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Rat (Zodiac)
The Rat or Mouse ( 鼠) is the first of the repeating 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac, constituting part of the Chinese calendar system (with similar systems in use elsewhere). The Year of the Rat in standard Chinese is . The rat is associated with the first branch of the Earthly Branch symbol 子 (''zǐ''), which starts a repeating cycle of twelve years. The Chinese word ''shǔ'' ( 鼠) refers to various small rodents (Muroidea), such as rats and mice. The term "zodiac" ultimately derives from an Ancient Greek term referring to a "circle of little animals". There are also a yearly month of the rat and a daily hour of the rat ( Chinese double hour, midnight, 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.). Years of the rat are cyclically differentiated by correlation to the Heavenly Stems cycle, resulting in a repeating cycle of five years of the rat (over a sixty-year period), each rat year also being associated with one of the Chinese wu xing, also known ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Regular Script
The regular script is the newest of the major Chinese script styles, emerging during the Three Kingdoms period , and stylistically mature by the 7th century. It is the most common style used in modern text. In its traditional form it is the third-most common in publishing after the Ming typefaces, Ming and East Asian Gothic typeface, Gothic types used exclusively in print. History The ''Xuanhe Calligraphy Manual'' () credits with creating the regular script, based on the clerical script of the early Han dynasty (202 BCE220 CE). It became popular during the Eastern Han and Three Kingdoms periods, with Zhong Yao (230 BC), a calligrapher in the state of Cao Wei (220–266), being credited as its first master, known as the father of regular script. His famous works include the , , and . Palaeographer Qiu Xigui describes the script in ''Xuanshi biao'' as: However, very few wrote in this script at the time other than a few literati; most continued writing in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metal (wuxing)
In Chinese philosophy, metal or gold () is one of the five concepts that conform the ''wuxing''. It is the return or the declining stage, and is associated with the west, dusk, autumn, loss, grief, and the White Tiger. In Traditional Chinese Medicine, Metal is the lesser yin symbol of Yinyang character, its motion is going inwards and its energy is contracting. It is also related to lungs, the large intestine, noses, and skin. The archetypal metals are silver or gold. Attributes In Chinese Taoism and traditional Chinese medical theory and thought, some attributes of Metal are firmness, rigidity, focus, integrity, and quality. The metal person when excessive is controlling, cutoff and arrogant, set in their ways as metal can become very rigid. They are self-reliant and resilient and prefer to handle their problems alone. The metal person is also intelligent, business-oriented, and good at organization and stability. However, the metal person can also appreciate luxury and en ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Asterism (astronomy)
An asterism is an observational astronomy, observed pattern or group of stars in the sky. Asterisms can be any identified star pattern, and therefore are a more general concept than the IAU designated constellations, 88 formally defined constellations. Constellations are based upon asterisms, but unlike asterisms, constellations are defined regions with official boundaries which together encompass the entire sky. Asterisms range from simple shapes of just a few stars to more complex collections of many stars covering large portions of the sky. The stars themselves may be bright naked-eye objects or fainter, even telescopic, but they are generally all of a similar brightness to each other. The larger brighter asterisms are useful for people who are familiarizing themselves with the night sky. The patterns of stars seen in asterisms are not necessarily a product of any physical association between the stars, but are rather the result of the particular perspectives of their observ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Astronomy
Astronomy in China has a long history stretching from the Shang dynasty, being refined over a period of more than 3,000 years. The Ancient China, ancient Chinese people have identified stars from 1300 BCE, as Chinese star names later categorized in the twenty-eight mansions have been found on oracle bones unearthed at Anyang, dating back to the mid-Shang dynasty. The core of the "mansion" (宿 ''xiù'') system also took shape around this period, by the time of King Wu Ding (1250–1192 BCE). Detailed records of astronomical observations began during the Warring States period (fourth century BCE). They flourished during the Han period (202 BCE – 220 CE) and subsequent dynasties with the publication of star catalogues. Chinese astronomy was equatorial, centered on close observation of circumpolar stars, and was based on different principles from those in traditional Western astronomy, where heliacal risings and settings of zodiac constellations formed the basic ecliptic framew ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chinese Astrology
