Chinese traditional perceptions of the calendar year: Implications of Jieqi for contemporary product development and sustainability

This paper explores the implications for climate tourism development that follows the 2016 decision by UNESCO to add a traditional cultural understanding of the annual seasonal changes in Chinese “intangible culture.” The calendar year was divided into 24 equal parts (Jieqi) to aid agricultural practices. Thus, each Jieqi was associated with farming, social, and cultural practices. Given a growing concern with the climate in general and a need to adopt environment friendly practices, this paper describes the nature of this traditional pattern of thought. The paper then proceeds to argue that climate tourism products that can create better awareness of man's influences on the environment can be developed based on Chinese heritage and practice. For sustainable development, the knowledge system of 24 Jieqi climate tourism product that promote multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, and trans-disciplinary communication has been emphasized in this paper.