Editing Chinese calendar (section)

===Epochs===
{{See also|Epoch}}
{{Further|Chinese era name|Regnal year}}
An epoch is a point in time chosen as the origin of a particular [[calendar era]], thus serving as a reference point from which subsequent time or dates are measured. The use of epochs in Chinese calendar system allow for a chronological starting point from whence to begin point continuously numbering subsequent dates. Various epochs have been used. Similarly, nomenclature similar to that of the Christian era has occasionally been used:<ref>{{cite journal |author=Liu |first=Rong |year=2004 |trans-title=Subsidiary Relations in the Pre-Qin Period |script-title=zh:春秋依附关系探讨 |url=https://caod.oriprobe.com/articles/7940438/Subsidiary_Relations_in_the_Pre_Qin_Period.htm |journal=辽宁大学学报：哲社版 Journal of Liaoning University: Philosophy and Social Science Edition |volume=32 |issue=6 |pages=43–50 |access-date=2 May 2023 |archive-date=27 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230427153827/https://caod.oriprobe.com/articles/7940438/Subsidiary_Relations_in_the_Pre_Qin_Period.htm |url-status=live }}</ref>
{| class="wikitable"
!Era
!Chinese name
!Start
!Year 1
!{{CURRENTYEAR}} CE is year...
|-
|Yellow Emperor (Huángdì) year
|{{lang|zh-hant|黄帝紀年}}
|[[Yellow Emperor]] (YE) began reigning
|2697 BCE or 2698 BCE
|{{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}+2697}} or {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}+2698}}
|-
|Yáo year
|{{lang|zh-hant|唐堯紀年}}
|[[Emperor Yao]] began reigning
|2156 BCE
|{{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}+2156}}
|-
|Gònghé year
|{{lang|zh-hant|共和紀年}}
|[[Gonghe Regency]] began
|841 BCE
|{{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}+841}}
|-
|Confucius year
|{{lang|zh-hant|孔子紀年}}
|[[Confucius]]'s birth year
|551 BCE
|{{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}+551}}
|-
|Unity year
|{{lang|zh-hant|統一紀年}}
|[[Qin Shi Huang]] began reigning
|221 BCE
|{{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}+221}}
|}
No reference date is universally accepted. The most popular is the Gregorian calendar ({{zh|labels=no|p=gōnglì|t={{linktext|公曆}}|s={{linktext|公历}}|l=common calendar}}).

During the 17th century, the [[Jesuit China missions|Jesuit missionaries]] tried to determine the [[Epoch (reference date)|epochal year]] of the Chinese calendar. In his {{lang|la|Sinicae historiae decas prima}} (published in [[Munich]] in 1658), [[Martino Martini]] (1614–1661) dated the [[Yellow Emperor]]'s ascension at 2697 BCE and began the Chinese calendar with the reign of [[Fuxi]] (which, according to Martini, began in 2952 BCE).
[[Philippe Couplet]]'s 1686 ''Chronological table of Chinese monarchs'' ({{lang|la|Tabula chronologica monarchiae sinicae}}) gave the same date for the Yellow Emperor. The Jesuits' dates provoked interest in Europe, where they were used for comparison with Biblical chronology.{{citation needed |date=October 2018}} Modern Chinese chronology has generally accepted Martini's dates, except that it usually places the reign of the Yellow Emperor at 2698 BCE and omits his predecessors Fuxi and [[Shennong]] as "too legendary to include".{{Quote without source|date=October 2018}}

Publications began using the estimated birth date of the [[Yellow Emperor]] as the first year of the Han calendar in 1903, with newspapers and magazines proposing different dates. [[Jiangsu]] province counted 1905 as the year 4396 (using a year 1 of 2491 BCE, and implying that {{CURRENTYEAR}} CE is {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}+2491}}), and the newspaper ''[[Ming Pao]]'' ({{zh|labels=no|t=明報}}) reckoned 1905 as 4603 (using a year 1 of 2698 BCE, and implying that {{CURRENTYEAR}} CE is {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}+2698}}).{{citation needed |date=October 2018}} [[Liu Shipei]] ({{lang|zh|劉師培}}, 1884–1919) created the [[Yellow Emperor Calendar]] ({{lang|zh|黃帝紀元, 黃帝曆 or 軒轅紀年}}), with year 1 as the birth of the emperor (which he determined as 2711 BCE, implying that {{CURRENTYEAR}} CE is {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}+2711}}).<ref>{{Cite web |date=2020-08-01 |title=The Origin of the Yellow Emperor Era Chronology |url=https://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1097kaBVwNb.pdf |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200801082232/https://www2.ihp.sinica.edu.tw/file/1097kaBVwNb.pdf |archive-date=1 August 2020 |access-date=2023-05-02}}</ref> There is no evidence that this calendar was used before the 20th century.{{sfnb|Cohen|2012| p = 1, 4}} Liu calculated that the 1900 international expedition sent by the [[Eight-Nation Alliance]] to suppress the [[Boxer Rebellion]] entered Beijing in the 4611th year of the Yellow Emperor.

[[Taoism|Taoists]] later adopted [[Yellow Emperor Calendar]] and named it [[道曆|Tao Calendar]] ({{lang|zh|道曆}}).

On 2 January 1912, [[Sun Yat-sen]] announced changes to the official calendar and era. 1 January was 14 {{tlit|zh|pinyin|Shíyīyuè}} 4609 {{tlit|zh|pinyin|Huángdì}} year, assuming a year 1 of 2698 BCE, making {{CURRENTYEAR}} CE year {{#expr:{{CURRENTYEAR}}+2698}}. Many [[overseas Chinese]] communities like [[Chinatown, San Francisco|San Francisco's Chinatown]] adopted the change.{{sfnp|Aslaksen|2010}}

The modern Chinese standard calendar uses the epoch of the Gregorian calendar, which is on 1 January of the year 1 CE.