A long time ago, the Jade Emperor, emperor of Heaven and all creation, decided that there should be a way to measure time. On his birthday, he told the animals that there would be a swimming race. The first twelve animals to cross the fast-flowing river would win and would have the years of the zodiac named after them.
All the animals lined up along the river. The rat and the cat, who were very good friends, were a bit worried because they were so small compared to the other animals – pig, horse, ox, and so on – and they weren’t very good swimmers. How would they win? Being very clever, they asked the strong ox if they could ride on his back across the river.
“Of course,” said the ox. “Just climb on my back and I will take you across.”
The rat and the cat quickly jumped onto the ox’s back and were very excited when the ox, a very strong animal capable of fording the river very easily, quickly took the lead in the race. They had almost reached the other side of the river when the rat, being very cunning, quickly pushed the cat into the water and left him to struggle in the water. Then, just before the ox was about to win the race, the rat jumped off his back onto the bank of the river and crossed the finish line.
“Well done,” said the Jade Emperor to the rat. “The first year of the zodiac will be named after you.”
So begins the story of the Chinese zodiac; a story that is retold once a year around this time during the Chinese New Year festival. Typically, the Chinese New Year is celebrated during the 2nd week of February and lasts anywhere between 3 days and the entire week. It is a time for people to enjoy time off work, enjoy time with the family, worship their ancestors, and just generally enjoy life.
This was my first full Chinese New Year and it was well worth the wait. I was treated to a lot of hospitality by Miss Expatriate’s family; we drank a lot, ate even more, and played a lot of mahjong, most of which I managed to handily lose to the expertise of Miss Expatriate’s family.
On the topic of the Chinese New Year, however, is the Chinese Calendar, which is thoroughly confusing. In European and English-speaking countries, we rely on the Roman calendar. Twelve months, some with 30 days, others with 31, etc. It’s known, logical, and loved. It makes an nice 365 days a year (excepting Leap Year) and generally just makes sense.
In Taiwan, however, most time is measured by a combination of the Chinese calendar, which is based on the lunar cycle, and Taiwan years. The Chinese Lunar calendar does have its merits, to be sure, and is the longest-used calendar in history, dating from around 2600 b.c.
Now, according to the Roman Calendar, the year begins on January 1st and ends on December 31st. There is one cycle and then it repeats. Pretty simple, right?
According to the Chinese calendar, the year starts according to the New Moon, generally at the end of January or the beginning of February. Each month, according to this calendar, will see 1 full cycle of the moon before the next month. Each year is given an animal sign, such as the rat, and 1 year is 1 cycle. A full run, therefore, is 12 years, or one year for each animal. However, the cycle isn’t complete until five full runs of 12 cycles, or 60 years, has been completed.
What’s even more confusing, is that often the Chinese like to mix the Chinese and Roman calendars. The animal years, for example, are based on the Chinese Zodiac Calendar, yet are used according to the Roman calendar (The years are the same on both calendars – according to both, it’s 2008 now, although the days are slightly off since the Chinese Calendar doesn’t begin a new year until the Chinese New Year, remember?) It’s 2008, which means it’s the Year of the Rat. However, that 2008 can start either on January 1st of the Roman Calendar or on the 1st day of the 1st month of the lunar calendar. In Taiwan, just because they like being completely different, it’s year 97. No, it’s not 1997 or 2097 or anything like. It’s just “Year 97” (the years started in 1911 when Dr. Sun Yat Sen brought an end to the Ching Dynasty and started the Republic of China, otherwise known as Taiwan. This is only in Taiwan. Mainland Chinese don’t use this calendar since the revolution was in Taiwan). According to the Taiwan Calendar, year 97 is nothing. It’s just Year 97, since the Chinese Zodiac signs don’t apply to the Republic of Taiwan years.
Even more confusing is when the three calendars are mixed. Elsewhere the world, the date would be expressed as “February 19, 2008.” In Taiwan, however, we would say it is 97.2.19, from the Taiwan Year combined with the Roman day and month. Even though I know this, I’m constantly doing double takes when I watch Taiwanese news and see footage of some crime that happened in “96” thinking “Why would they show something so old?”
Then sometimes you have full Chinese dates, such as in writing. Then you must know that Monday is the first day of the week, Saturday is the 6th day, and Sunday is just “Week day” and not given a number. This confuses me a lot, also, as I’m used to Sunday being the first day and now, whenever someone gives me a date to meet them on “the 4th day of the week” I end up doing mental arithmetic for a few seconds before I realize they want to see me on Thursday.
Then you have lunar dates, according to the Chinese Lunar Calendar. Today might be February 19, 2008 or 97.2.19 according to the Roman and Taiwan calendars, repsectively. According to the Lunar Calendar, however, it’s the 13th day of the 1st month of the year of the rat. The days don’t have names, nor do the months, and the years don’t have numbers. No one really uses these dates anymore, but the Taiwanese feel inclined to include them on most calendars. Farmer’s used to use them, since they relied on the lunar cycles to know when to plan crops and harvest and whatnot.
The lunar calendar does have modern-day purposes, actually. Birthday’s are celebrated according to your lunar birth date; deaths are remembered and mourned on your lunar death date, and names are assigned according to your lunar birth date (They have large books where you look up your lunar birth date, do some calculations, and find a suitable name for your child). Other than that, it’s pretty much just for show and if you could somehow manage to work it into a conversation (“Hey Frank, want to meet me at noon on the 12 day of the 3rd month this year of our mouse?”) I’d imagine you’d look pretty damn smart and manage to impress (or confuse) a handful of Taiwanese.
All in all, it’s just another confusing aspect of living in Taiwan and learning to love the language and culture. I’ve got a few more ideas for blogposts, but school is starting again and I’m about to get busy. Hopefully I’ll get back to you on 97.2.23.
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