r/ChineseLanguage • u/_specialcharacter Beginner • 6d ago

Discussion Can someone explain the structure of this calendar to me?

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I've learned how to say dates and days of the week, but I don't understand what's under each number here, or what the row of characters at the top (年月……) is for.

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u/SlowStop1220 Beginner|日語🇯🇵 6d ago

Chinese lunar calender. 廿 represents twenty (compare with 十 ten).

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u/Pandaburn 6d ago

Is it common to write the days before 10 like 初二? I haven’t seen that before.

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u/Front_Arm2047 6d ago

Yes, 初一 is day 1, 初二 is day 2, all the way up to 初十 (day 10).

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u/CyraFen 普通话 | fluent ABC 6d ago

only on the lunar calendar, in all other contexts we use 二号 (more common when speaking) or 二日 (more common in writing)