Who invented the concept of virtual age?

At the end of every year, the firecrackers in the hearts of young people are ignited by their virtual age.

"Mom, I just turned 21, don't tell people I'm 23."

The older generation seems to have an obsession with virtual age. No matter how many times you emphasize it, they always enthusiastically add one or two years to your age (sometimes even three years) , and then urge you to get married, start a career, get promoted, and make money as you are already old...

Many people are very confused about this. Why is it different when it comes to virtual age when people are so particular about "looking young"? Some people even said that the application scenarios of virtual age are really limited. You say virtual age and I say real age. There is no unified standard, which can easily cause misunderstandings.

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So the question is, how did the virtual age come about? If it is so inconvenient, why does the virtual age exist?

01

Origin of virtual age

Some people say that one’s age is the time when a baby comes out of the mother’s body, while one’s age in lunar years is the time it takes to be pregnant for ten months.

But this statement is not entirely correct. The principle of virtual age is related to the calendar.

The commonly used age is based on the Gregorian birthday, 0 years old at birth, and one year added after each birthday. The age in Chinese characters is based on the Lunar New Year, 1 year old at birth, and one year added after each Lunar New Year.

We don’t know whether people in ancient times used their full age or their virtual age. However, from the 16th year of Emperor Qin Shihuang until the promulgation of the Household Registration Law in the 3rd year of Emperor Xuantong of the Qing Dynasty, the government’s household registration and archives only recorded people’s birth years and ages, not their birth months and days. After a certain period of time, one year was added to the age of all people on the household registration. Therefore, from an institutional perspective, there was no concept of “full age” in ancient China for more than 2,000 years.

This is the case at the official level, but what about folk customs?

The first sentence of the "Table for Calculating Age Based on the Old Calendar" issued by the Ministry of Education of the Republic of China in 1930 said, "According to the old custom in China, the age is calculated based on the old calendar, so the ages mentioned are all imaginary, not real."

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Although the ancients also had the custom of wishing and celebrating birthdays, people at that time often only celebrated birthdays as a festival of their own, and did not regard it as a node of age growth. People in the whole society had a common "birthday", and everyone "grew one year older" on this day.

Before the advent of the calendar, our ancestors in ancient times recorded the years (time) by the changes in natural scenery and the ripening of crops. October, as a time of harvest, was regarded as the node for the change in the agricultural production cycle. Therefore, people at that time regarded October as the beginning of the year, held grand celebration ceremonies, and congratulated each other on longevity. The lively scene was just like the Spring Festival in later generations.

It was not until Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty changed the Taichu calendar and took the first month as the beginning of the year that New Year's Day became a common node for adding years to the years in both the official and folk traditions. Whether it was the joy of Yu Xin's poem "New Year's Day wards off evil wine, New Year's longevity cup" during the Southern and Northern Dynasties, or Bai Juyi's sigh on New Year's Eve "After the fire is extinguished and the lights are out, I am only sixty years old", they are all true portrayals of adding years to the years on New Year's Day. The Spring Festival couplet "As the years go by, people get older" has been used until now.

Image source: Visual China

02

"A practical person is not one who is empty-headed"

The emergence of virtual age is because the ancients lacked accurate timekeeping methods, but there was a practical need to count age. However, with the development of human civilization, this problem has long been solved. We can control a person's age to an accuracy that seems unnecessary in daily life.

What's more, the issue of age is not a personal matter. It is related to all aspects of national and social life. Especially when facing critical moments, the significance of age is more prominent.

For example, the "Compulsory Education Law of the People's Republic of China" stipulates that only children who are six years old or older can go to school. Therefore, the Ministry of Education stipulates that only children who are six years old on August 31 of the year can register for the first grade of elementary school. Children born on September 1, even if only one day later, can only go to school next year.

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In addition, marriage, employment, military service, retirement, etc. all have specific age requirements.

In other words, from a practical point of view, the existence of virtual age seems to be unnecessary.

03

It's okay to go slow

Some people say that those who are sandwiched between children and the elderly are the ones who least want to grow up, and they are often the ones who are against virtual age.

"I am no longer a three-year-old child," "I am already 89 years old this year," and "I am already 35 years old," have completely different emotions.

When searching for “virtual age” on social platforms, most posts reveal a sense of anxiety, using the length of time to highlight the shortcoming of one’s own abilities: I am already so old, but I have not accomplished anything. I am anxious and confused.

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In many people's minds, virtual age has been firmly linked to "age anxiety." Just like when parents urge their children to get up, they like to say 8 o'clock is 10:30, which is a way of exaggerating the facts to deepen the seriousness of the incident in order to attract attention.

"You should do what you should do at every age" is a life principle that many people believe in. "At thirty, one is established; at forty, one is free from doubts; at fifty, one understands the will of Heaven." It seems that advancing one's age can speed up the pace of progress.

But "being independent at the age of thirty" is Confucius' review of his life. It is understandable to emulate the virtuous, but there is no need to benchmark against the saints in everything and become anxious and panic if you fail to keep up with them.

In the eyes of many young people, calculating one’s virtual age is clearly sounding the horn of anxiety, making marks on the age axis, and constantly involution.

Image source: Internet

A few years ago, an advertisement slogan sparked heated discussions among netizens: The whole world is urging you to eat breakfast, but no one cares that you haven't had breakfast yet. Is it possible that we don't have to care about what the world says, and just eat our breakfast well, even if it's just a cup of soy milk, and we can enjoy it endlessly?

Confucius was thirty years old, and the average life expectancy of people in the Spring and Autumn Period was only around thirty. It is not important whether you eat this meal quickly or slowly, but only when you can savor the flavor can you be considered to have eaten well.

If you swallow it in a hurry, even if it is ginseng fruit, you will inevitably choke and feel anxious, right?

Be it virtual age or actual age, life should be free and enjoyable and should not be kidnapped by numbers.

Source: CCTV.com

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