The hour is the traditional unit of time in China. The ancients divided a day into twelve sections, that is, a day and night were divided into twelve hours, and each hour was equivalent to two hours today. Twelve hours are named after the earthly branches, one hour is four minutes, and one * * * is divided into 96 hours, and one moment is about 15 minutes.

Ancient timing tools

1, sundial

The first is the "sundial (three sounds of Guangxi)". In ancient times, there was an instrument for measuring time called a sundial, which consisted of a huge dial with scales and a vertical needle in the center of the dial. The sun moved and the pointer was pointing at the scale on the dial. You can see the sundial in the Forbidden City in Beijing (10 years ago in the Forbidden City in Beijing, and later in Hengdian, Zhejiang, such a copy of the Ming and Qing Dynasties was much rougher).

2. Leakage

The second is "leakage". Water leakage is timed by dripping water, which is made up of four copper pots filled with water, which are stacked on top of each other. There are holes in the bottom of the first three, and an arrow-shaped buoy is vertically placed on the bottom one. The water level rises with the drop of water, and the pot body has scale timing. The original day and night was divided into 100 minutes, which was changed to 96, 108 and 120 minutes successively because it was not divisible with twelve o'clock, and it was officially set as 96 minutes in Qing Dynasty. In this way, one hour is equal to eight quarters. A moment is divided into three points, and a day and night has twenty-four points, as opposed to twenty-four solar terms.