Disposal of Chief' Objections to} a Change From Oun' Own CotnesroxoeNt i Toman, Dee, 9.
As the Government is making vigorous efforts to persuade the people to give up the lunar way of eekoning, and threatening with punishment all who print or use the old-style calendar, there is much discussion among the rank and file and especially among, the farmers. The writer recently Ystened. to. some interesting re-objections regarding upsetting of the seasons." Aga matter of fact '24 "seasons" so beloved. by John Ploughman of China, will not affected in the least by the change: Their position in the calendar can now be more definitely fixed than under the Lunar year, with its ofterecurring intercalary months How: convenient it will be to know that the Winter Solstice will always occur ten days before New 'Year's Day, while the "Beginning of Spring" will always be on February 4, instead of dodging about under the old way, sometimes im the last month and' sometime in, the first' mont! 'a Chine: when the day for "Excited Insects" to, wake up is due and he cannot tell you. without much reckoning, but. from now on he will know that March 6 is the day on which to Jay in a stock of Keating's powder and wait for the mass attack.
'The objections can all be over-came if the authorities will only take some trouble, Dislocation of market days is one, As most people know, the markets in the country. are: held: once in five days, 'Thy; reckon the fifth day by th> day' of the month, not by the day of the: week. When a market is held: om the Ist and Gth days there will be 801 re-arrange dates at the end of a 31 days month, to avoid two market days coming together, One plan would be to make market days come once a as: in England.
The keeping up of memorial days for deceased ancestors is an important item in the religious life of the Chinese. Death days as well ay birth: days have always been reckoned by lunar calendar. Must} they now be reckoned by solar} calendar? To meet the difficulty, a certain firm has printed a Joint calendar giving the solar and lunar dates side by side for the past century and also for the coming ce' tury. Why the coming century was included is not clear, and its inclusion has meant that the authorities have banned the publication, Jest the possession of the lunar fixtures with the intercalary months should hinder the adoption of the new way of reckoning.
The Vast objection is the putting forward of the settling-up month—the twelfth month—but this is aa objection not confined to the Chinese, All men of lean purses would prefer that the settling-up month might be put out of the calendar altogether. Here is a chance for the budding astronomers!
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.