Is the "Zodiac" based on "beginning of spring"?

Academic circles are also divided into two factions.

Lunar calendar algorithm: from the first day of junior high school

Taking New Year's Eve as the dividing point, that is, from the beginning of the Lunar New Year (the first day of the first lunar month), the method of calculating the zodiac appeared late, and the earliest record appeared in the Northern Song Dynasty. Now many people agree with this. Folklore experts believe that the zodiac should not be calculated according to the 24 solar terms. After all, the Spring Festival is the beginning of the Lunar New Year, and it is also the beginning of the Lunar New Year, so the zodiac naturally starts from the first day of the first month.

Wang Sichao, a researcher at Nanjing Purple Mountain Observatory of Chinese Academy of Sciences, agrees with this view.

Chronology of cadres and branches: counting from February 4th in beginning of spring.

Compared with folklore experts and Wang Sichao, CoCo Lee, secretary general of Jiangsu Astronomical Society, thinks that the zodiac should start in beginning of spring. According to reports, the method of taking beginning of spring as the standard of the zodiac began in the Shang and Zhou Dynasties. The current Chinese zodiac calendar, traditional numerology, divination and other folklore all take "beginning of spring" as the basis for calculating the Chinese zodiac.

"People nowadays rarely remember the old zodiac calendar, and naturally they can't remember the old zodiac algorithm." CoCo Lee said that in ancient China, heavenly stems and earthly branches was also used to record years, months and days. The expression of the zodiac is unique to the chronology of heavenly stems and earthly branches. "There are not only twelve zodiac signs, but also twelve o'clock. This system is different from the lunar calendar. " CoCo Lee said that the chronology of trunks and branches is based on the sun, and the alternation of heavenly stems and earthly branches began in beginning of spring every year. For example, the year of the horse is Wu Jianian, and the year of the sheep is B. According to the chronology of trunks and branches, the length of each year is about 365.25 days.

If you want to see a person's birthday, CoCo Lee said, "This is a day that strictly begins in spring."