The 1911 Revolution in China , the Chinese Calendar , the Imaginary Qi and Healing : Translating Li Fa into an Australian Chinese Calendar and into an English Edition of the Northern Hemispherical Chinese Calendar * #

One of the consequences of the 1911 Revolution in China was the political demise of the traditional Chinese calendar li fa. As China adopted the Gregorian Calendar, the modern Western time system replaced the premodern Chinese time system. This resulted in the fracturing of the ‘unified field of all existence’ of various premodern traditional Chinese practices including traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Using a new understanding of science and other knowledge systems as local and situated, I translate and adapt the traditional Chinese calendar to the conditions of the Southern Hemisphere in Australia. An English rendition of the Northern Hemisphere Chinese Calendar is also made. I see the concepts of qi, yin and yang, the five-elements/agents/phases wu xing and the Eight Trigrams/Hexagrams of the Book of Changes yi jing as imaginaries, which animate both our human bodies and other bodies in the universe. Thus, in commemoration of the centenary of the 1911 Revolution or Xin Hai Ge Ming in China, we celebrate the birth of a Chinese Calendar in the Southern Hemisphere—The Australian Chinese Calendar.


The 1911 Revolution and the Traditional Chinese Calendar Li Fa
One of the consequences of the 1911 revolution in China was the political demise of the Traditional Chinese Calendar or li fa 1 .On the first of January 1912, Sun Yat-sen announced the establishment of the Republic of China in Nanjing and was inaugurated as the provisional president of China's first republic.In the "Inaugural Announcement of the Provisional President", the unity of "Chinese races as one" was greatly emphasized.Subsequently, on January 2, 1912, Sun Yat-sen informed all provinces that participated in the uprising against the Qing imperial rule that 'the Yin calendar, had been abolished and replaced by the Yang calendar' [Wikipedia, 2011].The "fourth year of the Xuantong 宣統 emperor (1911), calculated using the lunar calendar would be followed by the first year of the Republic (1912), calculated using the solar calendar" 2 [Harrison, 2001;Qiu et al., 1994].The "Era of the Republic of China" was promulgated, and 1912 was officially declared as the first year of this historical period.January 1 st 1912 was declared officially as the first day of the Republic and years would be counted successively from 1912.On October 1, 1949, the People's Republic of China adopted the Western Gregorian Calendar [Wilkinson, 2000] 3 .Hence, since 1912, as China adopted the Western Gregorian Calendar and the Greenwich Mean Time, the modern Western time system replaced the pre-modern Chinese time system.The traditional Chinese calendar was translated or rendered in a one-sided fashion into the image of the 'universe' of the Western Gregorian Calendar and the Greenwich Mean Time.The 'primordial unity of the system of space with the system of time' or yu zhou 宇宙 in Chinese was replaced by the Newtonian 'doctrine of absolute space and time' [Liu, 1974].
According to Shu hsien Liu in a paper entitled 'Time and Temporality: The Chinese Perspective' published in Philosophy East and West in 1974, this doctrine never developed in pre-modern China.Instead, Shu Hsien Liu (quoting the late Chinese contemporary philosopher Thomé H. Fang) saw The 'Universe' or 'Cosmos', as expressed in Chinese, is 'Yü-Chou', designating Space and Time.* Annotated translation.# This paper was presented before the Chinese Studies Association of Australia (CSAA) 12th Biennnial Conference held at the Australian National University on July 13-15, 2011.The theme of the conference was an assessment of the historical impact of the Xinhai Revolution of 1911.This paper was also subsequently presented before an Academic Seminar organized by the Asia Institute at the Sidney Myer Asian Centre , The University of Melbourne on April 4, 2012. 1 Li fa is a Chinese word which refers to the traditional Chinese calendar TCC in contemporary times. 2 Hence, 1913 is referred to then as min guo er nian while 1914 would be referred to as min guo san nian while min guo ba jiu nian would be the year 2000 [Wilkinson 2000].
What we call 'Yü' is the collocation of three-dimensional 3 Annotated Also please refer to the exact date when the People's Republic of China adopted the Gregorian Calendar in Fang Shi Ming's Zhongguo lishi jinianbiao 中国历史纪年表 [Ming, 1982].

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spaces; what we call 'Chou' (zhou) is constituted by the one dimensional series of changes in succession-the past continuing itself into the present and the present, into the future.Yü and Chou, taken together, represent the primordial unity of the system of Space with the system of Time.Yüchou without a hyphen, is an integral system by itself to be differentiated, only later on, into Space and Time.The four-dimensional unity of Minkowsky and the Space-Time of S. Alexander even cannot adequately convey the meaning of that inseparable connection between Space and Time that is involved in the Chinese term 'Yüchou'.The nearest equivalent to it would be Einstein's 'Unified Field'.Yüchou as the Chinese philosophers have conceived it, is the unified field of all existence.
In the pre-modern Chinese time system (which is the Traditional Chinese Calendar), Shu Hsien Liu contended that 'space and time are not to be separated from the actual content or happenings of the world, material and spiritual'.'The 'Universe' or Yüchou is seen by the Chinese philosophers to embrace within itself a physical world as well as a spiritual world, so interpenetrated with each other as to form an inseparable whole.It is not to be bifurcated, as is done in Western thought into two realms which are mutually exclusive or even diametrically opposed' [Liu, 1974].
I believe these 'two realms' refer to the 'realm of the abstracted theoretical world' (theory) and the 'realm of the real world' (practice) [Tiquia, 2011].This is a received view in Western science which looks at all knowledge including the pre-modern 'traditional Chinese natural studies' [Elmam, 2003] as "a mere abstraction of the world out there" [Tiquia, 2011].The American philosopher of science Joseph Rouse in his critique of this representational view in science said that "theoretical representations is indifferent to local conditions" [Rouse, 1987].
In essence, the political demise of the traditional Chinese calendar in 1911 fractured the 'unified field of all existence' [Liu 1974] i.e. the ontology and epistemology of various pre-modern traditional Chinese natural studies and their corresponding practices including traditional Chinese medicine chuantong zhongyi 傳統中醫, chronoacupuncture ziwuliuzhu, astronomy tianwenxue calendrical studies li fa, geomancy feng shui etc.In the process, we lost a valuable pre-modern calendrical tool that mimics nature's temporal order tianshi 天時 which in reality enhances the organic unity between humanity and nature tian ren heyi 天人合一.

