Listen to this articlenián 年
Nian / Year
在文字学意义上，“年”的本义指庄稼成熟，即年成。因庄稼大都一岁一熟，“年”渐等同于“岁”，成为历法上的时间单位（一年），后又引申指年节（春节）。在历法意义上，它是指中国传统农历（阴阳合历）的一个时间周期，平年12个月，大月30天，小月29天，全年354或355天；闰年13个月，全年383、384或385天。作为一个时间周期，它与中国古代的农业生产密切相关，反映农耕社会的时间意识和思想观念。近代以来，西方的历法（公历）传入中国，1912年为中华民国正式采用，形成了公历与农历并行的双历法系统，所以“年”现在既指农历的时间周期，也指公历的时间周期，视具体的语境而定。
In the literal sense, the Chinese character nian (年) means the ripening of crops. As crops are mostly harvested annually, the Chinese character nian has gradually come to refer to the period of one year, and later it is used to refer to the annual Spring Festival. When it comes to the calendar, it refers to the period of one year on the lunar calendar (lunisolar calendar), which has 12 months: 7 months each of 30 days and 5 months of 29 days, altogether 354 or 355 days. A leap year has 13 months, altogether 383 or 384 or 385 days a year. As a lunar calendar, it is closely related to agricultural production cycles in ancient China, and it epitomizes ancient Chinese people’s awareness of time and concept in an agrarian society. The Gregorian calendar from the West was adopted by the Republic of China in 1912, ushering in a dual system of lunar and solar calendars. As a result, nian (year) refers to a year on the solar or lunar calendar, depending on the context.
引例 Citation：
◎年年岁岁花相似，岁岁年年人不同。（刘希夷《代悲白头翁》）
（每年繁花盛开十分相似，但是前来赏花的人却不同。）
Blossoms look the same season after season; but people enjoying the flowers look different from year to year. (Liu Xiyi: Feeling Sorry for a White-haired Old Man)
