“Wan Nian” (万年) The Legend of the Timekeeper
"Step into the ancient world of China and immerse yourself in the captivating tale of Wan Nian, the legendary timekeeper who brought order to the chaos of the seasons. In this mesmerizing video, we journey through the life of Wan Nian, a young man whose curiosity and ingenuity changed the course of history.
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According to legend, in ancient times, there was a young man named Wan Nian who observed the disorderliness of the seasons and conceived a plan to regulate them. However, he struggled to find a method to calculate time. One day, while resting under the shade of a tree after chopping wood on the mountain, the movement of the tree's shadow inspired him. He devised a sundial to measure the passage of time during the day. Later, the dripping spring on the mountain cliff further inspired his ingenuity, and he crafted a five-layered water clock to measure time.
As time passed, he discovered that every 360-odd days, the seasons repeated, and the length of days repeated as well.
The ruler at the time was called Zu Yi, who often lamented the unpredictability of the weather. When Wan Nian learned of this, he brought his sundial and water clock to see the emperor and explained the principles of the movement of the sun and moon. Zu Yi was greatly pleased and found the explanation reasonable. He then asked Wan Nian to stay and ordered the construction of the Sun and Moon Pavilion in front of the Temple of Heaven, as well as the erection of a sundial platform and a water clock pavilion. He hoped to accurately measure the movements of the sun and moon, calculate the precise times of sunrise and sunset, establish a calendar, and benefit the people of the world.
Once, Zu Yi went to check on the progress of Wan Nian's calendar. When he ascended the Sun and Moon Pavilion, he saw a poem engraved on the stone wall at the edge of the Temple of Heaven:
""Sunrise and sunset, 360 in all,
Repeating endlessly, starting anew.
Grass and trees wither and flourish, divided into four seasons,
A year contains twelve full moons.""
Understanding that Wan Nian had successfully created the calendar, Zu Yi personally ascended the Sun and Moon Pavilion to visit Wan Nian. Wan Nian pointed to the celestial phenomena and said to Zu Yi, ""Now is the completion of twelve months, the old year has ended, and the new spring begins. I ask the ruler to establish a festival."" Zu Yi said, ""Spring will be the beginning of the year. Let's name it 'Spring Festival'."" It is said that this is the origin of the Spring Festival.
Winter passed and spring came, year after year. After long-term observation and careful calculation, Wan Nian formulated an accurate solar calendar. When he presented the calendar to the succeeding ruler, he had a full head of silver hair. Deeply moved, the ruler named the solar calendar ""Wan Nian Calendar"" in honor of Wan Nian's achievements and appointed him as the Star of Longevity of the Sun and Moon.
Since then, people hang up images of the Star of Longevity during the New Year to commemorate the esteemed Wan Nian."