The Chongzhen calendar () or Shixian calendar () was the final
lunisolar Chinese calendar. It was developed by the Jesuit scholars
Johann Schreck and
Johann Adam Schall von Bell with
Xu Guangqi from 1624 to 1644, and was dedicated to the
Chongzhen Emperor
The Chongzhen Emperor (; 6 February 1611 – 25 April 1644), personal name Zhu Youjian (), courtesy name Deyue (),Wang Yuan (王源)，''Ju ye tang wen ji'' (《居業堂文集》), vol. 19. "聞之張景蔚親見烈皇帝神主題御諱字德� ...
. When he died a year after it was released, it was propagated in the first year of the
Qing dynasty
The Qing dynasty ( ), officially the Great Qing,, was a Manchu-led imperial dynasty of China and the last orthodox dynasty in Chinese history. It emerged from the Later Jin dynasty founded by the Jianzhou Jurchens, a Tungusic-speak ...
by the
Shunzhi Emperor
The Shunzhi Emperor (15 March 1638 – 5 February 1661) was the second emperor of the Qing dynasty of China, and the first Qing emperor to rule over China proper, reigning from 1644 to 1661. A committee of Manchu princes chose him to succee ...
, who changed its name to Shíxiàn calendar. The calendar was used from the early Qing period into the modern era.
The main changes introduced by the calendar are:
* Replacement of the original "平气法"
solar term
A solar term is any of twenty-four periods in traditional Chinese calendar, Chinese lunisolar calendars that matches a particular astronomical event or signifies some natural phenomenon. The points are spaced 15° apart along the ecliptic and are ...
system (based on dividing a tropical year equally) with one based on the
ecliptic longitude
The ecliptic coordinate system is a celestial coordinate system commonly used for representing the apparent positions, orbits, and pole orientations of Solar System objects. Because most planets (except Mercury) and many small Solar System b ...
of the sun ("定气法").
* Placement of intercalary months changed to accommodate the changes in the solar term system.
References
Xu Guangqi
Specific calendars
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