Calendar used in Taiwan
The
Republic of China calendar
, often shortened to the
ROC calendar
or the
Minguo
calendar
, is a calendar used in
Taiwan
,
Penghu
,
Kinmen
, and
Matsu
. The calendar uses 1912, the year of the establishment of the
Republic of China
(ROC) in
Nanjing
, as the first year.
The ROC calendar follows the tradition of using the sovereign's
era name
and year of reign, as did previous
Chinese dynasties
. Months and days are numbered according to the
Gregorian calendar
. The ROC calendar has been in wide use in the ROC since 1912, including in early official documents.
The ROC calendar is the official calendar used in
Taiwan
since 1945, and also adopted by
Overseas Chinese
and
Taiwanese
communities.
Chorographies
and historical research published in
mainland China
covering the period between 1912 and 1949 also use the ROC calendar.
[1]
Calendar details
[
edit
]
The
Gregorian calendar
was adopted by the nascent
Republic of China
effective 1 January 1912 for official business, but the general populace continued to use the traditional
lunisolar
Chinese calendar
. The status of the Gregorian calendar was unclear between 1916 and 1921 while China was
controlled by several competing warlords
each supported by foreign colonial powers. From about 1921 until 1928 warlords continued to fight over northern China, but the
Kuomintang
-led
Nationalist government
controlled southern China and used the Gregorian calendar. After the Kuomintang reconstituted the Republic of China on 10 October 1928, the Gregorian calendar was officially adopted, effective 1 January 1929. The People's Republic of China has continued to use the Gregorian calendar since 1949.
[2]
Despite the
adoption of the Gregorian calendar
, the numbering of the years was still an issue. The Chinese monarchical tradition was to use the
monarch
's
era name
and year of reign. One alternative to this approach was to use the reign of the semi-legendary
Yellow Emperor
in the third millennium BC to number the years.
[2]
In the early 20th century, some Chinese republicans began to advocate such a system of continuously numbered years, so that year markings would be independent of the monarch's era name. (This was part of their attempt to de-legitimize the
Qing dynasty
.)
When
Sun Yat-sen
became the provisional president of the Republic of China, he sent telegrams to leaders of all provinces and announced the 13th day of 11th month of the 4609th year of the Yellow Emperor's reign (corresponding to 1 January 1912) to be the first year of the Republic of China.
[2]
The original intention of the
Minguo
calendar was to follow the monarchical practice of naming the years according to the number of years the monarch had reigned, which was a universally recognizable event in China. Following the establishment of the Republic, hence the lack of a monarch, it was then decided to use the year of the establishment of the current regime. This reduced the issue of frequent change in the
calendar
, as no
Chinese emperor
ruled more than 61 years in Chinese history ? the longest being the
Kangxi Emperor
, who ruled from 1662 to 1722 (Kangxi 61). (
Qianlong Emperor
abdicated in 1795, i.e. Qianlong 60, but the reign name of Qianlong is still used unofficially until his death in 1799 i.e. Qianlong 64.)
As most Chinese era names consisted of two Chinese characters,
民國
(
Minguo
, "Republic") is employed as an abbreviation of
中華民國
(
Zh?nghua Minguo
, "Republic of China"). The first year, 1912, is called
民國元年
(
Minguo Yuannian
) and 2024, the "113th year of the Republic" is
民國一百一十三年
,
民國113年
, or simply 113.
Based on
National Standards of the Republic of China
CNS 7648: Data Elements and Interchange Formats?Information Interchange?Representation of Dates and Times (similar to
ISO 8601
), year numbering may use the Gregorian system as well as the ROC era. For example, 12 May 2024 may be written 2024-05-12 or ROC 113-05-12.
The ROC era numbering happens to be the same as the numbering used by the
Juche calendar
of
North Korea
, because its founder,
Kim Il Sung
, was born in 1912. The years in
Japan
's
Taish? era
(30 July 1912 to 25 December 1926) also coincide with those of the ROC era.
In addition to the ROC's
Minguo
calendar, Taiwanese continue to use the lunar
Chinese calendar
for certain functions such as the dates of many holidays, the calculation of people's ages, and religious functions.
Arguments for and against
[
edit
]
| This section
needs expansion
. You can help by
adding to it
.
(
June 2008
)
|
The use of the ROC era system extends beyond official documents. Misinterpretation is more likely in the cases when the prefix (ROC or
民國
) is omitted.
There have been legislative proposals by political parties of the
Pan-Green Coalition
that support
Taiwanese independence
, such as the
Democratic Progressive Party
, to formally abolish the ROC calendar in favor of the Gregorian calendar.
