feature

The construction of a Chinese

medical lunisolar calendar
1

for the Southern Hemisphere

By Rey Tiquia Whoever would study medicine alright must
learn of the following subjects. First he
Jie qi or subseasonal qi constitutes the solar component of the must consider the effect of the season
of the year and the differences between
ancient Chinese lunisolar calendar, which divides the year into 24 sub-
them. Secondly he must study the warm
seasonal phases, two in each month. From the perspective of and the cold winds, both those that are
pre-modern Chinese medicine, normal climate change qi hou bian common in every country and those
qian entails a harmonious flow of the qi that is beneficial to human peculiar to a particular locality. Lastly,
health. However, abnormal, abrupt, or out-of-season2 weather leads to the effect of water in health must not be
seasonal diseases3 or diseases brought about by external forgotten.
Hippocrates, Airs, Waters and Places5
influences or by the six excessive climactic qi etiological factors4.
Examples of seasonal diseases are influenza, the common cold,

T
sudden acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and heat stroke. However, HE Inner Classicb sees the life cycle
a
the flow of the subseasonal qi in Australia is the reverse of that of of humans as influenced and gov-
the Northern Hemispherical regions of China, the United States and erned by the laws of the four sea-
sons. The concept of the four seasons is
Europe. This leads to a desynchronisation of TCM practice and prac-
the foundation framework of the entire
titioners with the rhythm of the seasons in the Southern Hemisphere. book and refers to the changes and trans-
To address this, I have constructed a Chinese medical and agricultural formations of windc, coldd, summerheate
calendar that reverses the flow of the subseasonal phases. Having and dampnessf thereby constructing the
this tool, practitioners south of the Equator can better align their
clinical activities with the natural rhythm of the seasons. b. Neijing
c. feng
d. han
e. shu
a. Subseasonal qi, or subseasonal phases, is my translation of the Chinese word jie qi . f. shi

The Lantern 33
 translation
Dr Rey Tiquia PhD is
Honorary Fellow, School of
Historical and Philosophical
Studies, The University of
Melbourne.
34 Vol 9-2
doctrine of the six meteorological qig. This
phenomenon is placed under the category
of the skyh. The four seasonsi encompass
the natural changes involved in the life pro-
cesses of birthj, growthk, gathering inl and
storing and hibernationm. This establishes
the doctrine of the five elements/phases6
and comes under the category of the earth.
Together the doctrines of the five circulat-
ing elements/phases and the six meteoro-
logical qin explicates the phenomenon of the
four seasons. For the time being, I will leave
the discussion on the six qi and focus on the
five elements/phases.
Spring is the season of inception, with all liv-
o
ing things displaying their splendour sig-
p
nifying a pattern whereby the myriad of
living things begin to thrive. At this time
the vitality of the plant kingdom is marked.
Hence the Chinese script for the element
wood ( mu) is used to represent the
spring season.
The summer season is characterised by hu-
q
mid heat . The blazing sun shines like fire.
Hence the Chinese script for the element
fire ( huo) is used to represent summer.
In autumn, the leaves from the trees turn yel-
low and start to fall. The atmospheric qi is
r
harsh and raw. It is similar to an atmo-
s
sphere of war and destruction . Hence,
the Chinese character for the element met-
al ( jin) is used to represent the autumn
t
season. Weapons of war are metal.
During the winter it is very cold. Water is cold.
Winter is the opposite number of summer.
Water is the opposite number of fire. Hence
the Chinese script for the element water
shui) represents the winter season.
When summer arrives, one yin is born. The
u
extended summer season is at the middle
g. liu qi zhi shuo.
h. tian
i. si shi
j. sheng
k. zhang
l. shou
m. zang
n. wu yun liu qi.
o. chen fa
p. hou
q. ru shu
r. su sha zhi qi
s. bing ge
t.
u. chang xia
of the year. The climate during this time is
very humid . Hence the Chinese charac-
ter for the element earth ( tu) represents
the season of extended-summer.
Yun Tie Qiao, 1945
In the beginning, nothing had physical shape,
and the first spontaneous formations were
the continuum of space and time (yu zhou
). Out of these were produced the
original qi. This qi 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 qi of sky and earth met and became
yin and yang. The active qi of the yin and
yang became the four seasons, and as this
qi of the seasons scattered it formed the
various phenomenal things of the earth.
The hot qi of yang gathered and became
fire. Next, the essence of the qi of fire
became the sun. The cold qi of yin gathered
and became water. The essence of the qi of
water became the moon. The encounter of
the qi of the sun and the moon gave rise to
the stars.
Huainanzi8
The universe (yu zhou )
as a continuum of space-time
Yu zhou is an ancient Chinese word
commonly translated as universe or
cosmos. In volume one of the History of
Chinese Astronomyv, Chen Zun-Wei defined
yu zhou by quoting the Warring States (403-
221 BC) scholar Shi Jiao:
Above, below and the four directions9 are
collectively referred to as yu , while the
past, present and future are collectively
referred to as zhou .
So yu signifies space while zhou means
time or temporality. With the march of
history, the concepts of time and space also
developed. The boundaries of the universe
expanded as the study of astronomy moved
forward and space and time became the
objects of astronomical attention. Some
v. Zhongguo tianwenxue shi.

