In the literal sense, the Chinese character nian (年) means the ripening of crops. As crops are mostly harvested annually, the Chinese character nian has gradually come to refer to the period of one year, and later it is used to refer to the annual Spring Festival. When it comes to the calendar, it refers to the period of one year on the lunar calendar (lunisolar calendar), which has 12 months: 7 months each of 30 days and 5 months of 29 days, altogether 354 or 355 days. A leap year has 13 months, altogether 383 or 384 or 385 days a year. As a lunar calendar, it is closely related to agricultural production cycles in ancient China, and it epitomizes ancient Chinese people’s awareness of time and concept in an agrarian society. The Gregorian calendar from the West was adopted by the Republic of China in 1912, ushering in a dual system of lunar and solar calendars. As a result, nian (year) refers to a year on the solar or lunar calendar, depending on the context.

Blossoms look the same season after season; but people enjoying the flowers look different from year to year. (Liu Xiyi: Feeling Sorry for a White-haired Old Man）