China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2025 01-17

 Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/20................................................................................................................................................1/13

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. 

As for interpreting the translation, unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.

                                             Section One

                                        Solar Calendar Date

                                       (top to bottom, right to left)

十

七

五期星

First Month, Seventeenth Day

Friday, January 17

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

聖麒

心麟

Unicorn

Sagely Heart-Mind

————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰甲

吉凶吉

酉巳乙

吉吉中

戌午寅

凶中吉

亥未卯

吉凶吉

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 In-Between

 03:00-05:00 Auspicious

 05:00-07:00 Auspicious

07:00-09:00 Inauspicious

  09:00-11:00 Auspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 Auspicious

————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌

作修

灶厨

Repairing Kitchens

Stove Work

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

八

丙

戌

土

牛

收

Eighteenth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: bingxu (23/60)

Phase (element): Earth

"Constellation Personality: Oxen (9/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Receive (10/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

宜

祭

祀

掃

舍

五歲

虛破

月債

刑不

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Sweeping Rooms

Baleful Asterisms

(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)

Generational Destruction

Debt Not

Five Voids

Lunar Punishment

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" directly below each character)

白 鬼

White, Ghosts

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,

however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)

厨

栖 灶

Kitchen

Perch, Stove

China's Lunar-Solar Calendar 2025 01-16

Click here for the introduction to the Round and Square series "Calendars and Almanacs" 

⇦⇦⇦⇦⇦ From right to left: ⇦⇦⇦⇦
1/20................................................................................................................................................1/13

This is one in a never-ending series—following the movements of the calendar—in Round and Square perpetuity. It is today's date in the Chinese lunar-solar (or "luni-solar" calendar; I call it the "lunar" calendar in order to distinguish it from the kinds of calendars most Westerners use. It has a basic translation and minimal interpretation. 

As for interpreting the translation, unless you have been studying calendars (and Chinese culture) for many years, you will likely find yourself asking "what does that mean?" I would caution that "it" doesn't "mean" any one thing (almost any "it" you will see). There are clusters of meaning, and they require patience, reflection, careful reading, and, well, a little bit of ethnographic fieldwork. The best place to start is the introduction to "Calendars and Almanacs" on this blog. I teach a semester-long course on this topic and, trust me, it takes a little bit of time to get used to the lunar calendar. Some of the material is readily accessible; some of it is impenetrable, even after many years. And do not assume that people from China understand the traditional calendar particularly well, either. I have encountered confusion and furrowed brows for countless items in the calendar. It can seem "remote," in other words, from the world we live in these days, and yet it is printed anew every single year.

As time goes on, I will link all of the sections to lengthy background essays. This will take a while. In the meantime, take a look, read the introduction, and think about all of the questions that emerge from even a quick look at the calendar. You will likely find that several of the translations seem quite "fanciful" in English. I am simply trying to convey that they also sound fairly fanciful in Chinese.

                                     Section One

                                Solar Calendar Date

                               (top to bottom, right to left)

十

六

四期星

First Month, Sixteenth Day

Thursday, January 16

————

Section Two
Beneficent Stars 

(top to bottom, right to left)

六歲德歲

合支日支

Generational Exemplarity

Generational Branch

Three Linkages

Yang Exemplarity

————

Section Three
Auspicious Hours
(top to bottom, right to left) 
申辰甲

吉吉吉

酉巳乙

吉凶吉

戌午寅

凶中吉

亥未卯

中凶凶

23:00-1:00 Auspicious

 01:00-03:00 Auspicious

 03:00-05:00 Auspicious

 05:00-07:00 Inauspicious

07:00-09:00 Auspicious

  09:00-11:00 Inauspicious

11:00-13:00 In-Between

13:00-15:00 Inauspicious

15:00-17:00 Auspicious

17:00-19:00 Auspicious

19:00-21:00 Inauspicious

21:00-23:00 In-Between

————

Section Four 
Activities to Avoid  
(top-to-bottom; right to left) 

忌

娶田時栽

魚獵插種

Planting and Cultivating

Timely Plantings

Field Venery (Goin' Huntin')

Garnering Piscinity (Goin' Fishin')

Section Five 
Cosmological Information

十

七

乙

酉

水

斗

成

Seventeenth Day (Twelfth Lunar Month)

Cyclical Day: yiyou (22/60)

Phase (element): Water

"Constellation Personality: Southern Dipper (8/28)

"Day Personality" Cycle: Completion (9/12)

————

Section Six

Appropriate Activities

and Miscellaneous Information

(top to bottom; left to right)

事用王土

————

宜

動理嫁祭

土髮娶祀

上掃納入

樑舍采學

安開移出

葬市徙行

將俱

勾大班上

陳煞煞兀

Earth King Yongshi

(a method of dividing the year into five seventy-two day segments, 

and signaling the last eighteen degrees of each season)

Appropriate Activities

Venerating Ancestors

Entering Study

Going Out (about)

Marriage Alliances

Grain Payments

Moving Residences

Patterning Hair (Haircuts and Styling)