2300 years ago, our ancestors made a clear
explanation of exactly what they are. On the
other hand, in Europe, before the medieval
ages, there was only a philosophy on space.
It was not until the beginning of the 20th
century when Einstein put forward the
principle of the four dimensions that
people began to consider temporality,
or time. In 1974, writing for the journal
Philosophy East and West, Shu Hsien-Liu
made a similar definition of yu zhou. He
said:
Although the doctrine of absolute space and
time is discredited, it was once a dominant
theory in the West under the influence
of the great physicists like Newton. In
China, however, such a theory was never
developed.
As Thom H. Fang puts it: The universe
or cosmos, as expressed in Chinese, is yu-
chou, designating space and time. What
we call yu is the collocation of three-
dimensional spaces; what we call chou is
constituted by a one-dimensional series of
changes in succession the past continuing
itself into the present and the present into
the future. Yu and chou taken together
represent the primordial unity of the system
of space with the system of time. Yuchou,
without a hyphen, is an integral system by
itself, to be differentiated, only later on, into
space and time ... The nearest equivalent to
it would be Einsteins unified field. Yuchou
as the Chinese philosophers have conceived
it is the unified field of all existence. 14
Moreover, space and time are not to
be separated from the actual content
or happenings of the world, material
and spiritual. The uni-verse or yuchou
was seen by Chinese philosophers to
embrace within itself a physical as well as
a spiritual world so interconnected as to
form an inseparable whole. It is not to be
bifurcated, as is done in Western thought,
into two realms that are mutually exclusive
or diametrically opposed.
It is customary for the Chinese people to
use the gan-zhi . There are 10 heavenly
stems (gan) and 12 earthly branches (zhi).
A combination of the two makes a cycle
of 60 years. Time for the Chinese is forever
flowing without beginning or end.15
translation
Or as the Japanese scholar Mitukuni
Yosida cited above stated in his translation
of the Huainanzi, yu chou is a continuum
of space and time. As Professor Li-Chen Lin
from National Taiwan University observed: The uni-verse or yuchou
was seen by Chinese
The traditional Chinese rarely discussed space
philosophers to embrace
and time in abstract terms. They utilised
practical temporal and spatial concepts within itself a physical as
close to everyday human life. Early classical well as a spiritual world so
texts contain occasional references to the interconnected as to form
great cosmos (yu chou ; lit. space- an inseparable whole.
time), for example in the Mohist Cannon
(Mo Ching , the Book of Master
Shih (Shih tzu ), and the Book of
Chuang Tzu. Most often, however, time
and space were presented in the context
of how best to meet a certain moment
in time; hence, subjective and objective
conditions played a vital role. Therefore,
besides basic expressions for calendar time
like the four seasons (si shi ), the
24 divisions of the year (chieh chI ),
and the 12 divisions of the day (shi chen
), temporal discourse included many
expressions for time in the flux of human
affairs, such as opportune moment (shi
chi ), the opportunity (shi hui ),
how to exploit an opportunity (shi
yung ), and, the fitting response to
time (shi I ). The spatial expressions
usually indicated the place/position, such
as location (chu suo ), occasion
(chang ho ), place (wei chi )
and status (wei fen ). The classical
texts never broached abstract space or
dimensionality. Thus traditional Chinese
ideas about space and time differ radically
from the abstract concepts of time and
space in Western thought dominated by
mathematics and physics. And, the Book
of Change shaped the development of
Chinese thought in this vital area.
Shared origins of Chinese medicine
and the Book of Change
Many concepts in traditional Chinese
medicine trace their origins from the
classical philosophy embedded in the
oldest extant book in the world, the Book of
Change (Yi Jing ). The Yellow Emperors
Inner Classic (Huang Di Nei Jing
), which was written by several authors
The Lantern 35
 feature
from the period of the Warring
States up till the two Han dynasties,
absorbed essential elements from
the Book of Change that were then
creatively combined with the practice
of medicine and health during that
historical period. The doctrines of yin
and yang , five elements , qi
transformation , acutracts
, zang-fu internal organ network;
the notion of acutract association of
Chinese materia medica
; the doctrine of the ascent, descent,
floating and sinking tendencies of
materia medica ; the
four qi and five flavours , and so on. From the point of view
the doctrine of the five circulating
elements and six climactic qi , are under the influence of the sky
the doctrine of the temporal flow of
the qi and blood : all trace
their origins from the Book of Change
(Zu Xing, 2007, p. 42).
36 Vol 9-3
Nature and humanity are one
In the Book of Change, the trigram
qian represents the sky while
trigram kun represents the earth di
. Tian embodies the entire natural
world. It includes the entire yu zhou
space from the surface of the earth
to the whole of the sky including
all phenomena that humanity can
observe. This includes those entities
in the atmosphere above the earths
surface including the sun , moon
, stars , planets , the wind ,
thunder and lightning , rain , dew
of the Book of Change all living things
spatiality and human culture.
tian. On the other hand, the earth or
di , encompasses the human race as
well as all life that exists and subsists
on the surface of the earth. The earth
is humanitys homeland from
which it derives subsistence. No living
entity can depart the great earth and
continue to sustain physical life. Hence,
the sky is the origin of life, while the
earth is the foundation upon which all
life continues to exist. Humanity and
nature the sky and earth are
a unified indivisible whole (Zu Xing,
2007, pp. 26-27).
The movement of the universe in
circular and square diagrams
Practising Chinese medicine in the
Northern Hemispherical region of
w
China follows local temporality ,
x y
Historically, the practice of bian
w. shi.
x. di.
y. ren wen.
Diagram exploring the
origins of Chinese medicine
(orienting towards the south).
 feature

ak al
zheng lun zhi followed and fire is referred to as wood . The qi of
z am
continues to follow the circularity of time wood is warm. When ascending to its
an
(continuous cycle of the past, present and zenith the warmth increases in intensity
future cycle of the seasons) as well as the and becomes hot and subsequently
aa ao
quadratic nature of space (the sky above, the metamorphoses into fire. That one on The rotation of the axis
earth below and the directions east, south, the other side, which descends halfway
ap makes the pure qi spiral
west and north) with humanity occupying but has not formed into water yet is
aq up on the left. It then
the central spatio-temporal position. Chen referred to as metal. The qi of metal is
Ding-San 1880-1960), a classicist cool
ar
. When descending to its utmost metamorphoses into fire
Chinese medicine practitioner from Chinas limit the cool one increases intensity and turns hot.
Sichuan province and author of the book and becomes cold and eventually
ab
Exploring the Origins of Chinese Medicine , metamorphoses into water. Wood, fire,
drew a circular and quadratic diagram that metal and water are collectively referred
as
explores the temporal and spatial origins of to as the four images. The four
at
Chinese medicine. At left is a copy of this images subdivide and then embed the
au
diagram wherein my English translation is eight trigrams. They then occupy their
av
superimposed upon the Chinese scripts. I respective specific positions in heaven-
also append my translation of Chen Ding- earth (nature) such as the warm east, hot
Sans explanation of the diagram below. south, cool west and cold north. The four
aw
images spin around and an entire year
ax
Diagram exploring the fountainhead completes its cycle. The yang ascends
of Chinese medicine till before the end of the first half of the
ay
year while the yin descends till after the
az
When yin and yang have not parted, the end of the second half of the year. When
one qi is still in a congealed state. This half of the yang ascends, it is the spring
qi harbours the yin and yang. Hence, it season. When it completes its ascension,
ac
contains the pure and the impure. The it is the summer season. When half of
pure one floats and ascends while the the yin descends, it is the autumn season.
impure one sinks and descends. The one And when it completes its descent, it is
that ascends is yang while the impure the winter season. Spring is the season
ba
one that descends is yin. Thus yin and of birth while summer is the season of
bb
yang assume different positions i.e. growth. They are the qi of the element
they dichotomise into the two symbols. wood and fire respectively. Hence, it is
In between the pure and impure is the warm during spring and hot in summer.
ad ae bc
middle qi. The middle qi is the axis of Autumn is the season for gathering in ;
the ascending yang and the descending while winter is the season for storing
af
yin. This is the earth. The rotation
ag ak. wei cheng huo.
of the axis makes the pure qi spiral al. mu.
up on the left. It then metamorphoses am. wen .
ah
into fire and turns hot. The impure qi an. sheng ji.
spirals downwards on the right and then ao. hua.
ap. wei cheng shui.
metamorphoses into water and turns aq. jin.
ai aj
cold. On the side that which ascends ar. liang.
halfway and has not yet formed into as. si xiang. The four images are the Great Yang
, Small Yang , Small Yin and Great
Yin (K, Chimin Wong et.al. History of Chinese
z. yuan. Medicine. 16).
aa. fang. at. fen.
ab. yixue tan yuan. au. ba gua.
ac. qing zhuo. av. wei.
ad. zhong qi. aw. lun xuan.
ae. shu zhou. ax. yi nian er zhou.
af. tu ye. ay. yang sheng yu sui ban zhi qian.
ag. qing qi. az. yin jiang yu sui ban zhi hou.
ah. re. ba. sheng.
ai. han. bb. zhang.
aj. fang. bc. shou.

