6
11 to 1 or noon, wa, Horse.
11 to 1, or midnight,
1 to 3-4th watch,
tsz', Rat.
chau, Cow.
1 to 3
wi, Sheep.
3 to 5-5th watch
5 to 7
7 to 9
9 to 11 -
yin, Tiger. || máu, Rabbit.
3 to 5 -
-
shin, Monkey
5 to 7
yu, Cock.
shin, Dragon. sz', Snake.
7 to 9-1st watch
siuh, Dog,
7 to 11-2d. do.
hái, Boar.
By prefixing to the characters the words Eching and kiáu, these twelve periods are divided into twenty-four hours: thus Eching-tsz' denotes midnight or 12 o'clock, and forwards to 1 o'clock; and
kiáu- tsz', denotes from 11 to 12 o'clock. The shi-shin, or two hour periods, are divided into eight kih
Di] – ti
剌
or quarters. Ching-máu yih kih E 卯
signifies a quarter past six in the morning; and kiáu-shin urh kih
二亥
denotes half past seven o'clock.
The night from 7 o'clock in the evening to 5 in the morning is also divided
into five kang, or watches, each watch consisting of one shí-shin, or of two hours.
In reference to the compass, Tsz' is the North, Wú the South, Miu the East, and Yu the West; the other eight are intermediate points between these. The 'ten stems' and 'twelve branches' are otherwise named after various animals, but are made use of in that way chiefly by the Manchus and Mongols.
The following characters, which are the names of the twenty-eight lunaṛ constellations, are likewise employed to designate the days.
2
3 Tí
角亢氏房心
Kwei
22 # Tsing
≈ * * * &
Wei
18昂 Miu
Máu 25星
井鬼柳星張翼
Kwei
Lig
Kioh
8
斗
Tau
15
奎
Káng
9 4:
Nid
16
婁 LG
10 女 No
17
胄
4
Fáng
11
扁 Ha
Sing
12 危 Wei
19 畢 Peih
26張 Chang
20 Tsz'
27 翼 Yih
7箕 Ki
14壁 Peih
21. 參 Tsán 28 軫 Chin
5 Sin
6尾 Wei 13 室 Shih
These characters are applied in regular order to the days of the month. Four of them (those printed in italks) always mark the Christian Sabbath, while the others designate the week days respectively. January 1st, 1851, is designated by the 28th character chin, and February 1st, the 1st day of the Chinese year, is marked 1⁄4y the 3d character, 14. See Anglo-Chinese Calendar for 1841 ; Chinese Chrestomathy, page 388.