Sweeping Rooms

Opening Markets

Moving Soil

Raising Beams

 Positioning Graves

Everything General

Baleful Asterisms

(top down, starting on the right; two characters each)

Upper Amputee

Classified Balefulness

Great Balefulness

Narrative Hook

Section Seven
Inauspicious Stars
(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English, however, "fits" directly below each character)

白 山

White, Mountain

————

Section Eight

Miscellaneous Items

(the Chinese is read from right to left; the English,

however, "fits" intuitively in the configuration of characters)

門 磨 碓

Gate, Mortar, Pestle

Attendance Policy (All Classes) 2025a

  

[a] Standing at attendance RF

Class Attendance, Class Participation,
and Computer Use Policy

All Classes

Autumn 2025

Robert André LaFleur                                              Office Hours:

Godfrey 106 and MI 206                                           Monday        12:00-13:30
363-2005                                                                    Wednesday 12:00-13:30  

lafleur@beloit.edu                                                      ...or by appointment (just send               

                                                                                         me an email message)                                                                                                                                                                      

A specter is haunting Beloit College—the specter of missed classes, half-empty classrooms, and disjointed learning. I have tolerated these patterns of vacuity in the past, but it has reached a point in which missed classes affect both the students who are absent and more punctual class members (who have to hear explanations for material and key points more than once...or twice...or, you get the idea). It also detracts from the pedagogical goals of not only our little course of study, but of liberal education in general. 

From here on, attendance is absolutely required.*
*Of course, I will work with anyone who has an accommodation letter from the college, and encourage anyone for whom it is needed to get one immediately. I will always work with you. The substance of what is covered below is about making sure that students don't lose the "threads" of the class through too-frequent absence. My concern is for student learning, not maintaining arbitrary rules about absences.

[b] Late RF

                   

                        ***  ***
I will expect regular attendance and participation in class. I will take attendance during every class session, and students will be expected to be on time and respectful of the length of breaks. While this may seem draconian, it is simply meant as a way to create a positive learning environment (see * above)

Class Attendance
You are expected to attend every class session during the term. Period. This is not a policy that “allows” one or two (or three) “misses.” Short of significant illness, or a major—catastrophic—event, you need to be in class. 

Class will begin promptly at the scheduled time, and there will be a quiz at that time.  All quizzes will be collected no later than twenty minutes after the scheduled beginning of class. Be in class on time and use your twenty minutes for the quiz. The entire purpose of the quizzes is to stimulate thinking for class. If you are later than that, you will receive the minimum score (70), although you are still encouraged to fill it out for your general academic benefit.

Please Note:
Class attendance and participation is expected. 
More than four hours of missed classes will result in the loss of a letter grade for the course.*
Ten or more hours of missed class will result in an F grade for the course.*
*Unless you have a letter and we have discussed strategies. Even then, the loss of class time can create an almost impossible situation in terms of continuity of understanding in the course.

 ***  ***

Class time will cover significant issues that go beyond the foundation of materials you have been assigned. In other words, you are supposed to prepare with the readings and then take the quizzes in order to think in new ways about that material. In the class that follows, we will take all of that preparation in new directions (that is the purpose of class, after all). Much of what we do in class will figure prominently on future quizzes and exams. Just to make sure that this is clear: you need to prepare for class, and class time will not be spent rehashing what was clearly laid out in the assigned readings. 

Occasionally, it will happen that you are not able to be in class, no matter what. These occasions should be very rare, occurring for most students once or twice every third semester, and only a handful of times during an entire college education (I am not kidding).

Attendance matters.

[c] Portal RF

When absences do happen, send me an e-mail message letting me know. Please note the wording. Do not ask me for “permission.”  Do not plead for “leniency.” I prefer to deal with these matters the way members of any civil society would—with a sense of decorum and mutual respect. That is ultimately how I will evaluate your attendance. It is really quite simple to tell the difference between not being able to pry oneself away from Madden NFL 25® and experiencing an illness or loss. Don’t be too “personal” in your e-mail messages. I don’t want to pry, and I don’t need explanations (or, worse yet, excuses). Just let me know the situation.

Class Participation
By “participation,” I mean being fully prepared and engaged in the lecture or discussion. This may or may not include active voicing of opinions or interpretations. In short, I do not belong to the school of thought that equates “talking” with participation and “silence” with lack of engagement. It is easy enough, after a quarter century of teaching, to see the exceptions. What I seek is solid preparation, engagement with the subject under discussion, and (eventually) evidence in your writing that these things have come together.
[For Zoom classes, which will happen occasionally, even post-pandemic, it is not acceptable simply to lurk in the background. You need to be engaged, which means having your camera on and being ready to ask and answer questions.]

I expect you to listen to my (and your peers’) comments, and to add your interpretations whenever you feel compelled to do so. The best advice is for students to push their “comfort zones” a little. If you are inclined to speak often, pull back (a little) and listen. If you rarely speak, push yourself to do so.

[d] Gathering RF

You need to have the required books with you for class discussion. In cases for which reserve materials have been necessary, you need at least a series of notes to which you can refer during our discussions. Reading books on reserve (or leaving it to the last minute) is never a valid reason for being unprepared.