What Is the Traditional Chinese Calendar (TCC)?
Li fa is a Chinese word which refers to the traditional Chinese calendar in contemporary times.The Chinese character li was translated into English as 'calendar' and 'astronomy' [Wieger, 1965].The Taiwan based International Encoded Han Character and Variant Database defines li fa as "a methodology of calculating the motion of the sun, moon, stars and planets as well as the flow of the seasons" [Zhongyang yanjiuyuan, 2010].Wang Bing 王冰, a Tang Dynasty medical scholar who re-arranged and made commentaries on the Plain Questions Su Wen [Fan, 1984] volumes of The Yellow Emperor's Manual of Corporeal Medicine4 Huangdi Neijing, referred to the Chinese calendar as 'calendrical records'-liji 曆紀 and saw the calendar as "allocated records of the movements of the sun and the moon in 365˚ (days) around the 28 lunar lodges (asterisms) ershiba xiu 二十八宿 in the celestial sphere5 ." The traditional Chinese calendar li fa is also referred to in the Chinese language as lishu 曆書, yinli 陰曆, huangli 黃曆, tongshu 通書, etc.It is currently referred to as jiuli 舊曆 or 'the old calendar' [Wilkinson, 2000].Richard Smith in his book Chinese Almanacs saw the traditional Chinese calendar as a 'distinctly Chinese response to the universal need of societies to compartmentalise time and order space [Smith, 1992].Lu Yang 卢央 in a chapter he penned for the Anthology of Research on the Inner Cannons Neijing yanjiu luncong saw the traditional Chinese calendar as a system of arranging the temporal cycles of the year nian 年, lunar months yue 月 days ri 日 and double-hour time periods shi 時 to suit the economic production and life needs of society.According to Lu, to suit the needs of medical treatments and the discipline of 'nurturing life' yang sheng and in line with the outlook of seeing an intimate relationship between nature and human life, The Yellow Emperor's Manual on Corporeal Medicine repeatedly cited the phenomena of the flow of the seasons as well as climate and weather changes.In this way it could not but deal with the issue of the traditional Chinese calendar [Yang, 1982].
The pre-modern Chinese lunisolar calendar is a very complex but very reliable spatio-temporal map, which aids us to "calculate our position in time, space and the universe" [Dalby, 2007].It affords one the opportunity to experience the universe (that is the continua of space-time) in both the Northern and Southern hemispheres of the globe.It is a time tested reference tool in "comprehending the rhythms of the earth and the seasons" [Dalby, 2007].
But the traditional Chinese calendar (TCC) is an "instinctive calendar" that "all nature (humans and non-humans6 ) follows" [Bredon & Mitrophanow, 1927].It is an embodiment of the pre-modern traditional "beliefs, habits and preferences" 7 of the Chinese people.It is a fundamental component of Chinese classical culture which evolved over four millennia.A significant component of this pre-modern culture and system of belief is actors.Its use marks a shift in how the role of humans is perceived and discussed.Rather than traditional perceptions of humankind as a superior species, the term is used to highlight that humans co-exist with other living species and are embedded within complex systems that support their survival on Earth" [Wikipedia, 2011]. 7Professor Jocelyn Chey, a Chinese Studies academic and former diplomat saw 'culture' as 'intangible' 'being composed of beliefs, habits and preferences' largely preserved and propagated through language.In a speech before the New South Wales branch of Charteris, Prof. Chey stated that 'culture is intangible, being composed of beliefs, habits and preferences.It is preserved and disseminated largely through language (which is why it is so important to preserve Aboriginal languages in Australia) but it is not the same as language.It is not preserved or embodied in cultural institutions.For instance, religious belief is part of culture, but churches are institutions and, as everyone knows, there is a considerable gap between churches and religious belief.Religious and other beliefs evolve and change, while institutions struggle to keep up, the former evolving more quickly than the latter.' [Chey, 2011].R. TIQUIA the philosophy and culture of qi.

The Centrality of the Philosophy of Qi in the
Traditional Chinese Calendar and in the "Unified Field of All Existence" of Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) The idea of qi 氣 which is sometimes transliterated as chi or chhi 8 , or 'Ki' 9 or translated into English as 'primary ether' [Graham, 1958], 'material force' [Ng, 1993], or as the origin of the universe, as expressed in the chapter 'Disquisition on Astrology' tian wen xun in the ancient classic Huai Nan Zi 淮南 子 (written in 120 BC).The Huai Nan Zi, stated: In the beginning, nothing had physical shape, and the first spontaneous formations were the continua of space and time (yu zhou).Out of these were produced the original chi.This Chi was heavy and stable, but its lighter part rose and became the sky.The heavy and turbid part gathered and became earth.The gathering of the heavy substance took time, and hence the sky was formed earlier.
Then the chi of sky and earth met and became yin and yang.The active chi of the yin and yang became the four seasons, and as this chi of the seasons scattered it formed the various phenomenal things of the earth.The hot chi of yang gathered and became Fire.Next, the essence of the chi of Fire became the sun.The cold chi of yin gathered and became Water.The essence of the chi of Water became the moon.The encounter of the chi of the sun and the moon gave rise to the stars [Yosida, 1973].
Together with the concepts of the Yin and Yang, Five Elements Wuxing, the Eight Trigrams and Sixty Four Hexagrams of the Yijing (Book of Changes) 10 , I see qi as an ontological/epistemological entity or 'imaginary'.It can be seen as an 'imaging figure, a metaphor or a narrative that has realness achieved in the emergence of gradually clotting and eventually routinized, sets of embodied, in-place actions' [Verran, 2005].Imaginaries, imaging figures and narratives can be seen as similar to "Foucault's epistemes, Kuhn's paradigms, Callon, Law and Latour's actor-networks, Hacking's self-vindicating constellations, Fujimura and Star's standardized packages and boundary objects and Knorr-Certina's reconfiguration" [Turnbull, 1996], David Turnbull's 'assemblage' [Turnbull, 2000], and Donna Haraway's 'vision metaphor' [Haraway, 1991].An assemblage is a translation medium [Tiquia, 2011] through which an equivalent version of an entity is rendered.Qi, together with the yin and yang 陰陽, the five elements/agents/ phases and the eight trigrams of the Book of changes 八挂易 經, animate both our human bodies and the bodies of the universe around us [Tiquia, "The Qi", 2011].
Qi, in its earlier uses referred to 'floating clouds', the breath and the atmosphere between heaven and earth.The Chinese character is written with one set of strokes signifying flowing current, and another representing a 'seed' or 'grain', signifying minuteness [Tiquia, 1986] and a 'tangible physical form' wu xing zhi zhi 有形之质 [San & Sun, 1985].Origin stories have it that the universe emerged from cosmological confusion period as the light, bright Yang qi ascended to become Heaven, and the thick heavy yin qi descended to become Earth.During the historical period of the Warring States in China (475-221 BC) it became accepted that 'all things with tangible physical form' you xing zhi zhi 有形之质 [San & Sun, 1985] in the universe originated from an 'invisible qi' wu xing zhi qi 无形 之气 [San & Sun, 1985].Later, during the Eastern Han Dynasty, qi came to be understood as the most basic substance which constitute the cosmos, and that things are the products of its multitudes of transformations or 'evolutionary operations' hua.During the Song dynasty, Neo-Confucianism 11 drew on the Confucian classics as well as early texts such as the Huai Nan Zi to formulate a cosmogony predicated on the "Dichotomy of principle", contrasting li and qi; this in turn paved the way to a new vitalist ontology that emerged in the seventeenth century.Founded on materiality and the actualities of life, this new way of thinking gave rise to a vitalism centered upon qi [Ng, 1993].

