Hsia Calendar

Introduction

The Hsia Calendar (夏历) is also known as the Ten Thousand Year Calendar (万年历). Unlike the Chinese Lunar Calendar, the Hsia Calendar is a Chinese solar sexagenary calendar system, based on a cycle of 60-years.

Purpose

For a given date and time of birth, the Hsia Calendar is used to obtain the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches with which to construct the Four Pillars of Destiny (四柱) of a person. The Four Pillars of Destiny are also known as the Ba Zi (八字), literally the Eight Characters of a person's birth. In ancient China, one use of this form of divination was to select a suitable marriage partner.

The Four Pillars of Destiny are the Year Pillar, the Month Pillar, the Day Pillar and the Hour Pillar. Each Pillar is made up of two components, namely the Heavenly Stem and the Earthly Branch, both of which are read from the Hsia Calendar.

The Hsia Calendar is also used in various types of Feng Shui, or Chinese Geomancy, such as the Flying Star Feng Shui.

Seasons

There are twelve Seasons (SS) used in the Hsia Calendar. These are based on the relative position of the sun.

Numeral	Season	Notation
1	Early Spring	SS1
2	Mid Spring	SS2
3	Late Spring	SS3
4	Early Summer	SS4
5	Mid Summer	SS5
6	Late Summer	SS6
7	Early Autumn	SS7
8	Mid Autumn	SS8
9	Late Autumn	SS9
10	Early Winter	SS10
11	Mid Winter	SS11
12	Late Winter	SS12

Years

The following is a list of Gregorian calendar years represented in the Hsia Calendar system:

1900s

1910s

1920s

1930s

1940s

1950s

1960s

1970s

1980s

1990s

2000s

2010s

2020s

2030s

2040s

References

Joey Yap, "The Ten Thousand Year Calendar - Your Definitive Reference For Feng Shui and Chinese Astrology", JY Books Sdn Bhd; 3rd edition (2004). ISBN: 9834076150

Vincent Koh, "Hsia Calendar: 1924-2024", Asiapac Books (1998). ISBN: 981229077X