> Before the Spring and Autumn period (before 770 BC), the Chinese Calendars were solar calendars. In the so-called five-phase calendar, the year consists of 10 months and a transition, each month being 36 days long, and the transitions 5 or 6 days. During the Warring States period (~475-220 BC), the primitive lunisolar calendars were established under the Zhou Dynasty,
> Before the Zhou dynasty, the Chinese calendars used a solar calendar.
> According to Ancient Chinese literature, the first version was the five-phases calendar (traditional Chinese: 五行曆; simplified Chinese: 五行历), which came from the tying knots culture. ... The second version is the four-seasons calendar ... The third version is the balanced calendar ..
> In Zhou dynasty, the authority issued the official calendar, which is a primitive lunisolar calendar.
The Shang dynasty came before the Zhou dynasty, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script says that "The vertical columns of text in Chinese writing are traditionally ordered from right to left; this pattern is found on bronze inscriptions from the Shang dynasty onward."
This would seem to mean that the Chinese calendar had a right-to-left writing system and a solar calendar, before switching to a solilunar calendar, yes?
Does that not invalidate your thesis?
In any case, I don't see why there should be any connection. If there are only a few data points, then it's very easy to get coincidental correlations.
Yeah, if that is right about China, it is pretty damning. And sure, given how few data points there are, it is the kind of thesis that would be impossible to really definitively confirm.
Looking now into the history of the Chinese calendar, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_calendars#China says:
> Before the Spring and Autumn period (before 770 BC), the Chinese Calendars were solar calendars. In the so-called five-phase calendar, the year consists of 10 months and a transition, each month being 36 days long, and the transitions 5 or 6 days. During the Warring States period (~475-220 BC), the primitive lunisolar calendars were established under the Zhou Dynasty,
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_calendar#Earlier_Chine... elaborates:
> Before the Zhou dynasty, the Chinese calendars used a solar calendar.
> According to Ancient Chinese literature, the first version was the five-phases calendar (traditional Chinese: 五行曆; simplified Chinese: 五行历), which came from the tying knots culture. ... The second version is the four-seasons calendar ... The third version is the balanced calendar ..
> In Zhou dynasty, the authority issued the official calendar, which is a primitive lunisolar calendar.
The Shang dynasty came before the Zhou dynasty, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oracle_bone_script says that "The vertical columns of text in Chinese writing are traditionally ordered from right to left; this pattern is found on bronze inscriptions from the Shang dynasty onward."
This would seem to mean that the Chinese calendar had a right-to-left writing system and a solar calendar, before switching to a solilunar calendar, yes?
Does that not invalidate your thesis?
In any case, I don't see why there should be any connection. If there are only a few data points, then it's very easy to get coincidental correlations.
What difference does it make?