Before January 1, 1912, when the Gregorian calendar was adopted by the nascent Republic of China, Chinese people had been using the traditional lunar calendar for more than 3,000 years. The earliest evidence of the Chinese Lunar Calendar is found on the oracle bones of the Shang Dynasty (late second millennium BC).
The origin of the lunar calendar is based on the various cycles that can be seen while watching the moon. These cycles are an effective way to follow the lunar calendar and can be traced to its origin. Making a comparision between the Gregorian calendar and Chinese lunar calendar, the main difference lies in the dates of one year. In the solar year there are 365 days, while in the lunar year there are nearly two weeks less, with 354 days.
Used in conjunction with the Gregorian calendar, the Chinese lunar calendar is put into place to keep track of events within religion as well as events within the community, for example Chinese people celebrate Chinese Spring Festivaland Lantern Festival in lunar calendar. As these events are often based upon the lunar calendar but exist within the solar calendar, the dates may change from year to year, with the date each year becoming earlier until a full cycle has been completed. There are times when the lunar calendar reaches a similar time to the solar calendar, approximately every twenty-three years.
If someone did a survey to investigate which is more widely used in China, Gregorian calendar may win in the cities but Lunar Calendar would be the winner in rural area. There are some things related to Chinese Lunar Calendar believed by traditional Chinese people, for example in the 3rd and the 17th days of the months are unlucky, The year of Dragon is considered perfect to have children as Dragon stands for power in China, the year 2000 saw a huge baby boom just because it was the year of the Dragon. Couples get married on lucky days foretold by fortunetellers, predict is given according to the day, month, and year when the bride and groom were born, the fortune-teller decides whether the two are compatible or not.
