Dating paintings

There are many ways to date your painting once you have completed the image. The main thing is to practice writing the date with each sketch, element, draft or complete composition so that it comes easily when you need it. The less you need to think about the strokes, the more you can allow your style to assert itself.

In order to get the correct numbers for the date you will be signing on your painting check out our Numbers page.

The variations below will all be written left to right purely to save screen space. It is more traditional to write them top to bottom…

  1. The simplest method is to add the date in modern Chinese characters either (a) followed by the character year (nián) or (b) without year (nián)…
2020: Two Zero Two Zero Year

2. A more traditional version is to write the zero (líng) more correctly, again (a) followed by the character year (nián) or (b) without…

Chinese Calligraphy - Two Zero Two Zero Year - trad
2020: Two Zero Two Zero Year – traditional characters

3. The next version involves adding the season (tiān) to the date. This does not always have to be added but if you want to make it clear which season your painting was painted in, include it. You do not need to include the measure word (tiān), just the season. See below for Spring (chūn):

Chinese Calligraphy - Spring Two Zero Two Zero Year - traditional
2020: Spring Two Zero Two Zero Year – traditional characters

In order to write the correct season check out our Seasons page

Chinese Calligraphy - Spring Two Zero Two Zero Year
2020: Spring Two Zero Two Zero Year – modern characters

4. The next version becomes more specific and includes the month (yuè). For clarity I am excluding the season. However, you could include this if you wished. As I am posting this in April this literally says 4th month (or moon), 2020 year:

Calligraphy - Fourth Moon Two Zero Two Zero Year
Chinese Calligraphy – Fourth Month of Two Zero Two Zero Year

5. We can get even more specific by adding the day, or sun (rì). As I am posting this on the 10th of April 2020, this is what is shown below:

Chinese Calligraphy - One Zero Day Four Moon Two Zero Two Zero Year
Chinese Calligraphy – One Zero Sun Fourth Month Two Zero Two Zero Year, literally 10/04/2020

6. Having practiced the above, a Cantonese version of writing the year is to use the actual numbers for the year. As I am writing this in 2020, the numbers are as below i.e. Two thousand twenty:

Calligraphy - Two Thousand Twenty Year
Cantonese Calligraphy – Two Thousand Twenty Year

In order to write the correct season check out our Seasons page. Adding Spring (chūn) we get:

Chinese Calligraphy - Spring Two Thousand Twenty Year
Cantonese Calligraphy – Spring Two Thousand Twenty Year

Adding April, we get:

Chinese Calligraphy - April Spring Two Thousand Twenty Year
Cantonese Calligraphy – April Spring Two Thousand Twenty Year

As I am posting this update on the 17th April, in order to be very specific this is the whole set of characters:

Chinese Calligraphy - 17 April Spring Two Thousand Twenty Year
Cantonese Calligraphy – 17 April Spring Two Thousand Twenty Year

Please note that if you are creating a painting recognisable as a Lingnan style painting it may be appropriate to date as above.

7. The next version is the way to write 2000 in Mandarin. This uses the word liǎng instead of èr for two which is used in Mandarin for factors of 200 or greater:

Chinese Calligraphy - Two Thousand twenty year - liang qian er shi nian - traditional
Chinese Calligraphy – Two Thousand twenty year – liǎng qiān èr shí nián – traditional

In order to write the correct season check out our Seasons page. Adding Spring (chūn) we get:

Calligraphy - Spring Two Thousand twenty year - chun liang qian er shi nian - traditional horizontal
Calligraphy – Spring Two Thousand twenty year – chūn liǎng qiān èr shí nián – traditional

Adding May, we get:

Chinese Calligraphy - May Spring Two Thousand twenty year - chun liang qian er shi nian - traditional
Chinese Calligraphy – May Spring Two Thousand twenty year – wǔ yuè chūn liǎng qiān èr shí nián – traditional

As I am posting this update on the 6th May, in order to be very specific this is the whole set of characters:

Chinese Calligraphy - 6th day May Spring Two Thousand twenty year - liu ri wu yue chun liang qian er shi nian - traditional
Chinese Calligraphy – 6th day May Spring Two Thousand twenty year – liù rì wǔ yuè chūn liǎng qiān èr shí nián – traditional

8. The next version includes the years’ element along with its Chinese zodiac animal. As I am posting this update on the 9th May 2020, it is clear that we are well into the Year of the Metal (or Gold) Rat which runs from 25 January 2020 to 11 February 2021. The characters for Metal Rat Year are as follows:

Chinese Calligraphy - Metal Rat Year - jin shu nian
Chinese Calligraphy – Metal (Gold) Rat Year – jīn shǔ nián

For the Zodiac Animals and the 5 Elements Calligraphy please visit our Calligraphy page.

For a table of the Years and their corresponding zodiac animal and element see this very useful Wikipedia page.

Of course, you can always include the season. In order to write the correct season check out our Seasons page. Adding Spring (chūn) we get:

Chinese Calligraphy - Spring Metal Rat Year - chun jin shu nian
Chinese Calligraphy – Spring Metal Rat Year – chūn jīn shǔ nián

9. The next version is the very traditional way of writing the year which is made up of a heavenly, or celestial, stem and an earthly, or terrestrial, branch.

For 2020, the characters are the 7th heavenly stem (gēng) with the 1st earthly branch (zǐ) giving gēng zǐ which, again, can either be followed by (a) the character year (nián) or (b) without year (nián):

Chinese Calligraphy - 7th Heavenly stem 1st Earthly branch year - geng zi nian
Chinese Calligraphy – 7th Heavenly stem 1st Earthly branch year – gēng zǐ nián – 2020

A complete explanation of how to write all the different years in the 60 year cycle is available in this Chinese Traditional Calendar pdf document.

Please note that the Traditional characters above have no direct translation. They are used exclusively for the 60 year cycle.

There are always questions with regard to Chinese Calligraphy so please get in touch if there is something I have not covered or not explained well. Please email: pmcbp1@gmail.com

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