The Chinese calendar is a combined solar/lunar calendar in that it strives to have its years coincide with the tropical year and its months coincide with the synodic months. In ancient China, the calendar was a sacred document, sponsored and promulgated by the reigning monarch. For more than two millennia, a Bureau of Astronomy made astronomical observations, calculated astronomical events such as eclipses, prepared astrological predictions, and maintained the calendar. Although China uses the Gregorian calendar for civil purposes now, the traditional calendar is used in countryside and some important festivals in China are determined by Chinese calendar. - An ordinary year has 12 months, a leap year has 13 months.
- An ordinary year has 353, 354, or 355 days, a leap year has 383, 384, or 385 days.
When determining what a Chinese year looks like, one must make a number of astronomical calculations:
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