Harmonizing with Nature's Temporal Order
Tian Shi: Restoring Traditional Chinese Medicine's Pre-Modern Spatio-Tsemporal Order in a Postmodern Globalised World At the threshold of this postmodern epoch of "humanized modernity" characterized by a growing "disbelief in the metanarratives of science, rationality and objectivity, where lived lives, the diverse, the complex the unique" are favored, and more importantly the local, which "acknowledges individuality, complexity and subjectivity of personal experience" [Chan & Chan, 2000] as well as the organic unity of man (humanity) and heaven (nature) tian ren he yi i.e. "the natureworld and the humanworld being organically of one qi" tian ren tong qi ye 天人同气也 [San & Sun, 1985], there is a pressing need for restoring traditional Chinese medicine's pre-modern spatio-temporal order in a postmodern globalised world [Tiquia, 2008].
In pre-modern traditional Chinese medicine, climate change qihou bianyi 氣候變易is always contingent upon the 'time and season' shi 時, 'two-hour time period' shi chen 時辰, 'day' ri 日, 'lunar month' yue 月, 'seventy two pentads' qishier hou 七十二候, 'twenty four Climactic Periods' ershisige jieqi二十 四個節氣, 'four seasons' si shi 四時, 'year' nian 年 or sui 歲 and 'sixty spatio-temporal units' jia zi 甲子 [Tiquia, 2008].And 'climate change', which is now referred to in modern Chinese as qihou bianhua, as seen from the perspective of the Yellow Emperor's Manual on Corporeal Medicine is one of those 'natural time sequences' shi xu 時序 that 'mark' changes and transformations in 'nature' tian 天.Paraphrasing the Yellow Emperor's Manual, the pre-modern TCM scholar/ practitioner 8 Joseph Needham uses this Wade Giles transliteration of qi.He also translates qi as 'pneuma, subtle matter, matter-energy, or energy present in organized form' [Needham,1962]. 9Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz refers to qi as ki [Rosemont & Cook, 1977].Yuasa Yasuo, in his book The Body Self-Cultivation and Ki-Energy, also transliterates qi as 'ki' or 'ki-energy' [Yasuo,l993]. 10"Trigrams gua.The basic forms of the Book of Changes are provided by the eight trigrams.The lines forming these trigrams are either whole (male) or broken (female).Each trigrams consists of three male or female lines; and according to the make-up, the trigram symbolises heaven, earth, water, fire, dampness, wind, thunder or mountains.The trigrams can be superimposed upon each other, and in this way 8 × 8 = 64 hexagrams are obtained.These 64 hexagrams provide the essential text of the oracle book, the Yi-jing; the rest of the material consists of commentary, elaboration and legend.Marcel Granet has described it as 'the cosmos in capsule form" [Eberhard, 2003].
11 Neo-Confucianism as formulated by Zhu Xi (1130-1200) saw the world as based on dao, expressed through both principle (li) and qi (understood as the material embodiment of the dao) [Chan,1963].

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Yang Ru Hou (1861Hou ( -1928) ) stated: The cosmic yin and yang qi of the 'sky/heaven/celestial sphere' tian and 'earth/terrestrial sphere' di ascend and descend and climatic weather conditions during the 'four seasons' resonate with these changes.Humanity must harmonize and adapt to these changes as well.During spring and summer seasons, one must nurture the cosmic yang qi; while during the autumn and winter seasons one must nurture the cosmic yin qi.In this way, unusual illnesses will not come about [Hou, 1941].

Guo Ai Chun's Dictionary of The Yellow Emperor's Inner
Cannons Huang di neijing cidian, defines tian shi (temporal order of nature) as the 'time sequence in the occurrence of changes and transformation in nature including the twenty four Climactic Periods jie qi, weather and climate qihou, the phases of the moon yue xiang yuanque, fine and cloudy weather conditions yin qing and the alternation of the seasons i.e. winter and summer season han shu [Chun, 1991].Quoting from the 'Plain Question Volumes' of the Yellow Emperor's Manual on Corporeal Medicine, he provided a classical literary basis for his definition.
When doing acupuncture, one must closely observe the movements of the sun ri, moon yue, stars xing, planets chen, the four seasons si shi, Eight Climatic Periods ba zheng zhi qi which all together generate the qi (weather and climate).Once qi (weather and climate) has settled down ding, then administer acupuncture.During those bright cloudless days when the weather is warm, human blood flow is smooth while the Protective qi (wei qi) floats to the surface of the body.Conversely, during cold, cloudy days with very little exposure to the sun, one's blood flow becomes choppy.The Protective qi does not flow up to the surface of the body but rather sinks deep inside the body12 .At the time when a new moon comes about, new blood xue and qi also come about, and the Protective qi flows unimpeded.When the moon is perfectly round, blood and qi fill up the muscles which make them strong.However, as the moon becomes 'empty' yue kuo kong, the acupuncture meridians jing luo also become 'empty'; the human muscles become weak and the Protective qi 'departs' wei qi qu 13 Hence the physical body is left on it's own 形獨居.Hence regulate the flow of qi and blood in accordance with the 'temporal order of nature' 天時 [Chun, 1991].
And it is through the medium of 'nature's temporal order' tian shi that the 'invisible qi becomes 'visible'.In his foreword to Chen Shu Tang's book ziwuliuzhu shuo au (Demystifying Chronoacupuncture), Chen Shu Tang 陈述堂 stated: The Primary qi in the celestial sphere assumes no visible form that one can see tian zhi yuan qi wu xing ke jian.Observing and following the flow of the shi chen (two-hour periods/twelve lunar months) on Earth to which the 'handle' of the Big Dipper points out to, one comes to realize its (qi) presence guan dou jian zhi chen ji ke zhi yi [Tang,1991].
In a commentary on the cosmogony of the Huainanzi, John Major observed that an important but rarely noted feature of this cosmogony is that "everything is made of qi.Qi is both a process and substance, and comes into being as a concrete manifestation of space-time" [Major, 1993].

