Qingming

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15°

The traditional East Asian calendars divide a year into 24 solar terms (節氣). Qīngmíng (pīnyīn) or Seimei (rōmaji) (Chinese and Japanese: 清明; Korean: 청명; Vietnamese: Thanh minh; literally: "clear and bright") is 5th solar term. It begins when the Sun reaches the celestial longitude of 15° and ends when it reaches the longitude of 30°. It more often refers in particular to the day when the Sun is exactly at the celestial longitude of 15°. In Gregorian calendar, it usually begins around April 4 (April 5 East Asia time) and ends around April 20.

[edit] Pentads

Date and Time (UTC)
year begin end
辛巳 2001-Apr-04 17:24 2001-Apr-20 00:35
壬午 2002-Apr-04 23:18 2002-Apr-20 06:20
癸未 2003-Apr-05 04:52 2003-Apr-20 12:02
甲申 2004-Apr-04 10:43 2004-Apr-19 17:50
乙酉 2005-Apr-04 16:34 2005-Apr-19 23:37
丙戌 2006-Apr-04 22:15 2006-Apr-20 05:26
丁亥 2007-Apr-05 04:04 2007-Apr-20 11:07
戊子 2008-Apr-04 09:45 2008-Apr-19 16:51
己丑 2009-Apr-04 15:33 2009-Apr-19 22:44
庚寅 2010-Apr-04 21:30 2010-Apr-20 04:29

Source: JPL Horizons On-Line Ephemeris System

Each solar term can be divided into 3 pentads (候). They are first pentad (初候), second pentad (次候) and last pentad (末候). Pentads in Qingming including:

China
  • First pentad: 桐始華
  • Second pentad: 田鼠化為鴽
  • Last pentad: 虹始見
Japan
  • First pentad: 玄鳥至
  • Second pentad: 鴻雁北
  • Last pentad: 虹始見

[edit] See also


Preceded by:
Chunfen (春分)
Solar term (節氣) Succeeded by:
Guyu (穀雨)