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Thread: Telling time

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    Junior Member luv4xia's Avatar
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    Default Telling time

    Hi Everyone,

    I thought of posting this question here since it had to do with wuxia fiction.

    Does anyone know how one told time in say 16th or 17th century china? I mean, lets say that the warrior was on a journey and they happened to sleep in the forest. When they awoke, how did they know what time of day it was apart from the obvious it being day or night?

    I hope my question is clear. I am at a point where my character has begun her quest and she has slept through the night in the forest. When she awoke she saw the sun just cresting the horizon. I wanted to know how she would be able to tell a specific hour of time.

    I have seen wuxia movies where there was someone either in the village or in the emperor's court that went around it seemed, every hour and chanted. The chant sometimes said something like, "it is the hour of the snake and all is well" How did they know what to chant when? Thanks for all your help.

    Michelle

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    Senior Member Guo Xiang's Avatar
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    This is useful for reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese...urs_of_the_day

    The Chinese based their hours of the day on the twelve Earthly Branches, which is the Zodiac.

    And this, which provides in-depth explanation: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthly_Branches
    Last edited by Guo Xiang; 04-06-10 at 03:59 AM.
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    Of course latitude will affect what "time of day" it is relative to a standard longitude and latitude (e.g. GMT). However, one should be able to determine "local noon" when the sun is highest in the sky.

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    Senior Member HuangYushi's Avatar
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    In the olden days in China, time was told in 2-hourly intervals which were named after the 12 Earthly Branches, as stated by Guo Xiang (post #2).

    In CFT's example (post #3), noon at a person's locality can be told by looking at the position of the sun. While it could take a bit of experience to determine when it was exactly 12.00 noon, the period from 11.00 a.m. (1100 hours) to 1.00 p.m. (1300 hours) was known entirely as Wu-shi 午时. So if you have an appointment with someone during Wu-shi, you could technically meet at any point within that 2-hour interval.

    Since each 2-hour interval had its own name, a person just had to match what he saw in the sky (dawn, dusk, etc) with the corresponding intervals. Add to routine events in the person's life (e.g. going to bed and rising at similar times everyday, spending X number of hours tilling the fields, etc, etc), and the person would eventually get a pretty good grasp of the general time of the day.

    In the case of your character, it would suffice to say that it was daybreak/dawn when she woke up. You don't have to say that it was 5.43 a.m.
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    Junior Member luv4xia's Avatar
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    Guo Xiang, CFT, and HuangYushi, thank you for responding so quickly to my request. This information has helped tremendously.

    Michelle

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    On the question of time - is there a standard for the length of time measured by burning one incense/goss stick?

    I always felt that it was arbitrary because that measurement depends on the size of the incense.

    And secondly, are there any sub-divisions (eg minutes, or 15 minutes interval) for each hour? I was under the impression that there isn't, and I always thought that it sucks to, potentially, wait for someone for 2-hours if you arranged to meet at the hour of zi.

    Kudos.

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    Senior Member Guo Xiang's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Suzaku View Post

    And secondly, are there any sub-divisions (eg minutes, or 15 minutes interval) for each hour? I was under the impression that there isn't, and I always thought that it sucks to, potentially, wait for someone for 2-hours if you arranged to meet at the hour of zi.

    Kudos.
    Maybe that's why period dramas always portray people to be waiting, and they tend to have waited for a long time.
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    Senior Member HuangYushi's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Suzaku View Post
    On the question of time - is there a standard for the length of time measured by burning one incense/goss stick?
    I always felt that it was arbitrary because that measurement depends on the size of the incense.
    Yes, it is quite arbitrary for the reason you have stated. However, I believe when a stick of incense is used to measure time, the incense tends to be the most frequently-used size: hand-held, approximately 12-15 inches (30-38 cm) in length and perhaps not more than 0.25 inch (5mm) in diameter. These would probably burn in 15-30 minutes per stick (if my memory doesn't fail me), depending on the actual composition (how much sawdust, sandalwood, etc) of the incense itself.

    Quote Originally Posted by Suzaku View Post
    And secondly, are there any sub-divisions (eg minutes, or 15 minutes interval) for each hour? I was under the impression that there isn't, and I always thought that it sucks to, potentially, wait for someone for 2-hours if you arranged to meet at the hour of zi.
    Telling time down to the minute would be hard without instruments to measure the time (such as a sundial). So yeah, people would have to wait for one another, but it probably didn't matter much. If one party had not arrived, the other party would just plan, strategise or simply relax.
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    Don't the ancient Chinese have time measuring devices involving water droplets among others, and that the invention and spread of these devices usually have imperial consent?
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    Senior Member HuangYushi's Avatar
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    They do, but most of the general populace would not have had any access to such instruments. Most people would just use simple/general measures of time, such as the day/night, the sun/stars/moon, and the seasons. Btw, the Chinese "seasonal" calendar is pretty accurate, and some of the weather forms stated are actually applicable even in present-day Malaysia (which is basically in a different geographical/climatic location).
    Jin Yong's Ode to Gallantry [侠客行].
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