The Lantern 37
 feature

bd
and hibernation. They are the qi of the the Lungs.bv And when the yin descends
elements metal and water. The element further it becomes the Kidneys.bw The
be
earth has no special position. This Liver is categorised bx under the element
element thrives during the 18 days at the of wood; the Heart under the element
bf
Humanity and heaven- end of each of the other four seasons. fire; the Lungs under the element metal
bg
And the temporal space that it occupies and the Kidneys under the element water.
earth (nature) mutually
is on the sixth month of the traditional They are the human five elements.by
resonate with each other; bh
calendar. The earth element combines The five elements all have their respective
both receive yin and yang with the other four images and is yin and yang categorisations. The yin
to continue their existence. thus collectively referred to as the five categories generatebz the five visceral
However, on account of elements.
bi
organsca while the yang categories
excess or insufficiency, they Humanity and nature relate with each generate the six entrails.cb The Kidney
can fall ill. other interactively.bjYin and yang are the is the celestial stem gui watercc while the
original foundationbk that paved the way Urinary Bladdercd is the celestial stem ren
for the emergence of the primordial qi.bl water.ce The Heart is the celestial stem
This primordial qi is the grand polaritybm ding firecf while the Small Intestinecg is
of the human body.bn The primordial the celestial stem bing fire.ch The Liver is
qi contains and embraces the yin and the celestial stem yi woodci while the Gall
yang. In between the yin and yang is Bladdercj is the celestial stem jia wood.ck
the middle qi. The one at the middle is The Lungs are the celestial stem xin
the element earth. And the earth divides metalcl while the Large Intestine is the
into the celestial stems wu and ji . celestial stem geng metalcm. There is one
When the middle qi rotates on the left element among each of the five. However,
it is the ji earth. And when it rotates on the fire element is subdivided into the
the right it is the wu earth. Wu earth emperor and ministerial fires.cn Hence
is referred to as the Stomach,bo while among the organs, the Heart governsco
ji earth is the Spleen.bp The ji earth the yin of the emperor fire. While among
ascends.bq When the yin moves upbr it the entrailscp there is the Triple Burner,cq
metamorphosesbs into yang. The yang, which governs the yang of the ministerial
which ascends on the left side, is the fire. Humanity and heaven-earth (nature)
Liver.bt And when the yang ascends mutually resonate with each other;cr both
further above, it becomes the Heart.bu Wu receive yin and yang to continue their
earth descends. And when the yang moves existence.cs However, on account of excess
down it metamorphoses into yin. The or insufficiency, they can fall ill. This is
yin, which descends on the right side, is
bv. fei.
bw. shen.
bd. cang. bx. shu.
be. zhuan wei. by. shi ren zhi wu xing.
bf. si ji. bz. sheng.
bg. si ling zhi shi. ca. wu zang.
bh. xia li. cb. liu fu.
bi. wu xing. cc. gui shui.
bj. ren yu tiandi can ye. cd. pang guang.
bk. zhao ji. ce. ren shui.
bl. yuan you zu qi. cf. ding huo.
bm. tai ji. I am using Mitukini Yosidas English cg. xiao chang.
translation of the Chinese word . (Mitukuni ch. bing huo.
Yosida, The Chinese Concept of Nature, in Chinese ci. yi mu.
Science: Explorations of an Ancient Tradition, cj. dan.
Cambridge, MIT Press, l973, p. 82.) ck. jia mu
bn. ren shen. cl. xin jin.
bo. wei. cm. geng jin.
bp. pi. cn. er huo fen jun xiang zhe.
bq. shang xing. co. zhu.
br. sheng. cp. fu.
bs. hua. cq. san jiao.
bt. gan. cr. ren yu tiandi xiangying.
bu. xin. cs. bing hu yin yang er sheng.

38 Vol 9-3

the principle of qi transformationct and
as such is the fountainhead of Chinese
medicine.cu The essentials of the above
classical text have been assembledcw
into the illustration chart on Page 36.
The previous diagram with the yin yang
and five elements and the Spleen and
Stomach at the centre is the originating
point of the qi transformation of the sky,
humanity and earth.cx The next level
of circular diagrams represent before
the sky (xian tian) and after the sky
(hou tian) eight trigrams ba gua16 which
establish the Universal Order .cy
The next diagram represents the 24
palaces to differentiate the
earthly quadratic directions (time-
space)17. Hence, the subsequent circular
diagram represents the four directional
locales (south, north, east and west); the
four seasons and then the 24 subseasonal
phases which gives testimony to the
meeting between the sky and the earth.
The next circular diagram represents the
six qi governing the respective temporal
order; the six divisions governing the
respective seasons; and the final circular
diagram represent the five zang and the
six fu network systems. These should all
be linked with the Spleen and Stomach
at the centre and come together with the
yin, yang and five elements to make clear
the philosophy of the one qi that flows
through heaven, earth and humanity. If
this decree is brought togethercz then
the utmost limits of the beauty of creation
and generationda as well as the crucial link
in the opening and closing of the yin and
yang qidb may all be reached. Especially
with regards Chinese medicine, how is
it that this is not expressed explicitly?
Westerners, too, know that humans
cannot survive even for a short whiledc
ct. ci qihua zhi li.
cu. suoyi wei yixue zhi
yuan ye.
cv. jingwen
cw. .
cx. tian di ren.
cy. I am translating the Chinese concept of
tian ji into yu zhou or space-time.
cz. neng hui ci zhi.
da. zaohua shengchen zhi miao
db. yin yang he pi zhi ji.
dc. yi xi (one breath).
feature
when denied this substance [in the airdd]
that nurtures ones original constitutionde
which is the principal and secondary
factor that accounts for the changes,
transformations as well as harmony and Since China adopted
concordance in and among humans. In
the use of the Gregorian
actuality, this point must be the subject
of deep deliberation. This is the reason calendar and Greenwich
why this demonstration chart is referred mean time after 1911,
to here as the fountainhead yuan 18 of the traditional Chinese
Chinese medicine. farmers calendars has
evolved into a lunisolar
Spatio-temporality of the lunisolar calendar
calendar for the Northern Hemisphere
After establishing the cyclical and temporal
flow of the seasons on the face of the
quadratic earth, I mapped it onto a Chinese
medical and agricultural lunisolar calendar
(Northern Hemisphere) for the Year of
the Dragon ren chen nian , which
corresponds to the Gregorian calendar year
2012. To perform this exercise, I referred to
the Chinese language website www.nongli.
com, which features an online 10,000
years Chinese farmers calendar, nong li.
This online calendar covers the years 1600
to 2099.
Traditionally, the Chinese farmers
calendars, like Gregorian calendars, also
have 12 months. However, because the
Chinese farmers calendar follows the four
phases of the moon in accounting for the
months of the year, the days and months
do not coincide exactly with the Gregorian
calendar. Since China adopted the use of
the Gregorian calendar and Greenwich
mean time after 1911, the traditional
Chinese farmers calendars has evolved
into a lunisolar calendar (yin yang li
which simultaneously features the
Arabic numerals signifying the months of
the Gregorian calendar (eg. 1. yi yue for
January), and the days of the month written
from 1 to 31, as well as the traditional
Chinese numerical characters (eg. er
yue; second month); while the days are
written as (chu yi, the first day of
the month; chu er, the second day of
the month). However, the first day of the
dd. kongqi.
de. Mathews Chinese-English Dictionary (1962)
translates the Chinese phrase as nurture ones
original consitution (p. 1085).
The Lantern 39
 feature
first month of a new year like the Year of
the Dragon (2012) is referred to as exactly
the first day of the first month (
zheng yue chu yi). And this day is what is
With the emergence of iron referred to as the spring festival chun jie
. The first day of the first month of the
agricultural implements,
Year of the Dragon fell on January 23, 2012
seasonal requirements in of the Gregorian calendar.
agricultural production For the 12 months of both the Gregorian
became much greater, and Chinese farmers calendars, two of the
resulting in the evolution 24 subseasonal phases jie qi are featured in
of the concept of jie qi. the year 2012 of the online 10,000 years
Chinese farmers calendar wan nian li. For
example, for the month of February 2012,
the subseasonal phase of spring begins (li
chundf ) falls on February 4, while the
subseasonal phase rainwater (yu shuidg)
falls on February 19. Traditionally, in each of
the 12 lunar months of the Chinese farmers
calendar, there are two subseasonal phases
each of which spans exactly 15 days.
20
The subseasonal phases
Jie qi generally refers to jie ling or seasonal
changes. From the subseasonal phase of
spring begins (li chun) up to big cold In one year, the 24 subseasonal phases were
(da han) there are 24 phases. These phases
represent the interrelationships between
astronomy, the seasons, climate and
agricultural production. It is a cultural
legacy from ancient China. As an integrated
agricultural climate/weather calendar, it
has played a major role in agricultural
production in China and is still in use today.
During the early history of civilisation
in China, the notion of spring sowing ,
the growth of crops during summer , the
harvesting of crops during autumn and
the storing of crops in winter evolved in
response to the needs of seasonal patterns
in agricultural production.
At the time of the Spring and Autumn
and Warring States periods (475-221 BC),
df. li chun.
dg. yu shui.
dh. jie ling.
di. da han.
dj. tian wen.
dk. ji jie.
dl. qihou.
dm nongye shengchan
dn. chunzhong
do. xiazhang.
dp. qiu shou.
dq. dongcang.
40 Vol 9-3
with the emergence of iron agricultural
implements, seasonal requirements in
agricultural production became much
greater, resulting in the evolution of the
concept of jie qi. During this time, the
ancient sundial was put into use to
measure the suns shadow and thus fix the
subseasonal phases. In the beginning, there
were only the subseasonal phases of the
winter solstice and summer solstice. Next
the phases of the spring equinox, autumn
equinox, spring begins, summer begins,dw
autumn begins and winter begins were
added.
During the Western Han dynasty (202
BC to 23AD), the entire 24 subseasonal
phases were recorded in the Chinese
philosophical text Huainanzi (ca. 180-122
BCE). The direction where the handle of
the Big Dipper is pointing was used to fix
the temporal beginning of each of the 24
phases. Spring begins li chun was fixed
on the first phase of the first lunar month
of the lunisolar calendar, while the start of
the subseasonal phase of rainwater was
fixed at the middle of the first lunar month.
divided into 12 nodal qi and 12 middle
of the lunar month qi. Later in history, the
two major groupings of the subseasonal
phases were collectively referred to as jie qi.
John Major translates jie qi as solar
nodes. I translate jie qi as subseasonal
phases to make clear the subdivision of
each of the four seasons into six phases.
Astronomically speaking, the 24 jie qi
represent the 24 (apparent) positions of
the sun along the ecliptic as the earth
rotates and revolves around the sun. When
the sun is on 0on the ecliptic, it is the
beginning of the spring season li chun.
From this position, the subseasonal phases
dr. tugui.
ds. dongzhi.
dt. xiazhi.
du. chunfen.
dv. qiufen.
dw. lixia.
dx liqiu.
dy. lidong.
dz. zhengyue jie.
ea. yushui.
eb. jieqi.
ec. zhongqi.
ed. shi itaiyang zai huangdao
shang de weizhi.

