Editing Chinese calendar (section)

==Etymology==
The name of calendar is in {{zh|c=曆|p=lì}}, and was represented in earlier character forms variants ({{lang|zh|歷, 厤}}), and ultimately derived from an ancient form ({{lang|zh|秝}}). The ancient form of the character consists of two stalks of rice plant ({{lang|zh|禾}}), arranged in parallel. This character represents the order in space and also the order in time.<ref>{{Cite web |script-title=zh:秝 |url=https://humanum.arts.cuhk.edu.hk/Lexis/lexi-mf/search.php?word=%E7%A7%9D |website={{lang|zh|漢語多功能字庫}}}}</ref> As its meaning became complex, the modern dedicated character ({{lang|zh|曆}}) was created to represent the meaning of calendar.

Maintaining the correctness of calendars was an important task to maintain the authority of rulers, being perceived as a way to measure the ability of a ruler. For example, someone seen as a competent ruler would foresee the coming of seasons and prepare accordingly. This understanding was also relevant in predicting abnormalities of the Earth and [[Astronomical object|celestial bodies]], such as lunar and solar [[Eclipse|eclipses]]. The significant relationship between authority and timekeeping helps to explain why there are 102 calendars in Chinese history, trying to predict the correct courses of sun, moon and stars, and marking good time and bad time. Each calendar is named as {{lang|zh|＿＿曆}} and recorded in a dedicated calendar section in history books of different eras. The last one in imperial era was {{lang|zh|時憲曆}}. A ruler would issue an [[almanac]] before the commencement of each year.  There were private almanac issuers, usually illegal, when a ruler lost his control of some territories.

There are various Chinese terms for the calendar including:

* Nongli Calendar ({{zh|links=yes|t=農曆|s=农历|p=nónglì|l=agricultural calendar}})
* Jiuli Calendar ({{zh|links=yes|t=舊曆|s=旧历|p=jiùlì|j=Gau6 Lik6|l=former calendar}})
* Laoli Calendar ({{zh|links=yes|t=老曆|s=老历|p=lǎolì|l=old calendar}})
* Zhongli Calendar ({{zh|links=yes|t=中曆|s=中历|p=zhōnglì|j=zung1 lik6|l=Chinese calendar}})
* Huali Calendar ({{zh|links=yes|t=華曆|s=华历|p=huálì|j=waa4 lik6|l=Chinese calendar}}) [[File:Chinese Calendar of 2017.png|thumb|alt=See caption|2017 Chinese calendar]]

[[File:Chinese Calendar(Daoguang 15).jpg|thumb|alt=Handwritten calendar|Page of a Chinese calendar containing monthly information in the years [[Daoguang]] 14–16, corresponding to 1834–1836]]

Various modern Chinese calendar names resulted from the struggle between the introduction of Gregorian calendar by government and the preservation of customs by the public in the era of [[Republic of China (1912–1949)|Republic of China]].<ref>{{cite journal |author1=朱文哲 |script-title=zh:西曆·國曆·公曆——近代中國的曆法"正名" |script-journal=zh:史林 |date=2019 |volume=6 |url=http://www.qvip.net/article-9896 |access-date=2023-01-27 |archive-date=2023-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127145432/http://www.qvip.net/article-9896 |url-status=live }}</ref> The government wanted to abolish the Chinese calendar to force everyone to use the Gregorian calendar, and even abolished the Chinese New Year, but faced great opposition.  The public needed the astronomical Chinese calendar to do things at a proper time, for example farming and fishing; also, a wide spectrum of festivals and customs observations have been based on the calendar.  The government finally compromised and rebranded it as the agricultural calendar in 1947,<ref>{{cite web |script-title=zh:中華民國三十六年標準農曆通書 |url=https://taiwanebook.ncl.edu.tw/zh-tw/book/NCL-9910008216 |access-date=2023-01-27 |archive-date=2023-01-27 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230127142624/https://taiwanebook.ncl.edu.tw/zh-tw/book/NCL-9910008216 |url-status=live }}</ref> depreciating the calendar to merely agricultural use.

{| class="wikitable"
|+ Some modern names of Chinese calendar and Gregorian calendar
! Chinese calendar !! Gregorian calendar
|-
| {{lang|zh|唐曆, 華曆,}} Chinese calendar|| {{lang|zh|西洋曆, 洋曆, 西曆}}, Western calendar
|-
| {{lang|zh|舊曆, 老曆, 古曆}}, old calendar || {{lang|zh|新曆}}, new calendar
|-
| {{lang|zh|陰曆}}, lunar calendar || {{lang|zh|陽曆}}, solar calendar
|-
| {{lang|zh|傳統曆}}, traditional calendar ||
|-
| {{lang|zh|農曆, 農民曆}}, agricultural calendar ||
|-
| {{lang|zh|夏曆}}, The first dynasty calendar ||
|-
| {{lang|zh|黄曆, 黄帝曆}}, Yellow Emperor calendar || 
|-
| || {{lang|zh|公曆}}, public calendar, namely universal calendar or common calendar
|-
| || {{lang|zh|國曆}}, national calendar
|-
| {{lang|zh|皇曆}}, Imperial calendar (obsoleted)
|-
|}

After the end of the imperial era, there are some almanacs based upon the [[algorithm]] of the last Imperial calendar with longitude of [[Peking]].  Such almanacs were under the name of "universal book" {{lang|zh|通書}}, or under Cantonese name {{lang|yue|通勝}}, transcribed as [[Tung Shing]].  Later these almanacs moved to new calculation based on the location of [[Purple Mountain Observatory]], with longitude of 120°E.