The Calendar of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

[teoh@cs.utk.edu]

>From chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au Sat Apr 19 09:49:00 1997
From: CHUNG Yoon-Ngan <chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au>
Subject: The Calendar of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom



   The Calendar of Taiping Heavenly Kingdom

   China had been using the Xia Calendar (Lunar Calendar) since
the beginning of the Han Dynasty (206BC to 220AD).

   During the Qing Dynasty (1644AD to 1911AD) a Hakka called Hong Xiu Quan 
(1814AD to 1864AD) founded the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom (1851AD to 1864AD). 
He titled himself Tian Wang (Heavenly King), the Second Son of God and the 
Younger Brother of Juses Christ. He established his capital in Tian Jing
(present day Nanjing city in Jiangsu province). 

   He discarded the Xia Calendar and proclaimed that the new Kingdom was
to adopt a new calendar which was called Taiping Ri Li (Taiping Calendar).

   This calendar was unique because it was neither Solar nor Lunar
but somewhere in between. There were 366 days per year. Every odd
month ( January, March, May, July, September and November) had 31 days.
Every even month (Febuary, Apirl, June, August, October and december)
had 30 days. Thus it created three (3) extra days in every four (4) years
according to the Solar Calendar (there is a leap year of 366 days in every 
4th year). In 40 years time it had 30 extra days. 
   Then every month of that particular 40th year would have 28 days making 
a total of 336 days - just short of 30 days in the regular year. That was
to say it had wiped off the 30 extra days that had been accumulating for 
the past 40 years. Therefore it was back to square one.

   The 41st year would start again with 31 days in all the odd 
months and 30 days in all the even months making a total of 366 days
per year and so on until the 80th year which would have accumulated 
another 30 extra days and that particular year having only 336 days. 

   The first day of the first moon for the first year of the Taiping 
Heavenly Kingdom Calendar was Febuary 4, 1852. This Taiping Calendar 
was in use only within the areas which were under the control, and 
jurisdiction of the Taiping Heavenly kingdom.

  After the Taiping Heavenly Kingdom was crushed by the Qing Government
in 1864AD the Taiping Calendar was discontinued and had been forgotten
since.

  CHUNG Yoon-Ngan.   chungyn@mozart.collective.com.au