follow in 15-degree intervals until the
entire 360 degrees expanse of the ecliptic
is covered. Coincidentally, in each month
of the Western Gregorian calendar, two of
the 14 subseasonal phases of the Chinese
lunisolar calendar are also accommodated.
The 24 subseasonal phases jie qi evolved
in the regions surrounding the lower
reaches of the Yellow River basin. Hence
the designated names and their meanings
reflect specific local characteristics of the
climate and season there.
Cyclical flow of the 60 gan zhi units
Time for the Chinese is forever flowing
without beginning or end, noted Thom
H. Fang. It is customary for the Chinese
ef
people to use the gan zhi to mark
the passage of time. There are 10 heavenly
stems (gan) and 12 earthly branches (zhi);
an alternating and sequential combination
of the two makes a cycle of 60 years,
months, days and two-hour periods shi
chen in a day.
ee. gongli.
ef. Shu-Hsien Liu, Time and Temporality: the
Chinese Perspective, in Philosophy East and West. Vol.
24, No.2 April 1974.
feature
eg
The cycle of 60
We can see from the below table of the 60
temporal gan zhi units that the Year of the
Dragon ren chen nian is on the 29th slot of
the 60 temporal gan zhi cyclical table. The
60 gan zhi temporal cycle is very important
in the practice of Chinese medicine. It is an
important practical temporal tool in the
acupuncture practice of zi wu liu zhu
(chrono-acupuncture) which is a
method of choosing and using acupuncure
points in dealing with a specific clinical
pattern zheng hou in accordance with
the spatio-temporal flow of qi and blood of
a specific patient. In addition, the 60 gan zhi
temporal cyclical system is also an imporant
tool in forcasting adverse (out-of-season)
weather/climactic conditions (bu shi zhi
qi) and the illnesses that come with them
on the basis of the ancient methodology
of the circulating five elements/phases
and the six climactic influences
. Hence, I have included the system of the
sexagenary gan zhi cyclical flow of the
eg. Yang Yi-Ya, What is the doctrine of the five
circulatory phases and the six climactic influences?
What are the correlationships between this doctrine
and the human body? in Zhong guo yi xue wen
da (TCM questions and answers, Vol. I, Beijing,
Renmin weisheng chubanshe, 1985,) trans. Tiquia Rey,
Melbourne, 2006.)
ji
you
The Lantern 41
 feature
days, and years in the Chinese medical and
agricultural lunisolar calendar for the Year
of the Dragon. represents the celestial
stem tian gan while chen symbolises the
Hurricanes and tropical earthly branch di zhi for the year 2012.
Learning from the American anthro-
storms spin clockwise in
pologist Liza Dalby, a specialist in Japanese
the Southern Hemisphere culture, in adapting the 72 seasonal and
(as opposed to counter- temporality related changes that various
clockwise in the Northern living things undergo of the ancient
Hemisphere) due to the Chinese calendar to the local conditions of
Coriolis effect. her garden in Berkeley in California, I am
also adding the 72 phenological changes
qi shi er hou to the Chinese
medical and agricultural lunisolar calendar
(Northern Hemisphere).
Chapter 6 (Treatise on the images of the
internal visceral organ networks) of the
Volumes on the Simple Questions of the
Yellow Emperors Inner Classic states:
The lapse of five days brings about one hou;
three hous makes one subseasonal phase
jie qi; six subseasonal phases make one
season; and four seasons make up a year.
Hou refers to temporality or seasonality
related changes that living things wan
wu (including flowers, grass, trees, fishes,
birds and beasts) undergo when they are
stimulated by the yin and yang qi (Cheng
Shao-En, 1982, pp. 5-6).
Hence, in February 2012, three hous or
phenological changes occur during each of
the subseasonal phases of spring begins
and rainwater. During the subseasonal
phase of spring begins the following
changes occur:
1) East wind melts the ice, which falls
on February 4, and the 13th day of the first
lunar month.
2) Dormant creatures start to twitch,
which falls on February 8, and the 17th day
of the first lunar month.
3) Fish swim upstream, break ice which
falls on February 13, and on the 13th day of
the first lunar month.
During the 15-day temporal flow of the
subseasonal phase of rainwater yu shui,
the following three hous occur in succeeding
five days interval:
1) River otters sacrifice fish which falls
42 Vol 9-3
on February 19 and the 28th day of the
second lunar month.
2) Wild geese head north which falls on
February 24 and the third day of the first
lunar month.
3) Grasses and trees sprout which falls
on February 29 and the eighth day of the
second unary month.
Order of circular sky and quadratic
earth in Southern Hemisphere
Starting from the east23, the order of the
eh
houtian (before the sky) eight trigrams
follows a clockwise sequence of zhen ,
sun , li , kun , dui , qian , kan
and gen . This sequence is used to to ex-
plain the principle of the motion of the uni-
verse and was the basis for the development
ei
of the Chinese calendar.
And the dynamic flow of the human qi
(qi hua ) follows this directional spin
as the late Chinese medical scholar Yang
Ru-Hou observed during the 1920s.
The flow of the human qi in a day/night
The Canon of the Red Pill states:
As for the flow of the qi in the human body,
from the zi two-hour period of 11pm
till 1am, the cosmic yang energy yang
begins its flow from the acupoint Bubbling
Spring on centre of the sole of the left
eh. In his book, Jou Tsung-Hwa did not include the
Chinese scripts. I am providing them here.
ei. Jou Tsung-Hwa, The Dao of Taijiquan Way to
Rejuvenation, Sharon Rose & Loretta Wollering (eds),
Scottdale AZ, Tai Chi Foundation, 2002, p. 119.