[3]
Relation to the Gregorian calendar
[
edit
]
To convert any
Gregorian calendar
year (1912 and after) to the ROC calendar, subtract 1911. For example, last year (2023) was 112; this year (2024) is 113; and next year (2025) will be 114.
ROC era
|
1
|
2
|
3
|
4
|
5
|
6
|
7
|
8
|
9
|
10
|
AD
|
1912
|
1913
|
1914
|
1915
|
1916
|
1917
|
1918
|
1919
|
1920
|
1921
|
ROC era
|
11
|
12
|
13
|
14
|
15
|
16
|
17
|
18
|
19
|
20
|
AD
|
1922
|
1923
|
1924
|
1925
|
1926
|
1927
|
1928
|
1929
|
1930
|
1931
|
ROC era
|
21
|
22
|
23
|
24
|
25
|
26
|
27
|
28
|
29
|
30
|
AD
|
1932
|
1933
|
1934
|
1935
|
1936
|
1937
|
1938
|
1939
|
1940
|
1941
|
ROC era
|
31
|
32
|
33
|
34
|
35
|
36
|
37
|
38
|
39
|
40
|
AD
|
1942
|
1943
|
1944
|
1945
|
1946
|
1947
|
1948
|
1949
|
1950
|
1951
|
ROC era
|
41
|
42
|
43
|
44
|
45
|
46
|
47
|
48
|
49
|
50
|
AD
|
1952
|
1953
|
1954
|
1955
|
1956
|
1957
|
1958
|
1959
|
1960
|
1961
|
ROC era
|
51
|
52
|
53
|
54
|
55
|
56
|
57
|
58
|
59
|
60
|
AD
|
1962
|
1963
|
1964
|
1965
|
1966
|
1967
|
1968
|
1969
|
1970
|
1971
|
ROC era
|
61
|
62
|
63
|
64
|
65
|
66
|
67
|
68
|
69
|
70
|
AD
|
1972
|
1973
|
1974
|
1975
|
1976
|
1977
|
1978
|
1979
|
1980
|
1981
|
ROC era
|
71
|
72
|
73
|
74
|
75
|
76
|
77
|
78
|
79
|
80
|
AD
|
1982
|
1983
|
1984
|
1985
|
1986
|
1987
|
1988
|
1989
|
1990
|
1991
|
ROC era
|
81
|
82
|
83
|
84
|
85
|
86
|
87
|
88
|
89
|
90
|
AD
|
1992
|
1993
|
1994
|
1995
|
1996
|
1997
|
1998
|
1999
|
2000
|
2001
|
ROC era
|
91
|
92
|
93
|
94
|
95
|
96
|
97
|
98
|
99
|
100
|
AD
|
2002
|
2003
|
2004
|
2005
|
2006
|
2007
|
2008
|
2009
|
2010
|
2011
|
ROC era
|
101
|
102
|
103
|
104
|
105
|
106
|
107
|
108
|
109
|
110
|
AD
|
2012
|
2013
|
2014
|
2015
|
2016
|
2017
|
2018
|
2019
|
2020
|
2021
|
ROC era
|
111
|
112
|
113
|
114
|
115
|
116
|
117
|
118
|
119
|
120
|
AD
|
2022
|
2023
|
2024
|
2025
|
2026
|
2027
|
2028
|
2029
|
2030
|
2031
|
ROC era
|
121
|
122
|
123
|
124
|
125
|
126
|
127
|
128
|
129
|
130
|
AD
|
2032
|
2033
|
2034
|
2035
|
2036
|
2037
|
2038
|
2039
|
2040
|
2041
|
ROC era
|
131
|
132
|
133
|
134
|
135
|
136
|
137
|
138
|
139
|
140
|
AD
|
2042
|
2043
|
2044
|
2045
|
2046
|
2047
|
2048
|
2049
|
2050
|
2051
|
ROC era
|
141
|
142
|
143
|
144
|
145
|
146
|
147
|
148
|
149
|
150
|
AD
|
2052
|
2053
|
2054
|
2055
|
2056
|
2057
|
2058
|
2059
|
2060
|
2061
|
ROC era
|
151
|
152
|
153
|
154
|
155
|
156
|
157
|
158
|
159
|
160
|
AD
|
2062
|
2063
|
2064
|
2065
|
2066
|
2067
|
2068
|
2069
|
2070
|
2071
|
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
|
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Systems
| |
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In wide use
| |
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In more
limited use
| |
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Historical
| |
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By specialty
| |
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Reform proposals
| |
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Displays and
applications
| |
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Year naming
and numbering
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Fictional
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|