East Asian age reckoning is a concept and practice that originated in China and is widely used by other cultures in East Asia. People begin life at the age of one (instead of "zero"), and on New Year's Day, one year is added to their age. Since age is incremented at the beginning of lichun, which is the first of the twenty-three solar terms, rather than on a birthday, people may be one or two years older in Asian reckoning than in the western age system.
Video East Asian age reckoning
Variations in date for change of age
In China, age changes on the lichun. The current age reckoning system in use in South Korea is based on the Gregorian Calendar. In Eastern Mongolia, age is traditionally determined based on the number of full moons since conception for girls, and the number of new moons since birth for boys. In Japan, Vietnam, and South Korea, New Year's Day is used as the date of change of age for traditional fortune-telling or religion. The idea of a universal birthday disappeared from all of East Asia, with China and Japan having switched to the western age reckoning system.
Maps East Asian age reckoning
Chinese
In either the traditional or modern age system the word sui (traditional Chinese: ?; simplified Chinese: ?; pinyin: suì), meaning "years of age", is used for age counting. When a person's age is given in a publication, it is often specified whether it is his or her:
- Traditional age, "virtual age" (traditional Chinese: ??/?; simplified Chinese: ??/?; pinyin: x?suì/líng) based on the East Asian reckoning system
- Modern age, "round age" (traditional Chinese: ??; simplified Chinese: ??; pinyin: zh?usùi)
- "Solid age", (traditional Chinese: ??; simplified Chinese: ??; pinyin: shísùi) based on the Gregorian calendar
Of the three, only ??/?? (Chinese), zh?usuì (pinyin) = "round age" may be used as a count word.
When a child has survived one month of life (29 days if lunar month reckoning) a mun yuet (Chinese: ??; pinyin: m?nyuè) celebration can be observed, in which duck or chicken eggs dyed red are distributed to guests to signify fertility.
Japanese
Japanese uses the word sai (? or ?) as a counter word for both the traditional and modern age system.
The traditional system of age reckoning, or kazoedoshi (???), was rendered obsolete by law in 1902 when Japan officially adopted the modern age system, known in Japanese as man nenrei (???). However, the traditional system was still commonly used, so in 1950 another law was established to encourage people to use the modern age system.
Today the traditional system is mainly used by the elderly and in rural areas. Elsewhere its use is limited to traditional ceremonies, divinations, and obituaries.
Korean
South Koreans generally refer to their age in units called sal (?), using Korean numerals in ordinal form. Thus, a person is one sal ("han sal", ??) during the first calendar year of life, and ten sal during the tenth calendar year.
The 100th-day anniversary of a baby is called baegil (??), which literally means "a hundred days" in Korean, and is given a special celebration, marking the survival of what was once a period of high infant mortality. The first anniversary of birth named dol (?) is likewise celebrated, and given even greater significance. South Koreans celebrate their birthdays, even though every South Korean gains one 'sal' on New Year's Day. Because the first year comes at birth and the second on the first day of the New Year, children born, for example, on December 29 will reach two years of age on the New Year's Day, when they are only days old in western reckoning. Hence, everyone born on the same calendar year effectively has the same age and can easily be calculated by the formula: Age = (Current Year - Birth Year) + 1
In modern South Korea the traditional system is most often used. The international age system is referred to as "man-nai" (???) in which "man" (?) means "full" or "actual", and "nai" (??) meaning "age". For example, man yeol sal means "full ten years", or "ten years old" in English. The Korean word dol means "years elapsed", identical to the English "years old", but is only used to refer to the first few birthdays. Cheotdol or simply dol refers to the first Western-equivalent birthday, dudol refers to the second, and so on.
The traditional system has not been used in modern North Korea since 1980s.
The Korean Birthday Celebrations by the lunar calendar is called eumnyeok saeng-il (?? ??, ????) and yangnyeok saeng-il (?? ??, ????) is the birthday by Gregorian calendar.
For official government uses, documents, and legal procedures, a chronological age system is used akin to the system used in Western countries. Regulations regarding age limits on beginning school, as well as the age of consent, are all based on a chronological system (man-nai). The age limit for tobacco, alcohol use are after January 1 of the year one's age turns to 19.
Vietnamese
This traditional system is widely used in modern Vietnam. In conversations, speakers would distinguish the traditional age ("tu?i ta" - our age or "tu?i m?" - age (including) prebirth) and the Western age ("tu?i Tây" - Western age).
See also
- Chinese calendar
- Japanese calendar
- Korean calendar
- Minguo calendar
- Vietnamese calendar
Footnotes
References
External links
- Japanese kazoedoshi counting
Source of article : Wikipedia
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