Starting from Zero?

I find it enchanting that the majority of my Taiwanese students are unaware of the Christian calendar they use to keep time - unaware of the reason why we began counting from the year 'zero' roughly 2007 years ago. Revealing the origins of the modern dating system seems to disturb some students. They seem to retort in this moment of realisation, a gentle rocking of their boats. The majority of Australians will be aware our calendar's origins, but then again I wonder how conscious they are of it's symbolism.

Unlike our modern Christian calendar which enumerates the years from the birth of Jesus Christ, the calendar of the Taiwanese government continues the Chinese imperial tradition of using a sovereign's first year to delineate time - to 'restart the clock', so to speak. In this case, the calendar represents the sovereignty of the Republic of China, beginning with it's reign (民國元年) in 1912. Counting up from 1912 we find ourselves currently in the 96th year of the Republic (民國九十六年, 民國96年). The same counting system was used in mainland China from 1912 until the founding of the PRC in 1949 following the Communist Revolution.

This calendarical system, where time is represented by the ruling sovereign of the time, is, of course, not entirely unique. The Roman calendar counted the years from the founding of the city. For example, the city of Rome was founded in 753 BC, hence the beginning of a new 'calendar era'. Furthermore, in the Roman Republic the years were not counted. Instead they were named after the Consule Ordinaris who was in power at the beginning of the year. For example, the year 60 BC was named after Quintus Caecilius Metellus Celer, the consul of the time. Our modern calendar is closely based on that implemented by Julius Caesar around the time of 46-45BC, and amended by Pope Gregory XIII in AD1582.

Even though Taiwanese culture retains the use of the Chinese lunar calendar for traditional purposes and the 'Minguo Calendar' for all non-governmental purposes, modernity demands that all Globalized (with a capital G) states adopt the Christian calendar for keeping time. It would seem these same forces are perhaps relegating the importance of these calendarical systems to the backwaters of history.

I wonder how important the Minguo calendar is to the Taiwanese identity. The connection is obvious - the calendar recognizes the sovereignty of the ROC. This is symbolism at it's most potent. Time, the magistrate, supports independence in it's current form. Yet is the Minguo calendar a dire attempt by politicians to further the imagining of an independent Taiwan in the minds of it's people? If it were no longer used, what would the consequences be?

And, again, I wonder whether our Christian calendar is any different from those forms that recognize sovereignty in their calendarical system. Subconsciously or otherwise, are we still counting the era of Christ? If yes, will there come a day when we create a new calendar marking the era of a new sovereign? Or, if the obliviousness of my students is our yardstick, has the Christian calendar been 'despiritualized'?

- SS