The Natural Spatio-Temporal Order(s) Mimicked by the Traditional Chinese Calendar That Make Visible the Presence of Human Qi
The Twenty Four Climactic Periods The encyclopedic reference book 中 国 文 化 知 识 精 华 Zhongguo wenhua zhishi jinghua [Essential Reference Materials on Chinese Culture and Knowledge] edited by Wang Jian Hui 王建辉 and Yi Xue Jin 易学金 [Hui & Jin, 1989] provides good introductory materials on the Twenty Four Climactic Periods.It sees the twenty-four Climactic Periods as 'mimicking' a particular natural spatio-temporal sequential order that reflects a corresponding climate and weather changes in a particular spatial regional territory.In other words, they designate the twenty-four spatial locales along the planet Earth's revolutionary orbit around the sun.Astronomically speaking, the number of longitudinal degrees is used to designate the sun's position along the ecliptic.The whole breadth of the ecliptic comes to 360˚.The Climactic Period of "Vernal Equinox" chunfen dian 春分点 sits' on 15˚ of the ecliptic.Six Climactic Periods make one season, while twenty four Climactic Periods collectively constitute the "four seasons".As early as the Spring and Autumn Period (770-476 BC) in China's history, through agricultural production, people in China began designating four of the twenty-four Climactic Periods i.e. "Vernal Equinox", "Summer Solstice" Xiazhi, 'Autumnal Equinox' Qiufen and "Winter Solstice" Dongzhi.At the time of the Qin-Han (221-220 BC) historical period, the concept of the 'Twenty Four Climactic Periods' had been firmly established and had become an important spatio-temporal tool in agricultural production.Below is a table showing the four seasons, the twentyfour Climactic Periods and the date that they occur in both the Traditional Chinese Calendar and the Western Gregorian Calendar [Hui & Jin, 1989].Please refer to Table 1.
"Gnomon"14 Gui Biao 圭表-An Ancient Astronomical Instrument Used to "Locate" the Twenty Four Climactic Periods Jie Qi During remote antiquity yuan gu, people noticed the shadow cast by the ray of the sun on certain bodies of things.They also noticed that the length and orientation of the shadow changed as the sun changed position.Gradually, people began to use bamboo poles or erect structures made from stones as 'tools' to observe these changes in the shadow cast by the sunlight.This then gave rise to the most ancien astronomical instrument-the The classical Chinese word hou 候 is a monosyllabic polysemous Chinese word which means 'to observe'; 'sites on the surface of the human body where the movements of the arterial pulse are felt'; 'weather and climate'; 'to wait' or a temporal order or seasonal period of five days (a 'pentad'15 ) duration when specific phenological change occur [Chun, 1991].
In Chapter 9 'The Six Segments and the Phenomena of the Human Endogenous Organs' Liu jie cang xiang lun 六節藏象 論篇弟九 of the Plain Questions volumes of the Yellow Emperor's Manual used the classical Chinese word hou in the sense of phenological changes occurring within the temporal order of five days.
The lapse of five days brings about one hou (phenological change).Three five days makes one Climactic Period.Six Climactic Periods make one season shi.And four seasons make a year sui [Nanjing zhongyi, 1981].In his book The TCM Discipline of the Circulation of Qi' Zhongyi yunqixue [En, 1982], Cheng Shao En translated the above quote into a modern setting with its pre-modern meanings intact.Cheng first of all in analysing the phrase "the lapse of five days brings about one hou" defined hou as 'the external manifestations of the transformation and motion that the yin and yang qi undergo.Specifically, it can refer to the various actions, motions and changes that flowers, grasses, trees, fishes, birds and beasts manifest as they are 'touched and propelled'迫 使 by the motions, transformations and changes that the yin and yang qi go through.Cheng added that the phrase "five days" refers to the cyclical flow of the five elements of wood, fire, earth, metal and water 16 .
Coincidentally, in a five day time period, there are sixty 'double-hour time periods' shi chen (which make one Sexagenary Jia Zi 甲子 cycle jia zi or a Sexagenary Gan-Zhi 干支 (Stem and Branch) cycle.
As an example, during the Climactic Period of 'Spring Be-gins' Lichun the three phenological changes which come about are: 1) 'The east wind melts the ice' dong feng jie dong 東風解 凍.
During the span of the first phenological change chu zhi hou 初之候, with the arrival of the yang qi, that which is firm and congealed begins to melt.In the first instance, frost starts to melt along the eastern regions of China.As a result, 'the east wind melts the frost' and gradually 'water begins to flow'.At this time/season, while the weather could still be very cold in the eastern regions of China, however, ice and snow which 'faces the sun' begins to melt.These 'changes' mark the beginning of the phenological period hou of 'The east melts the ice' [En, 1982].In the book, Cheng Shao En arranged all the seventy two pentads and the twenty four Climatic Periods in a table and their occurrence during the twelve lunar months.On the other hand, in her book East wind melts the ice a memoir through the seasons (2007), Liza Dalby, an American anthropologist specializing in Japanese culture translated the seventy two pentads into English and applied the temporal order of the seventy two pentads in tending her garden in Berkeley California [Dalby, 2007.].I have adopted most of Liza Dalby's English translation of the 'seventy two pentads'.