FEBRUARY 2012 Chinese Calendar [Northern Hemisphere] Beijing
foot. It then ascends along the left side of
the abdomen, flanks and upper extremities.
Upon reaching the fontanel on top
of the head, the flow of the cosmic yang
energy pauses. At the wu two-hour
period (11am-1pm), the cosmic yang
energy resumes its flow from the top of the
head and then moves towards the right side
of the body, i.e. upper extremities, abdomen
and flanks, then descends towards the right
leg and foot. Upon reaching the centre of
the sole of the right foot, the flow of the
cosmic yang energy pauses.
The above is a dissertation on the flow
of the primordial cosmic yang energy
of the human body. In a days time, it
ascends from the left side of the body and
descends upon the right side. They are the
trigrams kan and li which mark the
fluctuations of the cosmic yin and yang
energies.(Yang Ru Hou, 1941)
feature
In the diagram on Page 36, let us see how
the motion of the universe yu zhou in the
Southern Hemisphere unfolds.
First of all, the motion of the universe
in the Southern Hemisphere is oriented
towards the north bei zheng .
In the Southern Hemisphere the sun
passes from east to west through the north,
although north of the tropic of Capricorn
the Mean sun can be directly overhead
or due south at noon. The sun rotating
through the north causes an apparent
right-left trajectory through the sky unlike
the left-right motion of the sun when seen
from the Northern Hemisphere as it passes
through the southern sky.
Sun-cast shadows turn anticlockwise
through the day (sundials have the hours
in reverse). Hurricanes and tropical storms
spin clockwise in the Southern Hemisphere
(as opposed to counter-clockwise in the
Northern Hemisphere) due to the Coriolis
effect.24 The Coriolis effect or Coriolis force
The Lantern 43
 feature
Brolga Qi exercise is defined by the British Broadcasting Cor-
poration (BBC) weather website Weather-
wise Glossary as an effect caused by the
earths rotation, which causes winds and
currents to follow a curved path across the
earths surface to the right (clockwise)2.
Translated into Chinese, the Coriolis
force becomes qi liu or flowing qi.
The Chinese script is written with an
image of clouds in motion and grain or
seed representing an image of a minute
substance pregnant with life. It flows to the
left side (anti-clockwise) in the Northern
Hemisphere, while in the Southern Hemis-
phere it flows to the right (clockwise).
The Chinese script liu means to flow
or a current. The mainland Chinese search
engine Bai du ke translates qi liu
into English as air current or air flow and
gives wind as an example of this flowing
qi or the Coriolis force. Qi therefore is an
agency dai li chu with tremendous
yang influence and capacity that can bring
about a windy, hot, dry climactic weather
conditions and a tremendous yin influence
that can bring about cold, humid, snowy
or rainy weather conditions in the external
environment. Such yang influence can also
promote the flow of blood in the human
body thereby generating heat; perspiration
as well as a yin influence can bring about
dampish, sluggish metabolism characterised
by chills, muscle tremors etc.
Hence, when I perform my daily early
morning Brolga Qi training exercise He
xiang zhuang in Melbourne, I orient
myself towards the north. And in the final
segment of the qi exercise I become one
with the temporal (yang) and spatial (yin)
as well as with the southern (yang) and
northern hemispheres (yin) of the universe
by getting my qi to flow clockwise and
counter clockwise. Mimicking the Coriolis
force I slowly raise my arms and move them
towards the right side of the body. With the
waist as the fulcrum I execute a clockwise
movement lowering both arms towards the
left side of the body and then proceeding to
raise them completing one circular motion.
After completing nine clockwise circular
motions, I then place both straightened
arms to the left side of the body. From this
spot, I execute nine counter-clockwise cir-
cular motions. In doing these circular mo-
44 Vol 9-3
tions, the movement of the upper segment
of the body must be in symmetry with
those of the lower section. At the same time,
the movements from the left side must be
in symmetry with the right side. As I exe-
cute these movements my mind is focused
on the fingertips of both my hands and fur-
ther out into the outer space-time (Zhao
Jin-Xiang, 1987).
Each morning in Melbourne, Australia, in
executing the above series of movements,
I am translating the two-dimensional
(having length and breadth) photos and
line illustrations of Zhao Jin-Xiang featured
in his qigong manual Chinese Soaring
Crane Qigong into a
four dimensional (including three spatial
dimensions of length, breadth and depth and
a fourth dimension of time) performance of
qigong in the Southern Hemisphere.
Practising TCM in Australia
Living in the Southern Hemisphere for
more than three decades, I have watched the
seasons closely using the Western Gregorian
calendar and the Eastern Standard Time. I
found that our winter begins in June, spring
in September, summer in December and
autumn in March. We also have the four
subeasonal phases or jie qi of the autumn
equinox qiufen (occurred on March 20,
2012); winter solstice (June 21); spring
equinox (September 23) and summer
solstice (December 22).
The flow of the seasons is governed by the
tilt of the earths axis in space as it rotates
and revolves around the sun in a year.
When the South Pole of the earth is tilted
towards the sun, it is summer in Australia.
However, in the Northern Hemisphere
regions including China, when the South
Pole is tilted towards the sun, the North
Pole is tilted away from the sun. Hence it
is winter there. Six months later, when the
South Pole is tilted away from the sun, it
is winter in Australia. On the other hand,
in the Northern Hemispherical regions
like China, when the South Pole is tilted
away from the sun, the North Pole is tilted
towards the sun there. Hence it is summer
there. In between these we have either
autumn or spring.
The Melbourne Planetarium website

features the dates and time when these four
subseasonal phases or jie qi occur in the
Southern Hemisphere, as shown below.
Spring Equinox (AEST)
2012 September 23, 00:49am
On the day (September 22, 2008) of the
Spring Equinox, the earths poles are the
same distance from the sun. In the Northern
Hemispherical region of China, the Spring
Equinox occurs on March 20, 2008. On this
day there are roughly 12 hours of day and
12 hours of night.
Summer Solstice (AEST)
2012 December 21, 10:11pm
On the day of Summer Solstice, the earths
south pole is tilted towards the sun. The
sun rises south of east, sets south of west
and reaches 75 1/2 above the horizon at
noon. This is, usually, the longest day of the
year.
Autumn Equinox (AEST)
2012 March 20, 4:14pm
On the day of the Autumn Equinox, the
earths poles are the same distance from the
sun. The sun rises due east, sets due west
and reaches 52 above the horizon at noon.
There are roughly 12 hours of day and 12
hours of night.
Winter Solstice (AEST)
2012 June 21, 9:09am
On the day of Winter Solstice, earths south
pole is tilted away from the sun. The sun
rises north of east, sets north of west and
reaches 28 1/2 above the horizon at noon.
This is, usually, the shortest day of the year.
Every year, before the traditional Chinese
new year or chun jie , Chinese
calendars are distributed by Asian groceries
or establishments run by Australian
Chinese traders and merchants. I have a
Chinese calendar for the year 2007 (the Pig
Year or ding hai nian ) published by
the Chinois for Living, a chain of furniture
shops. As we can see, for one who cannot
read the Chinese characters, it is just like
any ordinary Gregorian calendar with each
month featuring the Arabic numerals 1-
31 days. But for one who is literate in the
Chinese language, one can see that aspects
feature
of the traditional Chinese farmers calendar
nong li or yin li blend with the
days and months of the Western Gregorian
calendar. This is the Chinese lunisolar
calendar, which emerged after the China
adopted the Gregorian calendar and the
Greenwich time in 1911.
In the month of January 2012, the first
day (January 1) is New Years Day in
the Gregorian calendar. New years day
in the Gregorian calendar is referred to
in Chinese as yuan dan . However, in
a traditional Chinese wall calendar that
I got in Melbourne, on the first page it is
also written in Chinese that it is also the
eighth day of the 12th lunar month in
the Year of the Rabbit xin mao nian
In addition, in
January 2012 there are the subseasonal
phases of Lesser Cold (which falls
on January 6 of the Gregorian Calendar)
and Big Cold (which falls on January
21). These subseasonal phases reflect the
end of the winter season in the Northern
Hemispherical regions of China. However,
here in the Southern Hemispherical regions
of the Australian continent, January is the
bush fire summer season. Clearly from this
calendar we can see that the temporal flow
of qi i.e. the flow of the season jie qi in the
Southern Hemisphere is the reverse to
that in the Northern Hemisphere.
Undoubtedly, using the above Chinese
calendar does not help practitioners of
Chinese medicine in Australia to practice
differentiating clinical patterns and
associating yao in accordance
with the local temporality, spatiality
and the local culture in the Southern
Hemisphere . It is at the
same time contaminated with a Northern
Hemispherical bias that desynchronises
the temporal flow/movement of our
qi with the occurrence and flow of the
seasons in Australia i.e. it does not facilitate
a synchronicity between ones spatial
locale and the motion of the Southern
Hemispherical universe yu zhou
(space-time).
To redress this bias and harmonise
the flow of our qi with the flow of the
seasons in the Southern Hemisphere, I
have constructed a tool that will allow
practitioners in Australia to reverse their
The Lantern 45
 feature