After an initial “getting acquainted” process, I will start calling on people. This will never be punitive, and will only occasionally create (unwittingly) the kind of “I-don’t-know/deer-in-the-headlights” terror that makes everyone uncomfortable…for about ten seconds. I plan to get people talking about the materials with a minimum of fuss and worry—and will explain the process once the course gets underway.

The most important part of the “participation” expectation is note taking. I want you to explore various note-taking skills as part of your expanding liberal arts education. You will more than occasionally hear me say “write that down.” That is for emphasis. I expect all students to develop note-taking strategies so that they have useful materials for further analysis when writing papers or studying for exams. 

Do not dismiss the neurobiological power of physically writing the notes on paper. Not everything has to be digital (something I never had to mention before a few years ago).

Because I take the note-taking process so seriously, I am requiring that you keep a notebook that will be turned in as part of your class work. Notebooks will be due several times during the semester and at the end of the term. Do not "just listen." I don't deny the value of listening, but I feel that note-taking is becoming a dying art in our society, and I am requiring that you actively take notes about the course's subject matter, both in and outside of class.

Phones, Laptops, and Classroom Computers
There will be no use of laptop or classroom computers during class time without approval. I realize that taking notes on computers can be a useful practice, but I would like to emphasize a number of other note-taking strategies in our class (see above). Part of a liberal education lies in pushing one’s boundaries. Experiment with various note-taking strategies. The only possible exception to this policy will be for clearly stated (mostly medical) needs. See me if you need approval. If you are curious (or incredulous) about this requirement, it is because there is a pandemic of social media monitoring in far too many classes, resulting in (while I am, for example, speaking of a tragic event or very serious issue) a loud guffaw and laugh while someone else has been checking social media feeds. This happens far, far, too often.
Keep your laptop, tablet, phone (etc.) in your bag during class.

[e] Connected RF

You may do a quick check of e-mail and social media during break if you wish, but you must complete your work before class resumes (with time to spare). Then put away your devices.

Occasionally during class something will come up that might benefit from a quick on-line search. In those cases (these seem to occur a handful of times during the term), I may give permission for people to do a quick in-class check.  Such times are the exception, not the rule. For the most part, we will be engaged in a distant intellectual world of books and paper. It will be a healthy contrast to our “connected” worlds beyond the classroom.

Just to reiterate (and I shouldn’t even have to say it), turn off your phones…and most everything else, too.

I fully realize that this is a great deal of legalistic material to handle at once. A single, sensible thread runs through all of it, though—a learning community that is engaged in examining old questions and pondering the new. Or, as Confucius was said to have said:

溫故而知新可以為師矣

Acquire new knowledge while pondering the old, 

and you may become a teacher of others

[f] Teaching RF

New York Review of Books Syllabus (All Classes) 2025a

  

[a[ Gates to Learning RF

New York Review of Books Syllabus
All Classes

Spring 2025

Robert André LaFleur                                              Office Hours:

Godfrey 106 (and MI 206)                                         Monday          12:00-13:30
363-2005                                                                     Wednesday   12:00-13:30

lafleur@beloit.edu                                                      ...or by appointment (just send               

                                                                                         me an email message)                                                                                                                          

We will be reading .pdf essays from the archives of the New York Review of Books (hereafter NYRB). I will send the entire sequence near the beginning of the term. Please store them in a place (computer file, backup disk, etc.)that will make it convenient to access each week

Week Three

(3 February)

Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
Robert Darnton, "Free Spirit" 

(Reviewing Isaiah Berlin on ideas and history)

Week Four 

(10 February)

Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading

Keith Thomas, "The Great Fight Over the Enlightenment"

(Reviewing two works on the Enlightenment"

Week Five  
(17 February)

Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
Ian Hacking, "The Archaeology of Foucault" 

(Reviewing Michel Foucault's Writings)

Week Six
(24 February)

Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
Ian Hacking, "Winner Takes Less" 

(Reviewing Robert Axelrod on Cooperation)

Week Seven

(3 March)

Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
Bernard Williams, "The End of Explanation?" 

(Reviewing Thomas Nagel's Work)

Week Ten

(24 March)

Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
Alisdair MacIntyre, "Durkheim's Call to Order"

(Reviewing Steven Luke's on Durkheim)
 

Week Eleven

(31 March)

Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
Martha Nussbaum, "Feminists and Philosophy"

(Reviewing a work on feminist philosophy)

Week Twelve 

(7 April)

Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
Anthony Quinton, "Spreading Hegel's Wings I"

(The first installment of a two-part review of writings on Hegel)
 

Week Thirteen

(14 April)

Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading

Anthony Quinton, "Spreading Hegel's Wings II"

(The second installment of a two-part review of writings on Hegel)

Week Fourteen

(21 April)

Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading

Robert Craft, "Telling Time" 

(Reviewing Jaqueline de Romilly the nature of time)

Week Fifteen

(28 April)

Review the "Questions to Ask of Every NYRB Essay" before each week's reading
Samuel Freeman, "Why Be Good?" 

(Reviewing Derek Parfit's On What Matters)