Calendar system : Li Chun (立春) brief introduction

The common date we use in school is derived from the western calendar, which is also known as the Gregorian calendar (阳历). Another widely used system is the Yin calendar, which is also referred to as the lunar calendar (农历/阴历). Besides these two calendars, there is also another system of organizing time, which is known as the Solar calendar (节气历).

Bazi and fengshui studies employ the Solar calendar. Different calendar systems have different ways of recording and labeling time. The differences of the three calendars can be summarized as follows:-

Calendar System	Western calendar	Lunar calendar	Solar calendar
Start of the year	Starts on 1st January	Starts on 1st of lunar month	Starts on “Beginning of spring” (立春). Usually on 4th or 5th Feb of the Western calendar
Start of the month	Starts on 1st of Jan, 1st of Feb, 1st of Mar etc	Starts on 1st of 1st lunar month (初一) or 2nd lunar month etc	Starts on 1st day of every solar month *

*12 Solar months: From the viewpoint of Bazi studies, the 12 Solar months can be indicated by 12 earthly branches (地支) as follows:

Lunar month

1st

2nd

3rd

4th

5th

6th

7th

8th

9th

10th

11th

12th

地支

寅

卯

辰

巳

午

未

申

酉

戌

亥

子

丑

Western calendar

4th or 5th Feb

6th or 7th Mar

5th or 6th Apr

6th or 7th May

6th or 7th Jun

7th or 8th Jul

8th or 9th Aug

8th or 9th Sep

9th or 10th Oct

8th or 9th Nov

7th or 8th Dec

6th or 7th Jan

From the above table, you may notice that the months usually start around 6^th in the first half of the year and around 8^th in the second half. Therefore, the western calendar is actually an accurate and convenient system to derive the transitions between the 12 solar months too.

When establishing a person Eight Characters (八字), the Solar calendar is used to determine the Year Pillar (年柱), Month Pillar (月柱), Day Pillar (日柱) and Hour Pillar (时柱). Eight Characters is also called the Four Pillars of Destiny (四柱八字).