Chinese astrology is based on traditional Chinese astronomy and the Chinese calendar. Chinese astrology flourished during the Han dynasty (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD). Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy (theory of the three harmonies: heaven, earth, and human), and uses the principles of yin and yang, '' wuxing'' (five phases), the ten Heavenly Stems, the twelve Earthly Branches, the lunisolar calendar (moon calendar and sun calendar), and the time calculation after year, month, day, and '' shichen'' (, double hour). These concepts are not readily found or familiar in Western astrology or culture. History and background Chinese astrology was elaborated during the Zhou dynasty (1046–256 BC) and flourished during the Han dynasty (2nd century BC to 2nd century AD). During the Han period, the familiar elements of traditional Chinese culture—the yin-yang philosophy, the theory and technology of the five elements ( Wuxing), the concepts of heav ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gregorian Calendar
The Gregorian calendar is the calendar used in most parts of the world. It went into effect in October 1582 following the papal bull issued by Pope Gregory XIII, which introduced it as a modification of, and replacement for, the Julian calendar. The principal change was to space leap years slightly differently to make the average calendar year 365.2425 days long rather than the Julian calendar's 365.25 days, thus more closely approximating the 365.2422-day tropical year, "tropical" or "solar" year that is determined by the Earth's revolution around the Sun. The rule for leap years is that every year divisible by four is a leap year, except for years that are divisible by 100, except in turn for years also divisible by 400. For example 1800 and 1900 were not leap years, but 2000 was. There were two reasons to establish the Gregorian calendar. First, the Julian calendar was based on the estimate that the average solar year is exactly 365.25 days long, an overestimate of a li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chart
A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent Table (information), tabular number, numeric data, Graph of a function, functions or some kinds of Quality of service, quality structure and provides different info. The term "chart" as a graphical representation of data has multiple meanings: * A data chart is a type of diagram or Graph of a function, graph, that organizes and represents a set of numerical or qualitative data. * Maps that are adorned with extra information (map surround) for a specific purpose are often known as charts, such as a nautical chart or aeronautical chart, typically spread over several map sheets. * Other domain-specific constructs are sometimes called charts, such as the chord chart in music notation or a record chart for album popularity. Charts are ofte ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martin Palmer
Martin Giles Palmer (born 14 October 1953) is a theologian, Sinologist, author and international specialist on all major faiths and religious traditions and cultures. He is the Founding President and Chief Executive oFaithInvest an international not-for-profit membership association for religious groups and faith-based institutional investors, which empowers faith groups to invest in line with their values. FaithInvest grew out of the Alliance of Religions and Conservation (ARC) of which Palmer was Secretary General from 1995 to 2019. Palmer is also the Director of the International Consultancy on Religion, Education and Culture (ICOREC). Career Palmer is the author and editor of more than 20 books on religious and environmental topics and the translator of several popular books on Sinology, including '' Zhuangzi'' and ''I Ching''. His 2001 book ''The Jesus Sutras'', a translation of the Jingjiao Documents, gives a popular and controversial interpretation of early Chinese Christ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metonic Cycle
The Metonic cycle or enneadecaeteris (from , from ἐννεακαίδεκα, "nineteen") is a period of almost exactly 19 years after which the lunar phases recur at the same time of the year. The recurrence is not perfect, and by precise observation the Metonic cycle defined as 235 synodic months is just 2 hours, 4 minutes and 58 seconds longer than 19 tropical years. Meton of Athens, in the 5th century BC, judged the cycle to be a whole number of days, 6,940. Using these whole numbers facilitates the construction of a lunisolar calendar. A tropical year (about 365.24 days) is longer than 12 lunar months (about 354.36 days) and shorter than 13 of them (about 383.90 days). In a Metonic calendar (a type of lunisolar calendar), there are twelve years of 12 lunar months and seven years of 13 lunar months. Application in traditional calendars In the Babylonian and Hebrew lunisolar calendars, the years 3, 6, 8, 11, 14, 17, and 19 are the long (13-month) years of the Metonic c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sexagenary Cycle
The sexagenary cycle, also known as the gānzhī (干支) or stems-and-branches, is a cycle of sixty terms, each corresponding to one year, thus amounting to a total of sixty years every cycle, historically used for recording time in China and the rest of the East Asian cultural sphere, as well as in Southeast Asia. It appears as a means of recording days in the first Chinese written texts, the oracle bones of the late second millennium BC Shang dynasty. Its use to record years began around the middle of the 3rd century BC. The cycle and its variations have been an important part of the traditional calendrical systems in Chinese-influenced Asian states and territories, particularly those of Japan, Korea, and Vietnam, with the old Chinese system still in use in Taiwan, and in Mainland China. In India, the Ahom people (descendants of the Dai people of Yunnan who migrated to Assam in the 13th century) also used the sexagenary cycle known as Lak-Ni. This traditional metho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