The Flow of the Gan Zhi Sexagenary Cycle
"Time for the Chinese is forever flowing without beginning nor end".And 'it is customary for the Chinese people to use the Kan-Chih system' [Liu, 1974] to mark the passage of spacetime.There are ten heavenly stems shi tian gan and twelve Earthly Branches shi er di zhi.An alternating and sequential combination of the two sets of Chinese scripts make a cycle of sixty lunar years nian, lunar months yue, days ri and 'two-hour time periods' shi chen in a day.
In his Masters degree thesis ( 2004), Li Shao Yao from Taiwan Xuan Zang Institute of Humanities and Culture argued that the ten Celestial Stems gan and the twelve Earthly Branches zhi constitute a system of spatio-temporal codes or symbols.He said: Gan zhi refers to both the ten Celestial Stems and twelve Terrestrial Branches.The Celestial Stems are: Jia, Yi, Bing, Ding, Wu, Ji, Geng, Xin, Ren, Gui.While the Terrestrial Branches are Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai.The Gan [Stems] Zhi [branches] are symbols or codes18 that the ancient people in China used to record the passing of time as well as one's spatial position in the universe ji shi he ji fangwei de fuhao [Yao, 2004]. 16I see the notion of the 'Five Elements' wu xing of mu 木 (wood), huo 火 (fire), tu 土 (earth), jin 金 (metal) and shui 水 (water) as comparable to the Western notion of the Four Elements in the sense that in both philosophical systems the elements constitute the ultimate roots of all natural things [Tiquia, "The Qi", 2011]. 17This system of telling time which originated from the historical period of the Western Han dynasty (202 BC-AD 23) was referred to in Chinese as ' the system of telling time in accordance with the twelve double-hour periods' shi er chen ji shi fa.It supposedly evolved from an earlier system called tian xiang ji shi fa ('recording time in accordance with the celestial phenomena' [Hua, 1991]).
In the chapter on "Chronology" of his book Chinese History A Manual, Endymion Wilkinson pointed out that the gan zhi sexagenary cycle was originally a significant part of the premodern counting system in China.In the chapter, he described that the gan zhi sexagenary cycle was constructed by combining two sets of 'counters'-a 'denary' and a 'duodenary' R. TIQUIA counter, whereby a 'stem' gan and a 'branch' zhi are combined sequentially without duplication generating sixty unique combinations.The 'denary cycle' is referred to in Chinese as shi tian gan (ten Celestial Stems) while the 'duodenary cycle' is referred to as shi er di zhi (twelve Terrestrial Branches).Below is a table of the denary and duodenary counters of the Ten Celestial Stems and Twelve Terrestrial Branches gan zhi.(Please refer to Table 2 'The Denary and Duodenary Counters of the Ten Celestial Stems and Twelve Terrestrial Branches gan zhi [Wilkinson, 2000]. The individual units of the ten Celestial Stems and the twelve Terrestrial Branches are combined without duplication in a sequential and ordinal manner giving rise to a new set of spatio-temporal 'codes'.The first unit of the Celestial Stem in the denary counter, Jia, is paired with Zi 子 (the first unit in the duodenary Terrestrial Branch counter) and a 'new spatio-temporal code' Jia Zi is 甲子 formed.Then the second unit in the denary Stem cycle, Yi 乙, is combined with Chou 丑, (the second unit in the duodenary Terrestrial Branch cycle) and a new spatio-temporal code Yi Chou 乙丑 is formed.Following this, the third unit in the denary counter of the Celestial stem Bing 丙 is combined with Yin 寅, the third unit in the duodenary counter of the Terrestial Branch, and a 'new spatiotemporal code' Bing Yin 丙寅 is formed.And finally, the tenth unit in the denary counter of the Celestial Stem Gui 癸 is paired with you 酉, the tenth unit in the duodenary of the Terrestrial Branch and a new spatio-temporal code is formed-Gui You 癸酉.
At this juncture, there are still two un-paired units in the denary counter of the Terrestrial Branch: Xu 戌 and hai 亥.They should be paired respectively with the first and second units in the denary counter of the Celestials Stem.Jia is paired with Xu 戌 forming the new code Jia Xu 甲戌 while Yi 乙 is paired with Hai 亥 forming a new code Yi Hai 乙亥.Subsequently, the third Celestial Stem Bing 丙 is combined with the first unit Zi 子 in the denary of the Terrestrial Branches forming the new code Bing Zi 丙子.From this point on, the rest of the remaining units are paired in both the denary counter of the Celestial Stems and duodenary counter of the Terrestrial Branches.Upon reaching the new code Gui Hai 癸亥, sixty new codes are generated.To begin another sexagenarian gan zhi cycle one has to start again from the beginning when the first unit in the denary counter of the Celestial Stem, Jia 甲, is combined with Zi 子, the first unit in the duodenary counter of the Terrestrial Branch.(To follow the sequential flow of the sexagenary gan zhi year cycle, please refer to (Table 3) The 78 th Sexagenary Gan Zhi Year Cycle 19 with associated 'Elements', 'Zodiac', 'Ordinal Sequence' and 'Qi categories'.

