Comparison of a Korean's age by traditional and official reckoning
Traditional East Asian age reckoning covers a group of related methods for reckoning human ages practiced in the East Asian cultural sphere, where age is the number of calendar years in which a person has been alive; it starts at 1 at birth and increases at each New Year. Ages calculated this way are always 1 or 2 years greater than ages that start with 0 at birth and increase at each birthday. Historical records from China, Japan, Korea, and Vietnam have usually been based on these methods, whose specific details have varied over time and by place. South Korea officially stopped using the older system on June 28, 2023. Informal use is still widespread in the Republic and People's Republic of China, North and South Korea, Singapore, and the overseas Chinese and Korean diasporas.
Chinese age reckoning, the first of these methods, originated from the belief in ancient Chinese astrology that one's fate is bound to the stars imagined to be in opposition to the planet Jupiter at the time of one's birth. The importance of this duodecennial cycle is also essential to fengshui geomancy but only survives in popular culture as the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac, which—like the stars—change each Chinese New Year. In this system, one's age is not a calculation of the number of calendar years (年, nián) since birth but a count of the number of these Jovian stars (simplified Chinese: 岁; traditional Chinese: 歲; pinyin: suì) whose influence one has lived through. By the Song dynasty, this system—and the extra importance of the sixtieth birthday produced by its combination with the sexagenary cycle—had spread throughout the Sinosphere. Japan eliminated their version of this system as part of the Meiji Reforms. The Republic of China partially modernized the system during their own reforms, which were continued by the Communists after the Chinese Civil War. Modern Taiwan now has a mixed system, with very widespread use of traditional ages sometimes accommodated by the government. On the mainland, despite calculating age solely by birthdays for all official purposes, Standard Mandarin continues to exclusively use the word suì for talking about years of age; Japanese similarly uses its equivalent, sai.
Korean age reckoning began by using the Chinese system but changed to calculating ages using January 1st as the New Year with their adoption of the Gregorian calendar in 1896. In North Korea, the old system was eliminated entirely in the 1980s. In South Korea, the international "actual ages" have gradually supplanted "Korean ages" in many contexts such as eligibility for driving or access to alcohol and tobacco. A third intermediate system is also used by some South Korean laws. This "year age" is difference between one's birth year and the current year, equivalent to calculating ages using January 1 but starting at 0 instead of 1. This mixed system produced difficulties scheduling vaccination for COVID-19 effectively, and the government has announced that it will fully convert to calculating ages only by birthdays beginning in June 2023.
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Traditional EastAsianagereckoning covers a group of related methods for reckoning human ages practiced in the EastAsian cultural sphere, where age is the...
or something has existed East Asian agereckoning, an Asian system of marking age starting at 1 Ageing or aging, the process of becoming older Senescence...
accounts of his age, Pei Songzhi calculated that, in order to be Cao Pi's son, Cao Rui could not have been 36 (by EastAsianagereckoning) when he died...
Me Birthday depicted a doljanchi. Korean birthday celebrations EastAsianagereckoning Agra Hadig, an Armenian ritual similar to doljabi 임, 석재, "돌", Encyclopedia...
during the fire horse. In the Edo period, all human ages were counted using EastAsianagereckoning, and if Yaoya Oshichi was born during the fire horse...
Chunhua died sometime between 22 May and 19 June 247 at the age of 59 (by EastAsianagereckoning). She was buried at the Gaoyuan Mausoleum (高原陵; somewhere...
Hanja: 還甲) is a traditional way of celebrating one's 60th birthday (EastAsianagereckoning) in Korea. It is analogous to Kanreki (還暦) in Japanese or Jiazi...
to use a form of EastAsianagereckoning for many official purposes. Prior to June 2023, three systems were used together—"Korean ages" that start with...
by the karō Torii Tadayoshi. One year later, at the age of 15 (according to EastAsianagereckoning), he married his first wife, Lady Tsukiyama, a relative...
high risk of misunderstanding. Similar counting is involved in EastAsianagereckoning, in which newborns are considered to be 1 at birth. Musical terminology...
stage-name from Shōzō to Shōdō. excerpts: When he was 18 years old (in EastAsianagereckoning#Japan), he entered apprenticeship to rakugo master Hayashiya Shōzō...
sons of the other generals." Zhuge Qiao died in 228 at the age of 25 (by EastAsianagereckoning). Zhuge Qiao's son, Zhuge Pan (諸葛攀), served in Shu as well...
state of Shu. In 200, Xiahou was thirteen or fourteen years old by EastAsianagereckoning, and was captured by Zhang Fei when she went out to collect firewood...
numerals EastAsianagereckoning Guo Shoujing, an astronomer tasked with calendar reform during the 13th century List of festivals in Asia Metonic cycle...
Muslim name. The epitaph states that Ramadan was thirty-eight in EastAsianagereckoning in April 1349, meaning that he was born between 8 February, 1312...
indicated that he was 36 (by EastAsianreckoning) when he died, his biography also indicated that he was 10 (by EastAsianreckoning) when Sima Shi died (in...
years old according to EastAsianagereckoning, i.e. 126 in Western reckoning. Regnal years are counted using inclusive reckoning until Empress Jitō, the...
died. It simply recorded that he died of illness at the age of 36 (by EastAsianagereckoning) in Baqiu while he was on his way to Jiangling. The Zizhi...
age in different ways. The age of an adult human is commonly measured in whole years since the day of birth. (The most notable exception—EastAsian age...
EastAsian people (also EastAsians or Northeast Asians) are the people from EastAsia, which consists of China, Japan, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea...
(2024) is 113; and next year (2025) will be 114. Chinese era name EastAsianagereckoning Public holidays in Taiwan Juche calendar Taishō era 廖盛春 (2007)...
Park clan (Korean: 명빈 박씨; Hanja: 䄙嬪 朴氏); when Yi Hwon was five (EastAsianagereckoning), Lady Park passed away and he acquired the official title in the...
EastAsia and was undoubtedly the core of EastAsian civilization from where other parts of EastAsia were formed. The various other regions in East Asia...
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