead of asking the question "How old are you?", ask the person
"In which (animal) year were you born?"
More
about this.
Colorful calligraphy called 'chun lian' (Spring couplet)
are as popular as those for Halloween or Christmas.
The Chinese word for "Spring." The Chinese calls the New Year's Celebration
the "Spring Festival." This particular calligraphy is a reproduction of
the work by one of master calligrapher Zhao Mengfu
(1254-1322) who wrote it more than 600 years ago.
More on calligraphy
Posters with the word 'luck' is often seen around the New Year's.
Make one yourself.
For monthly calendar of 2008 and 2009(designed by Mr. Meng Zhuo of CWR Univ.)
2008
Jan
| Feb
| Mar
| Apr
| May
| Jun
| Jul
| Aug
| Sep
| Oct
| Nov
| Dec
2009
Jan
| Feb
| Mar
| Apr
| May
| Jun
| Jul
| Aug
| Sep
| Oct
| Nov
| Dec
In Chinese calendar, one of the scheme for counting years is a 12-year cycle.
One counts from Year 1,2,3,... up to 12. Then starts over from Year 1. (In modern mathematics,
this is modulo 12.) Instead of inventing 12 special symbols for this purpose, 12 animals
are used to represent these 12 years. Rabbit (hare), for example, is the 4-th year of the
cycle.
See more about this.
For more about Chinese dragons, go to the Dragon page
For a bit of fun, look at this. [Chinese BIG5]
[Chinese GB]
[English]
Other Links
Some of these sites may be worth a visit. More facts than you ever want or need. But interesting!
To China the Beautiful
New Year Graphics