The System of Recording the Passing of Lunar Months in accordance with the Spatio-Temporal Codes of the Ten Decimal Celestial Stems and the Twelve Terrestrial Branches Gan Zhi Ji Yue Fa
Using the system of recording the passing of the lunar months in accordance with the spatio-temporal codes of the Celestial Stems and Terrestrial Branches gan zhi, in essence, is similar to the system of recording the passing of years as previously illustrated.Both systems generate a cycle of sixty 'new spatio-temporal codes'.However, one must be reminded that according to the rules of constructing the TCC, on the lunar month where one finds the Climactic Period jie qi of Winter Solstice dongzhi is supposed to be the eleventh lunar month Jian zi zhi yue 建子之月.What follows the eleventh lunar month is the 'twelfth lunar month' Jian zhou zhi yue 建丑之月.This is followed by the first Lunar Month of the following year which is referred to in Chinese as zheng yue 正月 or as Jian yin zhi yue 建寅之月(the Terrestrial Branch yin lunar month).
As an example, if the first lunar month is Bing Yin, then the second lunar month is Ding Mao, while the third lunar month is Wu Chen, while the fourth lunar month is Ji Si (please refer to Table 4).The following rules are followed: 1) When the lunar year's Celestial Stem is Jia 甲 or ji 己, then the Celestial Stem of the 1 st Lunar month will be Bing 丙.
2) When the year's Celestial Stem is Yi 乙 or Geng 庚, then the Celestial Stem of the 1 st Lunar Month of that year will be Wu 午.
3) When the year's Celestial Stem is Bing 丙 or Xin 辛, then the Celestial Stem of the 1 st Lunar Month will be Geng 庚.
4) When the year's Celestial Stem is Ding 丁 or Ren 壬, then the Celestial Stem of the 1 st Lunar Month will be Ren 壬.
5) When the year's Celestial Stem is Wu 戊 or Gui 癸, then the Celestial Stem of the 1 st Lunar Month will be Jia 甲 [Hua, 1991].
As an example, the year 2011 is the xin mao nian 辛卯年 (please refer to the Sexagenary gan zhi Year Table ).This year's Celestial Stem is xin 辛 .Hence, in accordance with the abovementioned rules, the Celestial Stem of this year's 1 st Lunar Month should be Geng 庚.I referred to the Ten Thousand Years Standard Western Gregorian Calendar and Traditional Chinese Calendar Conversion Book-Table 標準中西對照萬年 曆 [Zhe, Sen, Long, & Hua, 2007] and checked the gan zhi for this month and found out that it is geng yin .In order to facilitate the calculations of the lunar months of the year, the above corresponding relationships between the year, lunar months, and ten Celestial Stems and twelve Terrestrial Branches are illustrated in (Table 4)

The Gan Zhi Sexagenary Cycle of the 'Two-Hour Time Periods' Gan Zhi Ji Shi
Generally speaking, each of the 'two-hour time period' shi chen is represented and recorded with the use of just one of the twelve Terrestrial Branches.And one day and night makes one cycle yi tian yi ge zhou qi.And when one of the twelve Terrestrial Branches is paired with one of the ten Celestial Stems, they then become the 'paired stem and branch' gan zhi system of recording the chronology of the twelve 'two hour time-periods' in a day.These ' two-hour time period' gang zhi cycle begins with the paired Stem Jia and Branch Zi Jia Zi and ends with the Stem Gui and Branch Hai forming a ' two-hour time period' gan zhi sexagenary cycle'.This means that a cycle of five days (consisting of 60 two-hour time periods) forma cycle zhou er fu shi.Six five days cycles constitute 30 days (which is close to the duration of one month).
19 "The invention of the Sexagenary Cycle liushi huajiazi is ascribed to Ta Nao (Da Nao) 大撓 a minister of the Emperor Huang Ti (Huangdi).Huang Ti (The Yellow Emperor) commenced his reign in the year 2697 BC and the first year of the First Cycle dates from the sixty-first year of his reign, i.e. 2637 BC Thus the year 1905 is the 42 nd year of the 76 th Cycle or the 4542nd of the system of Cycles, the longest unbroken chronological period on record" [Kliene, 1905].
The twelve Terrestrial Branches di zhi, which are fixed in a day/night, are paired with the Celestial Stem of the day dang ri The denary and duodenary counters of the ten celestial stems and twelve terrestrial branches.de tian gan forming the gan zhi (stem and branch combination) which are used to designate the chronology of the sexagenary gan zhi cycle of the 'two-hour time periods' in a number of days.The following rules are followed in arraying the gan zhi sexagenary 'two-hour time periods' cycle: 1) When the Celestial Stem of the day ri is Jia 甲 or Ji 己, then at the Zi 子 'two hour-time period' shi chen (11 pm-1 am), the Celestial Stem (of the 'two-hour time period' shichen) should be Jia 甲.

Gan Stems Cycle
2) When the Celestial Stem of the day is Yi 乙 or Geng 庚, then at the Zi 子 'two hour time period (11 pm-1 am), the Celestial Stem should be Bing 丙.
3) When the Celestial Stem of the day is Bing 丙 or Xin 辛, then on the Zi 子 'two hour-period (11 pm-1 am), the Celestial Stem should be Wu 戊.
4) When the Celestial Stem of the day is Ding 丁 or Ren 壬, then on the Zi 子 'two hour-period (11 pm-1 am) the Celestial Stem should be Geng 庚.
5) When the Celestial Stem of the day is Wu 戊 or Gui 癸, then on the Zi 子 'two hour-period' (11 pm-1 am) the Celestial R. TIQUIA

Table 4.
The Sexagnary gan zhi lunar months cyclical table [Hua, 1991] Please refer to (Table 5).The Five Days Sexagenary gan zhi Cyclical Flow of the 'Two-hour Time Period' shi chen and Figure 2 showing a picture of a 'Two-hour time periods' alarm clock shi chen xing zhong

The 'Double-Hour Time Period' and the Human Acupuncture Meridians
Chronoacupuncture Ziwuliuzhu 子午流注 is a natural pattern of spatio-temporality discovered and developed by ancient medical sages in China.It is a spatio-temporal system characterized by a correspondence between the twelve 'two-hour time periods' and the twelve human acupuncture meridian system.The relationship between the twelve 'two-hour time periods' and the twelve human acupuncture meridians can be understood as one whereby humanity is seen as an integral part of nature.Human life activities and habits must correspond with the natural spatio-temporal patterns of nature.The physiological activities of the human endogenous organs zang fu 臟腑 must be closely linked up in a very orderly manner with the ebb and flow of the cycle of the twelve two-hour periods.
On account of the changes in the continuous flow of time ('two-hour time periods'), the circulation of the qi and blood R. TIQUIA

