China Time: How the Ancient Chinese Kept Track of Hours, Days, Years and Epochs

May 20, 2026

COMING IN SEPTEMBER 2026. From oracle bones and simple sundials to towering clockwork machines that rang gongs across imperial capitals, from time intervals ranging from a tenth of a second to over four thousand years, China has been measuring time since before the dawn of history. But the story of Chinese timekeeping is far more than a tale of ancient gadgets. It is a story about how a civilization understood the universe, and its place…

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