As a result of the inconsistency of two prevalent calendars in China, this is a custom that even some Chinese people couldn’t figure out. Traditionally (especially before 1911, when the Gregorian Calendar was applied in China), Chinese people have celebrated only the Lunar Calendar birthdays. Nowadays, it is more common to observe the Gregorian calendar birthdays in China, just like most of the world does, but the elderly and people who are born in the countryside are still used to celebrating Lunar Calendar birthdays.

Before China's adoption of the standard Gregorian calendar in 1912, each month of the Chinese year lasted twenty-eight to twenty-nine days, that being the duration of the moon's cycle. But since 28/29 days × 12 months comes to somewhat less than the 365 days of the solar year, the Chinese calendar, like other luni-solar calendars, needed a way of accommodating the difference. The Julian and Gregorian calendars manage this by extending the duration of most months to thirty or thirty-one days, so spreading the differential throughout the year. But in China, as in pre-Julian Rome, the moon-length month remained standard. Instead, the luni-solar difference was taken up by the introduction, every eighteen months or so, of an additional month. When to introduce this 'intercalary' month was a matter of deep concern and elaborate computation in ancient China, for on the exact harmonization and synchronization of the terrestrial world with that of the cosmos depended just about everything - virtue, longevity, health, prosperity, justice, dominion and immunity from disasters. Like other essential ongoing corrections - to the name of the year-period, the setting of the hours, the timing of the seasonal rites, the musical pitch of the ritual pipes - it was ultimately an imperial responsibility. Outstanding emperors, especially those who founded a dynasty or achieved much in their own right, were thought to have been well advised in such matters; bad emperors were generally supposed to have neglected or manipulated them. This idea of fraught but cathartic interludes in which human affairs were realigned with the rhythms of the cosmos could be extended to the dynastic succession itself. Some dynasties lasted long; others barely survived a few turbulent decades - it was as if they had been inserted to fill a hiatus or give a new direction. The Former Han dynasty had been preceded by the intrusion that was the First Emperor's Qin dynasty, and the Later Han by the 'blip' that was Wang Mang's Xin dynasty. A pattern was apparent; and since the succession of dynasties was supposed to mimic the cycles of the planets, some Chinese historians embraced the possibility of 'intercalary' dynasties. Thus Qin and Xin could be seen as necessary, if traumatic, correctional preludes that had brought Former Han and Later Han into propitious harmony with the cosmic forces. The task of what he calls 'making a distinction between the orthodox and the intercalated status [of dynasties]' was one that eventually defeated Sima Guang, the eleventh-century author of the Zizhi Tongjian (and not to be confused with Sima Qian, the second-to-first-century BC 'Grand Historian' who wrote the Shiji). In the post-Han period there were just too many dynasties for Sima Guang to decide which were intercalary and which, if any, were not. Yet the title of his all-embracing history, which translates as something like 'A Comprehensive Mirror for Aid in Government', seems to endorse the idea of history 'reflecting' the cosmic cycles. And in common with all Chinese historians, Sima Guang continued to subscribe to the belief that each individual dynasty did indeed conform to a cyclical pattern. Planet-like again, every dynasty ascended and declined, waxed and waned, shone and faded. Strong and virtuous emperors usually came early in the succession; weaker and worse ones usually came towards the end. Indeed, 'the bad-last emperor' features so frequently in the Chinese standard histories as to be considered a convention of history-writing. The dismal deeds and delicious improprieties credited to such stereotypes should be approached with caution.Question 12Why does this passage begin with a description of the Chinese calendar?To highlight the fact that in ancient China, the calendar was considered a symbol of the rhythms of the cosmosTo draw a parallel between the intercalary month in the ancient Chinese calendar and the Chinese imperial dynasties of the pastTo point out that in ancient China, the emperor was responsible for deciding when to introduce the intercalary month to align the calendarTo show how the ancient Chinese used the concept of the intercalary month as a metaphor for their less successful imperial dynasties

The date of the Chinese New Year is determined by the lunar calendar. The holiday falls on the second new moon after the winter solstice on December 21. Each year the New Year in China falls on a different date than on the Gregorian calendar. The dates usually range sometime between January 21 and February 20.

Which passage from the article best supports the idea that the Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar?A.Most business in China ceases during the holiday, giving people the opportunity to take at least seven or eight days off from work.B.The date shifts because Chinese holidays follow a lunar-solar calendar.C.Fireworks are seemingly omnipresent, the practice stemming from an ancient belief that loud noises will scare away baleful spirits.D.And thanks to a financial prosperity that China has enjoyed in recent years, those New Year celebrations are creating positive economic ripples across the globe.

Which is the most widely used calendar in the world today? Chinese Gregorian Islamic Roman

Which of these is most important to include in a summary of this article?A.The Chinese New Year, the most important holiday in the Chinese calendar, is a time of celebrating new beginnings.B.Gordon Clark, a manager at a Switzerland-based firm that tracks luxury retail spending worldwide, says that Chinese spending in Britain has jumped.C.The Chinese New Year begins sometime between January 21 and February 21 each year.D.Wang Kang, a marketing manager at a seafood distributing company in Shanghai, China, says that Chinese residents are buying foreign luxury goods.