Table 5.
The five days sexagenary gan zhi cyclical flow of the 'two-hour time periods' shi chen [Hua, 1991].
xue along the different acupuncture meridians ebb and flow at different times of the day/night.Grasping the natural spatiotemporal pattern of the flow and pooling of the qi and blood xue along the twelve acupuncture meridians is of great benefit to the practice of 'nurturing life' yang sheng 養生 and the use of yao wu20 .
The medical philosophy of TCM holds that one should 'follow nature's temporal order' yin tian zhi xu 因天之序.This means that we should follow the human body's own natural order of motion21 i.e. the motion oriented towards the east, south, west and northern cardinal directions which in turn corresponds respectively to the seasons of spring, summer, autumn and winter.The four seasons in turn correspond to the phases of life development i.e. 'the coming-into-being sheng fa 生發, growth sheng zhang 生長, gathering-in shou lian 收斂, hibernation and storage shou cang 收藏.If one goes against this natural order of motion, one then can fall ill.And if one abides by this natural order of motion, one will have good health and longevity.
Hence, in TCM's disciplinary study of chronomedicine Zhongguo shijian yixue 中國時間醫學, the twelve Terrestrial Branches are referred to as the 'circadian ('about a day') rhythm of the flow of qi and blood along the twelve human meridians'.The circadian rhythm of the flow of qi and blood in general refers to the ebb and flow of the yin (blood) and yang (qi) in the human body.The circulatory flow begins from the Lung Meridian at the Yin two-hour period (3 am-5 am) and terminates at the Liver Meridian at the Chou two-hour period (1 am-3 am).One two-hour time period equals two hours of the modern time system [Wu & Song, 2009].(Please refer to Table 6 on the correlations between the twelve two-hour time periods and twelve human meridians) 22 .

Translating the Traditional Chinese Calendar Li Fa into the Conditions of the Southern Hemisphere
At this threshold of a new epoch of humanist modernity, a new understanding of science as a knowledge system is emerging.In place of universalizing theories, there is recognition of locatedness and situatedness as the fundamental characteristics of scientific knowledge.Situatedness of scientific knowledge is 'feminist objectivity' and 'limited location' which makes us 'become answerable for what we learn how to see' [Haraway, 1991].This recognition comes from several sources: the sociology of knowledge (SSK) as developed in Great Britain, French translation theory, the work of symbolic interactionist It should be clear why I used the word translation.In addition to its linguistic meaning (relating versions in one language to versions in another one) it has also a geometric meaning (moving from one place to another).Translating interests means at once offering new interpretations of these interests and channeling people in different directions [Latour, 1987].This offers the possibility of a local and situated interpretation of other knowledge systems.Using this methodology, I translate the traditional Chinese calendar li fa to the local conditions of Australia.
Living in our contemporary world dominated by abstract, universalizing and modernistic temporal systems such as the Gregorian calendar (with its Northern Hemispherical bias) and Greenwich Mean Time (with its de-localizing bias) presents huge challenges for those of us living in the Southern Hemisphere who wish who wish to follow health practices according to the principles of living in harmony with local space, local time and local culture.
Furthermore, for those of us living in the Southern Hemisphere, there is the added challenge of practising TCM according to the foundation principle of 'differentiating clinical patterns and associating yao' 辯證論藥.This is a practice based on highly situated health and therapeutic practices dispensed in accordance with clearly defined complex temporal phases and periods set on the basis of the ancient Northern Hemispherical traditional Chinese calendar li fa.In the absence of an adaptation of the Traditional Chinese Calendar for the Southern Hemisphere, it is almost an impossibility to practise 'differenti-ating clinical patterns and associating yao'.
To address this problem, I researched the ancient Traditional Chinese Calendar and adapted its core principles to produce the Australian Chinese Calendar.With this calendar, it will now make it possible to follow best practice in TCM and harmonize the flow of our qi with the flow of nature's temporal order here in the Southern Hemisphere.In addition, through the use of this calendrical tool, we can 'reverse' the clinical activities of 'differentiating clinical patterns and associating yao in accordance with the flow of the seasons here.For example, by using this calendar, it is now possible to forecast, prevent and clinically manage 'seasonal diseases' shi bing 時病 brought about by external factors wai gan bing (influenza type conditions) as the calendar will indicate the likely spatio-temporality of this condition's genesis, its prevention, and specific, effective diurnal time periods in which to treat it effectively [Tiquia, 2010].

Finding the Twenty Four Climactic Periods Jie Qi in the Southern Hemisphere
To 'reverse' the flow of the twenty-four Climactic Periods in the Southern Hemisphere, I worked with scientists and astronomers from the Melbourne Planetarium.To find the precise dates and time that the twenty four Climactic Periods appear in the Southern Hemisphere in our time zone (AEST), I establish the date when the solar longitude reaches a 'station' along the ecliptic as seen from this time zone.Using an on-line Wise Observatory computer facility <http://wise-obs.tau.ac.il/~eran/Wise/Util/SolLon.html>,I input data on the year and the solar longitudinal degree of the location of the twenty-four Climactic Periods.Then I 'hit' the 'calculate Julian day' button to get the universal time.Subsequently, I converted the universal time to my local time zone i.e Australian Eastern Standard Time [Bush, 2007].Having done these calculations, I located the dates/time that the twenty four Climactic Periods occur in the AEST time one in Australia (Please refer to Table 7).z R. TIQUIA  [Bagnall, 2006] which contains a table in the appendix section of the book of the various phases of the moon in the Southern Hemisphere from the years 2006-2010.According to the rules followed by Purple Mountain Observatory (1984) in Nanjing, China, in constructing the Chinese traditional calendar, 'the first day of a calendar month is the day on which the astronomical New Moon (i.e., conjunction) is calculated to occur' [Doggett, 2011].
Having calculated the location of the twenty four Climactic Periods as well as the first days of the twelve lunar months in the Southern Hemisphere, I proceeded then to set the first day chu yi of the first month zheng yue of the year of the of Rat Year.To do this, I first marked out the exact dates of the twenty-four Climactic Periods onto a Gregorian calendar (for the years [2007][2008].Then using a Chinese language 'TCC-Western Gregorian Calendar Conversion Book/Table ' [Shang Ren, 2007]  After executing the above procedure over a staggered period of time, I was able to establish the first day of the first month of the Australian Chinese Calendar for the year 2007.It fell on the New Moon of August 13 th 2007.This date was our 'spring festival' or chun jie 春節 in the Southern Hemispherical region of Australia for this year.At the same time, based upon my calculation, our 'Spring Festival' turned out to be six months ahead of the date of the festival in the Northern Hemispherical region/countries including China.Hence, we were six months ahead of China in celebrating the Year of the Rat wu zi nian 戊 子年.The next Spring Festival in Australia was on the 7 th of August 2008.This is also the 7 th day of the 1 st lunar month of the Ox year (ji chou nian 己丑年. After locating the twenty four Climactic Periods and aligning them with the seventy two pentads qi shi er hou and tallying the sixty gan zhi temporal units for the years, months and days with the days and months of the Gregorian calendar for the year 2008 (Rat Year Ji Chou Nian), these data were entered into a free 2008 calendar template that I secured from the world wide web.The first Australian Chinese Calendar was thus constructed [Tiquia, 2008].

