干支符号所代表的时空观

The Tempo-Spatial View Reflected in the Symbols of Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches

天干、地支作为中国传统历法中的纪时符号，在中国历史文化发展的长河里，逐渐被赋予了神秘的色彩，至今还保留在农历之中，其原因在于国人对时空本质的认识。干支符号所代表的时空观与现代物理学相对论的时空观同义，干支符号的配合实际上就是一个动态的时空坐标系统。时、空本来是人认识宇宙并用来描述客观实在所用的语言要素，但国人这种传统的时空观是与中国传统哲学中的阴阳、五行等范畴及“天人合一”观密切联系的。为什么古老的干支符号所代表的时空观与相对论的时空观一致。

The heavenly stems and earthly branches are symbols in the traditional Chinese calendar and have been endowed with mystic colors in the development of China's history. Its existence is accounted for by the understanding of the nature of time and space: they are synonymous to the tempo-spatial view of relativity in modern physics, being a dynamic coordinate in time and space. While time and space are two important linguistic elements in describing objective entities of the universe, in the eyes of the Chinese they are closely related with the concepts of yin, yang, and the five elements and the understanding of the unity between heaven and man. Such agreement between the stems and branches and the modern physics is worth considering.