clinical activities of differentiating clinical 22. Spring Begins lLichun

Ante Babics
Tips for running
a successful clinic ...
If you eat lunch in your
office, dont discard that last
bit of the fish sandwich mum
made you in the bin under
your desk.
patterns and associating yao in accordance
with the flow of the seasons here.
This calendrical tool will help align
the performance of our qi with the
occurrence and flow of the seasons in the
Southern Hemisphere. More specifically,
it will facilitate the choice of acupuncture
points and acutracts in accordance with
the flow of our patients qi and blood zi
wu liu zhu . In this way, we can
properly execute seasonally appropriate
nurturing life exercises and adopt
lifestyles that promote health, longevity
and prevent disease. At the same time, The
Australian Chinese calendar can facilitate
the translation of the ancient Chinese
Northern Hemispherical concept of wu
yun liu qi into the Southern
Hemisphere. In doing so, the occurrence of
seasonal diseases can be properly diagnosed
and their future occurrence better forecast
and managed.
Components of Australian Chinese calendar
In the construction of the Chinese medical
and agricultural lunisolar calendar, I
propose that we add 20 subseasonal phases
to the four Chinese subseasonal phases jie
qi present in the Gregorian calendar. Hence
we have the following picture.
1. Vernal Equinox Chunfen
2. Clear & Bright Qingming
3. Grain Rain Guyu
4. Summer Begins Lixia
5. Grain Full Xiaoman
6. Grain in Ear Mangzhong
7.Summer Solstice Xiazhi
8. Lesser Heat Xiaoshu
9. Great Heat Dashu
10. Autumn Begins Liqiu
11. Limit of Heat Chushu
12. White Dew Bailu
13. Autumnal Equinox Qiufen
14. Cold Dew Hanlu
15. Frosts Descent Shuangjiang
16. Winter Begins Lidong
17. Slight Snow Xiaoxue
18. Heavy Snow Daxue
19. Winter Solstice Dongzhi
20. Slightly Cold Xiaohan
21. Big Cold Dahan
23. Rainwater Yushui
24. Waking Little Critters Jingzhe
Then we have to work out how these 24
subseasonal qi align with the phenophases
i.e. the cycle of yin and yang seasonal and
subseasonal qi transformation of various
forms of life in the Southern Hemisphere.
In this regard, the local Aboriginal
calendars like the Victorian Bambruk
calendar, which relates seasonal variations
to certain natural and phenological events,
can be helpful. For example, the Bambruk
calendar marks the beginning of the spring
season with the platypus laying eggs .
We can also learn from the American
anthropologist specialising in Japanese
culture, Liza Dalby, in adapting the 72
seasonal phenological signs qi shi er hou
of the ancient Chinese almanac/calendar
to the local condition of her garden in
Berkeley in California. But for the time
being, in symmetry with what I have done
with the Northern Hemispherical half
of the Chinese medical and agricultural
lunisolar calendar, I propose to align the 24
subseasonal phases with the 72 pentads or
phenophases qi shi er hou34.
Secondly, I propose to reverse the flow of
the subseasonal phases here in the Southern
Hemisphere. Just a few words about my use
of the word reverse. When the Chinese
gold prospectors came to Australia in
the middle of the 19th century, they were
told that the seasons here would be the
reverse to that in China. To deal with this
situation, the Chinese migrants reasoned
that it would just be a case of reversing their
activities according to the seasons (Gittins,
J., 1981) in Australia.
Finding the subseasonal phases in the
Southern Hemisphere
To reverse the flow of the subseasonal
phases jie qi in the Southern Hemisphere,
I worked with scientists and astronomers
of the Melbourne Planetarium to locate the
subseasonal phases in this hemisphere. To
find the exact date and time of the occurrence
of each subseasonal phase in this time zone
(AEST), first I worked out the exact date
and time that each of the 24 subseasonal
phases reaches its corresponding solar

46 Vol 9-3
 feature

longitudinal degree along the expanse of Spring Begins Rainwater Waking Little Critters
the ecliptic. Scientists and astronomers at S August 7, 2012 August 23, 2012 September 7, 2012
the Melbourne Planetarium referred me P
135 150 165
ej R
to a computer facility (http://wiseobs.tau. I
ac.il/~eran/Wise/Util/SolLon.html) to do N Vernal Equinox Clear & Bright Grain Rain
this calculation. Using this facility, I input G September 23, 2012 October 8, 2012 October 23, 2012
the year 2012 as well as the longitudinal 180 195 210
degrees for each of the 24 subseasonal Summer Begins Grain Full Grain in Ear
phases to get their equivalence in universal S November 7, 2012 November 22, 2012 December 7, 2012
U
time. And to convert the corresponding 225 240 255
M
universal time to Melbourne time (AEST), M
I added 10 hours to the results. Having E Summer Solstice Slight Heat Great Heat
done the calculations, I ended up with the R December 22, 2012 January 6, 2012 J January 21, 2012
tabulated results, top right (Bush, M., 2007). 270 285 300
Autumn Begins Limit of Heat White Dew
Subseasonal phases in Australia in 2012ek A February 4, 2012 February 19, 2012 March 5, 2012
U
315 330 345
T
First day of the first lunar months U
To locate the first days of the 12 lunar months M Autumnal Equinox Cold Dew Frosts Descent
of the 2012 Australian Chinese Calendar, I N March 20, 2012 April 4, 2012 April 20, 2012
consulted <http://www.timeanddate.com> 360 15 30
to find the various phases of the moon in Winter Begins Slight Snow Heavy Snow
Melbourne Australia. According to the rules W May 5, 2012 May 21, 2012 June 5, 2012
I
followed by Purple Mountain Observatory 45 60 75
N
(1984) in Nanjing, China, in constructing T
the Chinese traditional calendar, the first E Winter Solstice Slightly Cold Big Cold
day of the month is the day on which the R June 21, 2012 July 7, 2012 July 22, 2012
New Moon occurs. I was able to establish 90 105 120
that in the month of January 2012 whereby
the new moon occurred on January 23, monthly wall activity Gregorian calendar
2012. This is the first day of the sixth lunar (for the years 2011-12). Then using a
month in the Australian Chinese calendar. number of Chinese languages Standard
On the other hand, in the Northern Western Gregorian-Traditional Chinese
Hemisphere traditional Chinese calendar Calendrical Perpetual Conversion Table
that I have translated into English, January Biaozhun zhongxi duizhao wannianli ,
23, 2012 was the first day of the first lunar which converts the sexagenary gan zhi
month of the Year of the Dragon ren chen units of years, months, days and two-hour
nian. This is the date of the Spring Festival periods into the Gregorian calendarical
chunjie in China. years, months, days and Greenwich Mean
Having calculated the location of the 24 Time, I tallied the days and months for the
solar qi as well as the first days of the 12 years 2011-12. Then I wrote the Chinese gan-
lunar months in the Southern Hemisphere, zhi (combination of the celestial stems and
I proceeded to set the first day chu yi earthly branches) on to the days, months
of the first lunar month zheng yue and year on the wall activity calendar.
of the Year of the Dragon ren chen nian. I was able to establish the first day of the
To do this, I marked the exact dates of the first month of the Chinese medical and
24 subseasonal phases onto an oversized agricultural lunisolar calendar (Southern
Hemisphere) for 2012 as falling on the New
ej. http://wiseobs.tau.ac.il/~eran/Wise/Util/SolLon.html
ek. With the help of astronomers and scientists
Moon of August 18. This date is our spring
Tanya Hill and Martin Bush from the Melbourne
Planetarium, I was able to locate the temporal em. Subsequently, I was able to find a free Gregorian
locations of the 24 subseasonal qi in the Southern calendrical scheduler template in the web, which
Hemisphere (Australia). accommodated the information that I want to put
el. L.E. Doggett, Calendars, http://astro.nmsu. unto the Southern Hemispherical lunisolar calendar.
edu/~ihuber/leaphist.html <http://www.printfree.com/ >

