Year of the Tiger

Here are our latest news, events, stories,
pictures from the China Mission Team.

In our January blog we greeted you Happy New Year…

but now we are doing it again:

February 14 marks the beginning of the Chinese New Year!

2010 Year of the Tiger

Chinese New Year is the main holiday of the year for more than one quarter of the world’s population. Although the People’s Republic of China uses the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes, a special Chinese calendar is used for determining festivals. Various Chinese communities around the world also use this calendar.

The beginnings of the Chinese calendar can be traced back to the 14th century B.C.E. Legend has it that the Emperor Huangdi invented the calendar in 2637 B.C.E.

The Chinese calendar is based on exact astronomical observations of the longitude of the sun and the phases of the moon. This means that principles of modern science have had an impact on the Chinese calendar.

Were you born during a Year of the Tiger?
 You were if you were born in one of these years:
1926, 1938, 1950, 1962, 1974, 1986, and 1998.

This is what the Chinese think of those born the Year of the Tiger:


Tiger

Sensitive, emotional and adventurous. Confident, risk takers and dislike taking orders. Good at seeing problems, but less able to see the solutions. Often seek a shoulder to cry on when feeling down. Warm and generous to the people they love.


Unbelievable!!!

Two oracle bones from the Shang Dynasty in China (c. 1800 - 1200 BCE)

Evidence from the Shang oracle bone inscriptions shows that at least by the 14th century BC the Shang Chinese had established the solar year at 365¼ days and lunation at 29½ days. In the calendar that the Shang used, the seasons of the year and the phases of the Moon were all supposedly accounted for.