Most of us grew up knowing our own single birth date. After all, you can only be born once and that’s the only date of birth you can have, or is it?
Unlike the western system, which follows the solar calendar in which age is determined according to the day of birth, the traditional Chinese system follows the lunar calendar and begins counting from the time of conception. Since the period of pregnancy is unfixed at around 9 months, the age of the child is considered to be 1 at time of birth. Moreover, in the traditional Chinese system for calculating age, a person’s age increases by 1 year on Chinese New Year, as opposed to the Western system in which it increases on the day of your birthday. The number of days per year is also less in the Chinese calendar, compared to its Western counterpart. Therefore, you’ll be older according to the Chinese calendar.
For example, a baby born on 1 October, 2020, will be 2 years old on 1 January, 2021, because it will have traversed 2 years; 2020 and 2021, whereas its western age will be 4 months. In the final analysis, you will always be a year or even 2 years older according to your Chinese age in the Chinese lunar calendar.
The best solution would be to have two of everything; two birthdays, two parties, two sets of presents, etc. But let’s keep it realistic. In essence, you have the chance to choose which calendar to follow; solar or lunar. You would think that the western version should be more popular. Who would want to be older than their actual age?! This serves as a general rule, but you should think clearly about the pros and cons. Being a few months older might come in handy on some occasions, mostly if you are a teenager about to hit your long waited 18th birthday and the perks that adulthood brings.
According to Article 37 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on the Protection of Minors, the selling of tobacco and alcoholic drinks to minors is prohibited. This means that 18 years of age is the turning point for drinking alcoholic beverages, smoking and driving in China. How would you feel if all of your classmates and friends got a driving license and started driving cars at the weekends while you had to wait another year? The same goes for drinking; no matter your preference, it’s never a good feeling to be left out.
In 2019, the brewery, Harbin (owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev), decided to help out the unlucky ones who had their birthday late in the calendar year. Specifically, they gifted the last person to turn 18 in China with her own personal Harbin Beer tap and a lifetime supply of beer. The promotion served as a show of sympathy to a young lady who had to watch all of her friends who turned 18 over the course of a year enjoy a beer while she couldn’t. To their credit, Harbin Beer does offer a balance in promoting their beer, regularly sharing advertisements to warn against the dangers of drunk driving.
To avoid such miscalculation, since its founding in 1949, the People’s Republic of China officially adopted the solar calendar for administration purposes, even though traditional festivals are scheduled as per the Lunar Calendar.
So know you know how old you are, officially!