The Lantern 47
 feature
Australian Chinese calendar (AEST) Year of the Snake
festival or chun jie in Australia. On
my calculation, our spring festival is six
months ahead of the Northern Hemisphere
regions. Hence, we are six months ahead of
China in celebrating the Year of the Snake
gui si nian . Chinese Medicine Practitioner. 2007 Feb. 19 (cited 2012
The first English language Chinese
medical and agricultural lunisolar calendar
(Northern and Southern hemispheres) was
thus constructed! At right is the (Southern
Hemisphere) month of August 2012.
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Endnotes
1. After completing my PhD dissertation at the
Department of History and Philosophy of Science,
University of Melbourne in 2005, I embarked on
this research project of constructing a Chinese
Medical & Agricultural Lunisolar Calendar for
the Southern hemisphere. Three years of research;
readings in Chinese and English language books;
translating Chinese research materials into the
English language; surfing the net for world
wide web materials; a series of seasonal radio
interviews on the subseasonal Qi in the Southern
Hemisphere with the Special Broadcasting Service
(SBS) Filipino Language Program presenter Ms.
Malou Logan; two sojourns into the Northern
Hemispherical region of China last year, all led to
a gestalt shift in the way I looked at the universe
or yuzhou i.e. space and time. I would like to
thank Professor Feng Qian Jin (my former class
mate at the Beijing TCM College) who is now the
Deputy President of the Shanxi College of TCM for
arranging my lectures on the topic of the twenty
four subseasonal phases at his college as well as
at the International School of the Beijing TCM
University, my alma mater. I would like to thank
Professor Niu Xin and his postgraduate students
Dong Shao Ying, Zhang Zhi Guo etc for arranging
my lectures at the Internattional School of the
Beijing TCM University as well as for arranging my
lodgings at student dormitory of the International
School.
2. Bu shi zhi qi is the Chinese phrase for the
English weather/climactic features occurring out
of season.
3. Shi bing is the Chinese equivalent of seasonal
disease or diseases brought about by external
influences or wai gan bing.
4. Liu yin zhi bing is the Chinese phrase for
the English phrase six excessive climactic qi
etiological factors.
5. National Research Council (US) Committee
on Climate, Ecosystems, Infectious Diseases,
and Human Health, Under the Weather, Climate
Ecosystem, and Infectious Diseases, Washington,
National Academy Press, 2001, p. 8.
6. I see the Western notion of the four elements as
comparable to the wu xing (five elements) of TCM
mu (wood), huo (fire), tu Earth), jin
(metal), and shui (water) in the sense that in
both philosophical systems the elements constitute
the ultimate roots of all natural things (Tiquia, R.,
2011).
7. Yun Tie Qiao, The Five Elements are Synony-
mous to the Four Seasons, in Chai Lu Xian, Lun
shou bu (Volume on Doctrines), Zhong guo yi Yao
hui hai (A sea of convergence on Chinese medicine,
vol. 16) Bejijing shi zhong guo shu dian, Beijing,
1985 edition of 1945 version, l985.
8. This is an English translation of the cosmogony
of the Huai Nan Zi, rendered by Mitukuni Yosida,
The Chinese Concept of Nature, in Chinese Science:
Explorations of an Ancient Tradition, Cambridge,
MIT Press, l973, p. 77
9. This is similar to the first series of Zhao Jin
Xiangs Brolga Qi Training Exercise (
entitled Gathering And Harmonising the qi from
the Six Locales . From a broader perspec-
tive, the notion of gathering and harmonising the
qi from the six locales liu fang he he refers to the
locales of the north, south, east, west, the sky above
and the earth below, while humanity occupies
the central locale. This is harmony between the
spiritual and material living beings within the
space created by these six locales with humanity
as the centre.
10. The Four Dimensions is constituted by the
three spatial dimensions of length, breadth and
depth plus the dimension of time. (McKean, E.
2005).
11. In the Chinese language the English word
absolute can mean (completely) or
(purely). Hence absolute space time can
mean completely or purely spatial or completely
or purely temporal. Take the case of the Gregorian
calendar which is absolutely temporal
for it indicates the days and months of the year but
does not give any indication of the locale or spatial
correspondence of that temporality.
12. The notion of absolute time and space was
actually introduced into China with the adoption
of the Gregorian calendar and Greenwich Mean
Time after 1911.
13. The Oxford English-Chinese Dictionary defines
collocate as placing (things) together, which

