5.
years ago, as now they commence the day with midnight, as the Europeans do in their civil life, in the middle of the chinese hour Tsze. That the Chinese in their Calendar and civil life commence the day exactly with midnight and notwith any other time near midnight as 11h P.M. or 1h A.M. may be easily proved by reference to the Chinese Calendars and Ephemerides, published by the astronomical board at Peking, where the first day of the month is sometimes erroneously marked, when the Newmoon happens near midnight. (cf. chapter 17).
Every chinese hour, called Shi 時, is again divided into two equal subdivisions, distinguished from each other by the additions of c'huh 初 and cheng 正 to the characters of the duodecimal cycle. Finally every chinese hour contains 8 equalparts, called K'eh 刻, every K'eh being equal to 15 minutes. The following table exhibits the order, in which these divisions of time are arranged, with their subdivisions corresponding to the European solar hours:
| Table (4) | ||
| Tsze-c'huh | 11h P.M. | 子初 |
| Tsze-cheng | Midnight | 子正 |
| Ch'ow-c'huh | 1h A.M. | 丑初 |
| Ch'ow-cheng | 2h A.M. | 丑正 |
| Yin-c'huh | 3h A.M. | 寅初 |
| Yin-cheng | 4h A.M. | 寅正 |
| Mao-c'huh | 5h A.M. | 卯初 |
| Mao-cheng | 6h A.M. | 卯正 |
| Ch'ên-c'huh | 7h A.M. | 辰初 |
| Ch'ên-cheng | 8h A.M. | 辰正 |
| Sze-c'huh | 9h A.M. | 巳初 |
| Sze-cheng | 10h A.M. | 巳正 |
| Wu-c'huh | 11h A.M. | 午初 |
| Wu-cheng | Noon | 午正 |
| Wei-c'huh | 1h P.M. | 未初 |
| Wei-cheng | 2h P.M. | 未正 |
| Shên-c'huh | 3h P.M. | 申初 |
| Shên-cheng | 4h P.M. | 申正 |
| Yeo-c'huh | 5h P.M. | 酉初 |
| Yeo-cheng | 6h P.M. | 酉正 |
| Sü-c'huh | 5h P.M. | 戌初 |
| Sü-cheng | 6h P.M. | 戌正 |
| Hai-c'huh | 5h P.M. | 亥初 |
| Hai-cheng | 6h P.M. | 亥正 |