The Main Features of the Australian Chinese Calendar
Firstly, like any contemporary Chinese language traditional Chinese calendar in China, it contains both elements of the Western Gregorian calendar and elements of the traditional Chinese calendar.The Western Gregorian calendar days as well as the Chinese lunar calendar days of the months are both indicated.For example, for the 1 st day of January 2011, the calendar lists the following data: Saturday 1 NEW YEAR 27 th day of the 5 th lunar month Gui Chou Day January 1 st and Saturday are days of the Gregorian Calendar while the "27 th day of the 5 th Lunar month" indicates a day of the Traditional Chinese Calendar that corresponds to January 1, 2011 of the Gregorian Calendar.Gui Chou is the Celestial Stem and Terrestrial Branch gan zhi of this particular day in the Southern Hemisphere.As one would have noticed, the 1 st day of January 2011 is also the 27 th day of the 5 th Lunar Month.If we compare this date to the same date on the Northern Hemisphere traditional Chinese calendar li fa, we will discover that the 1 st of January 2011 (Tiger Year Geng Yin Nian) of the Gregorian Calendar corresponds to "27 th day of the 11 th Lunar Month".This shows that the calibrated Australian Chinese Calendar is half a year ahead of the Northern Hemisphere traditional Chinese Calendar.The first day of the 1 st Lunar Month Zheng Yue (our Australian Spring Festival Chun Jie) occurred in August 10 th 2010.This means that we began the "Year of the Rabbit" Xin Mao Nian six months ahead of the countries in the Northern Hemisphere.R. TIQUIA mode compared to the traditional Chinese calendar li fa.For example January 20 th is the Climactic Period of 'Severely Hot' (one of the Climactic Periods of the summer season).Compare this with the Chinese Calendar in the Northern Hemisphere, one will see that on the 5 th day of January 2011 we find the Climactic Period of 'Slightly Cold' 小寒; while on the 20 th day of January, we find the Climactic Period 節氣 of 'Great Cold' 大寒.These are the Climactic Periods of the winter season.
Thirdly, in the Australian Chinese Calendar, a long discarded element of the traditional Chinese calendar-the 'seventy two pentads' qi shi er hou is added.
Finally, the spatio-temporal sexagenary gan-zhi cyclical units are used in the Australian Chinese Calendar to array the cyclical flow of the years nian, lunar months Yue, days ri and two-hour time periods' shi chen [Tiquia, 2011].
Using the enabling capacity of the internet, I am developing the Australian Chinese Calendar into an i-phone appliance that can translate the traditional Chinese sexagenary time system of the Lunar Year Nian/Sui, Lunar Month Yue, Days ri and 'Two-hour time periods' shi chen into the different times zones of the world 24 .This project can facilitate the reconstruction of the 'unified field of all existence' of the various pre-modern traditional Chinese art and practices in a transmodern 25 world like the traditional Chinese chronobiology Zhongguo chuangtong shijian shungwuxue, chronomedicine Zhongguo chuantong shijian zhongyixue 中國傳統時間中醫學, chronoacupuncture ziwuliuzhu zhenfa 子午流注針法, feng shui 風水, traditional Chinese organic farming Zhongguo shi de chuantong youji gengzuo 中國式的傳統有機耕作, and the traditional Chinese prognosticational yu ce 預測 systems of foretelling major climactic events (floods, draught), epidemics, natural disasters like earthquakes etc. in various localities of both hemispheres of the globe.

Commemorating the Centenary of the 1911
Revolution in China by Translating the Traditional Chinese Calendar into the Southern Hemisphere In commemoration of the centenary of the 1911 Revolution in China, the 'unified field of all existence' of the pre-modern traditional Chinese culture and civilization is hereby reconstituted in the Southern Hemispherical region of Australia.We celebrate the birth of the Australian Chinese Calendar in this region on this 31 st day Jia Shen ri in the month of July in the year 2011 Ren Chen nian.This date is the first day of the 'Year of the Dragon' Ren Chen Nian and hence our Spring Festival day in Australia in this year.At the same time an English edition of the 2012 Northern Hemispherical Chinese Calendar (Beijing Datetime) is hereby launched as well.

Figure 2 .
Figure 2. A double-hour time period alarm clock shi cehn xing zhong Qianlong eriod [Pin, 2002].P which converts the sexagenary gan-zhi cyclical years, months, days and 'two-hour time periods into the Gregorian Calendarical years, months and days, I tallied the days and months for the years 2007-2008.I wrote the Chinese gan-zhi (combination of the Celestial Stems and Terrestrial branches) on to the days, months and year on the wall activity calendar for the years 2007-2008 23 .

Table 1 .
[Hui & Jin, 1989] the twenty four climactic periods in both the traditional Chinese calendar and the western Gregorian calendar[Hui & Jin, 1989].For example, depending upon the orientation and length of the shadow cast by the sunlight, people used it to find their bearings or locate the Climactic Periods, as well as fix the length of a Tropical Year huigui nian 回歸年 which comes to 365.25 days.The gnomon is composed of an erect plate/dial biao and a ruler-like plate gui placed on the surface of the ground facing true north/south directions.This instrument was used as early as the middle of the era of the Spring and Autumn period in Chinese history[Ancient Astronomy of China, 2011].[Please refer to Figure 1 Ming Dynasty Gnomon].
gui biao (gnomon) which had many uses.The Seventy Two Hous:

Table 3 .
The 78 th Gan Zhi Sexagenary year cycle with associated elements, zodiac, ordinal sequence and qi categories. .

Table 7 .
The spatio-temporal positions of the twenty four climactic periods in the southern hemisphere (Australia) in the year 2007.

Locating the First Day of the First Lunar Month in the Southern Hemisphere and the Completion of the Construction of the Calendar
To locate the first days of the lunar months in Australia/, I consulted the book Easy Organic Gardening 2006 by Lyn Bagnall