it also translates into Chinese as
(Oxford University Press, The New Oxford English-
Chinese Dictionary, 1993, 1997, 2000, in electronic
dictionary Learning is so easy , Taiwan.
14. Thom H. Fang, The Chinese View of Of Life
The Philosophy of Comprehensive Harmony, Taipei:
Linking Publishing, 1981, p. 29.
15. Shu-Hsien Liu, Time and Temporality: the
Chinese Perspective in Philosophy East and West.
Vol. 24, No.2 April 1974, pp. 145-153.
16. Xian tian ba gua (before the sky hexagram)
refers to the state of creation and formation of
the universe yu zhou, The eight hexagrams are
collocated in such a way that the qian triagram
is located on the northern aspect; the kun
triagram in the south; the li hexagram in the
east; kan in the west; zhen in the northeast;
xun in the southwest; dui in the southeast
and gen in the northwest. While the hou tian
ba gua (after the sky triagrams) is an ontological
state, which shows how humanity harmonises
and adapts with the changing state of all living
beings as the universe goes through the process of
creation and formation. In this ontological state, the
li hexagram is located in the southern aspect; kan
in the north; zhen in the east; dui in the west; gen
in the northeast; kun in the southwest; qian in the
north west.
17. In pre-modern Chinese philosophy, spatial
positions or directions like the northern position
simultaneously indicate the temporality of the
winter season, the solar Qi of the Winter Solstice,
the month of December and the Zi two-hour
period (23:00 hour) in the Northern
Hemispherical region in China. Hence, I have
designated the 24 palaces as the equivalent of the
24-hour clock or the 24-hour astronomical time.
The 24-hour clock is a convention of time keeping
in which the day runs from midnight to midnight
and is divided into 24 hours numbered from 0 to
23. This system is the most common time notation
in the world today 24-hour notation is in the US
and Canada also referred to as military time or
astronomical time.
can also be translated into English as the
square earth While the sky is referred to as.
circular And I think that the square earth
is the yu or space or or yin ;
while the circular sky is the zhou or time or
temporality or tian or yang . My view
on this matter was confirmed by Zu Xing in his
book Pictorial Explanation of the Book of Change
which was published in 2007. Zu Xing
in explaining the picture of the 64 hexagrams
arrayed in a circular manner with another set
of 64 arrayed in eight columns horizontally and
vertically thereby forming a square figure inside the
circle of the other 64 hexagrams concluded that
the circular diagrams represents temporality or
time while the square diagram formed represents
space (Zu Xing, 2007,
pp. 72-74).
18. Wilder & Ingram translates the Chinese script
into English as the fountain, a spring and
the source and explains the script as depicting
the streams issuing from under the ledge of a
rock. (G.D. Wilder & J.H. Ingram, Analysis of
Chinese Characters, New York, Dover Publications,
1974, p. 289. )
19. The traditional Chinese calendar is a lunisolar
calendar because the sequence of months are
based on the lunar phase cycle; but every few
years a whole month is intercalated to bring the
calendar back in phase with the tropical year (L.E.
Doggett, Calendars, in P.Kenneth Seidelmann(ed)
Explanator Supplement to the Astronomical
Almanac, Sausalito, University Science books
http://astro.nmsu.edu/~lhuber/leaphist.html; 29
December 2006.
20. The following segment is a linguistic translation
of the theme on The Twenty Four Jie Qi from
the on-line version of the Complete Chinese
Encyclopaedia <http://wordpedia,
pidc.org.tw/content.asp>
21 The ecliptic is referred to in the Chinese
languages as huang dao (the yellow pathway).
The ecliptic is an imaginary line that is drawn in
the sky. It is a projection of the Earths orbit onto
the celestial sphere, just like the celestial equator
is the projection of the Earths equator onto the
sphere(Philips & Priwer, 2007, p. 62).
22.
Cheng Shao
En, Zhong yi yun Qi xue (The Chinese medical
discipline of The Temporal Circulation of the Qi),
Beijing, Beijing kexue jishu chubanshe, 1982, p. 5-11.)
23. In ancient Chinese geography study, the eastern
direction is seen as synonymous to the left side
. While the western direction
is seen as synonymous to the right side i.e. when
the subject is facing the south.
. (Ancient Chinese Language Dictionary
Compiling Group, Gudai Hanyu cidian, Ancient
Chinese language dictionary), Shangwu yinshu
guan, Nanjing, 2003, p. 1906).
24. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_hemi-
sphere; accessed, November 1, 2007.
25. In January 2008 I came across the following
information with a good diagram on the Coriolis
effect. The University of Oregon put this together:
http://abyss.uoregon.edu/~js/glossary/coriolis_ef-
fect.html.
26. http://baike.baidu.com/view/241343.htm, 16
January 2007.
27. Rey Tiquia, The Twelve Commandments of Good
Health (Christmas cards sent to patients during the
year 2005).
28. Allen Calendars (2007), Locked Bag 326,
Kingsgrove 2208, Telephone (02) 9740 9644. This
calendar was given to me free by a newsagent in
Anglesea in December 2006.
29. I am using them in this paper without their
permission. I have translated the English names
of the four subseasonal phases into Chinese.
http://museumvictoria.com.au/DiscoveryCentre/
Infosheets/Planets/The-Sun-and-the-Seasons/
30. Ding is the celestial stem; while hai is the
earthly branch; while nian is one of the Chinese
word for year. Referring to The Cyclical 60-Year,
Months, Days, Two-Hour Periods Jia-Zi Table
above, one can see that Ding hai nian or the Pig Year
falls on the 24th slot of the 60-year-month-day-2-
hour temporal cycle.
31. In my PhD dissertation, I spent some time
elaborating on qi (life force or material force)
because it is important to understand this
ontological (ultimate nature of reality) element of
TCM. To have a profound understanding of it, we
need to recognise that qi is an ontological entity
that is done or performed in TCM practice. (Rey
Tiquia, 2004, p. 101). Qi together with the yin and
yang , the five elements/agents/phases, and the
eight trigrams of the Book of Changes
animates both our human bodies and the bodies of
the universe around us. In TCM clinical encounters,
qi is performed to differentiate between clinical
patterns and to associate the appropriate yaowu.
The natural body (which is alive and full of qi) is
feature
enacted in practices that are a natural part of the
whole body. The medical treatments and materials
include acupuncture, traditional Chinese massage
(tuina , food therapy (shiliao ), the use of
materia medica, emotional counter-therapy and qi
exercises such as qigong and taichi (taijiquan
). The varied qi motions of individual yaowu
or a group of them collected in a standardised
formula known as fang are chosen to fit the
clinical pattern of imbalance or disequilibrium in
the uneasy body of the patient (Tiquia, 2011). As
John Major expressed in his general introduction
to early Han cosmology Qi is both process and
substance, and comes into being as the concrete
manifestation of space time. (Major, J., 1993, p. 27).
32. Chee Chee Leung, Indigenous weather know-
how sits alongside science, The Age 30 April 2007,
p.3 . Please refer to the Brambuk Calendar which
is part of the Australian Government Bureau of
Meteorology website: http://www.bom.gov.au/iwk/
brambuk/index.shtml.
33. The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary Vol
2 (1993) defines phenology as The field of study
that deals with the cyclic and seasonal natural
phenomena, especially in relation to climate and
plant and animal life. (Brown, 1993, p. 2184).
Vegetation dynamics like growth, reproduction,
winter rest, competition for nutrients, water, and
light are strongly influenced and determined by
climate variables. A change in climate will result in
a change of these dynamics. A scientific discipline,
which is able to link vegetation dynamics with
climate variable is phenology. Phenology is
the study of the timing of recurrent biological
processes such as flowering, budburst, insect
hatching, birdnesting, fruit ripening and leaf fall
(so called phenophases). (International Society of
Biometeorology, 2009).
34. The content of the temporal system of the 72
pentads qishier hou was recorded in the classical
Chinese book The Complete Classical Text on
Leisurely Living, Chapter on Instructions on
the Flow of the Seasons compiled in 2BC. Each
pentad corresponds to a phenological phenomena
which is referred to as a resonating pentad. The
sequential changes in each of the 72 resonating
pentads reflect the changes in the qi hou (constantly
changing state of the climate and other natural
phenomenon of a season/subseasonal phase) each
year. In the case of botanical resonating pentads we
have first the sprouting of the buds then the flower
blooms and then the bearing of fruits While in
the case of the zoological resonating pentads we
have firstly, the first vibration, the first cry and
the mating mobility. As for examples of resonating
pentads of inanimate things, we can point to
phenomena of beginning to freeze, melts the ice;
thunder sings etc. (http://www.wiki.cn/wiki
35. I used the 1800-2100 Lao Huang Li (The
Calendar of Old Huang from 1800-2100) authored
by Ou Yang Shang Ren and published by the Yan
Bian Da Xue Chubanshe, 2007. In subsequent
editions of the Australian Chinese Calendar, I used
other Chinese calendars or almanac which provides
10-30 years conversion tabulations of the Chinese
calendar and the Western Gregorian calndar like
Yi Xuans Xin bian san shi nian nianli (1991-2020
nian (Newly compiled 30 years Chinese calendar
1991-2020).
36. I was able to find a free Gregorian calendrical
scheduler template that accommodated the
information I wanted to put into the Southern
Hemispherical calendar at <www.printfree.com>.
The Lantern 51