Chinese calendar

The Chinese calendar is a lunisolar calendar that aligns lunar months with the solar year through intercalary months. It determines dates for traditional festivals and observances.

Lunisolar calendar: A calendar that uses lunar months and periodically adjusts them to remain aligned with the solar year. The Chinese calendar is one specific system in this broader calendar family.
New moon: The lunar phase when the Moon lies approximately between Earth and the Sun and its illuminated side faces away from Earth. The calendar's months begin from the new moon.
Taichu calendar: A Chinese calendar system introduced during the Han dynasty in 104 BCE under Emperor Wu. It established a durable framework for organizing the calendar's lunar and solar cycles.
Mid-Autumn Festival: A festival celebrated on the fifteenth day of the eighth month in the Chinese calendar, traditionally associated with the full moon. Its fixed lunar date makes it a prominent example of calendar-based observance.
Gregorian calendar: The solar calendar introduced by Pope Gregory XIII in 1582 and now used as the international civil calendar. It counts solar years without basing months on lunar phases.
Synodic month: The interval between successive identical phases of the Moon, averaging about 29.53 days. Chinese calendar months follow the Moon's cycle of phases.
Tropical year: The interval between successive passages of the Sun through the same seasonal point, averaging about 365.24 days. Its seasonal cycle is the solar reference the calendar must track.
Shixian calendar: A Chinese calendar system promulgated in 1645, incorporating methods influenced by European astronomy. Its reforms shaped the modern Chinese calendar's calculation tradition.
Dragon Boat Festival: A traditional festival observed on the fifth day of the fifth month in the Chinese calendar. Its date is set by the calendar's numbered lunar months.
Islamic calendar: A lunar calendar of twelve months, used to determine Islamic religious dates and not adjusted to the solar year. Unlike the Chinese calendar, its months drift through the seasons.

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