Calendar and Solar-term Evidence
Calendar references are used first for timing: lunar-Gregorian conversion, solar-term windows, Lunar New Year cutoff checks, and the sequence of the 24 terms. The Hong Kong Observatory tables and astronomical calendar tools are strongest when someone asks when Qingming, Dongzhi, Li Chun, or a zodiac boundary belongs in a current-year calendar.
A date table cannot answer every cultural question. It can say which date or term is involved, but it cannot decide whether a city parade moves to a weekend, whether a family cooks tangyuan, or whether a school has permission to hold an activity. The right workflow is date first, then cultural part, then local verification if someone plans to act.
Calendar and solar-term evidence for Source notes starts with the chosen entry point. Explain the strongest use of HKO and astronomical date tables before cultural claims appear. The section should work like a signpost: pick the festival, date tool, food guide, activity page, regional case, or source note that answers the immediate question. Keep the editorial policy close when the person has moved from browsing into a specific lookup.
What Heritage Sources Can Frame
Heritage references help explain why a practice matters as shared cultural knowledge. The 24 solar terms can be described as a knowledge system developed through observing seasonal change. Spring Festival can be described as a broad social practice around the traditional new year. These sources are strong for framing, vocabulary, and why several customs belong in one cultural season.
They are weaker for local detail. A heritage listing does not prove that every household cleans on one day, cooks one food, or follows the same greeting routine. When a page names a food, taboo, regional habit, or school activity, the wording still has to narrow the claim. The site treats heritage sources as a map of the cultural field, not a script for every family.
What heritage sources can frame for Source notes starts with the chosen entry point. Show how UNESCO-style references support broad cultural systems without making universal claims. The section should work like a signpost: pick the festival, date tool, food guide, activity page, regional case, or source note that answers the immediate question. Keep the editorial policy close when the person has moved from browsing into a specific lookup.
Zodiac and Gan-Zhi Evidence
Zodiac and Gan-Zhi references support calendar vocabulary: the twelve animals, the sexagenary cycle, stems, branches, and why year labels appear in greetings, decorations, school notes, and art. They are clear when someone asks whether a January birthday belongs to the previous lunar year or why a year can be described as a stem-branch pair.
They do not support life advice. Animal pages on these guides explain motifs, boundary dates, public greetings, and visual culture. They avoid personality verdicts, compatibility promises, lucky-number claims, and deterministic predictions. When a page discusses an animal, the supported claim is cultural reading and calendar labeling, not a statement about a person's future. The evidence belongs to public language, not private fate.
Zodiac and Gan-Zhi evidence for Source notes starts with the chosen entry point. Separate zodiac motif evidence from personal prediction or fortune claims. The section should work like a signpost: pick the festival, date tool, food guide, activity page, regional case, or source note that answers the immediate question. Keep the editorial policy close when the person has moved from browsing into a specific lookup.
Food and Custom References Need Caveats
Food and custom references help identify common examples: dumplings, tangyuan, zongzi, mooncakes, qingtuan, Laba porridge, red envelopes, couplets, lanterns, and family visits. The site uses those examples to show how a calendar moment becomes visible at a table, door, classroom, market, or community event. That list is a starting point, not proof of one shared menu.
A food example still needs its setting. Dumplings may be prominent in northern New Year or Dongzhi explanations, tangyuan may appear in Lantern Festival and Dongzhi contexts, and qingtuan is especially tied to Jiangnan Qingming practice. A guide therefore names region, family habit, festival part, and substitution risk before turning one dish into advice. Without that context, a food note can sound confident while answering the wrong household.
Food and custom references need caveats for Source notes starts with the chosen entry point. Explain why a food reference is not enough without setting, region, and household context. The section should work like a signpost: pick the festival, date tool, food guide, activity page, regional case, or source note that answers the immediate question. Keep the editorial policy close when the person has moved from browsing into a specific lookup.
Regional and Household Evidence
Regional and household practice changes timing, wording, food, and etiquette. A Cantonese New Year meal, Jiangnan qingtuan memory, Hong Kong Mid-Autumn lantern night, Taiwan Lantern Festival display, Chinatown parade, or overseas family calendar may all be valid without matching one national summary. The source note can explain the broad pattern, but the local setting supplies the final detail.
For that reason, pages avoid turning one example into a rule. If someone is attending an event, visiting a family, writing a school note, or planning food for guests, the final check belongs to the host, organizer, school, or current local notice. The site can prepare the person to ask the right question; it cannot replace the people and places involved.
Regional and household evidence for Source notes starts with the chosen entry point. Make clear when people need local or family evidence beyond general references. The section should work like a signpost: pick the festival, date tool, food guide, activity page, regional case, or source note that answers the immediate question. Keep the editorial policy close when the person has moved from browsing into a specific lookup.
Image Evidence and Fit
Images are used as reading cues. A food page should show the food or a close setting. A zodiac page should show the matching animal motif. A solar-term page should show the seasonal cue, such as dew, snow, harvest, heat, or spring growth. A tool page can use a calendar or cycle image because the person is there to calculate or compare.
License and reachability are not enough. A photo of a lantern cannot support a qingtuan page, and a generic winter scene cannot carry all Dongzhi claims. The image also needs a credit, alt text, and a fit reason that says what part of the cultural question it helps the person see. Weak images are treated as a content problem, not only an asset problem.
Image evidence and fit for Source notes starts with the chosen entry point. Explain how images are chosen as cultural reading cues rather than decoration. The section should work like a signpost: pick the festival, date tool, food guide, activity page, regional case, or source note that answers the immediate question. Keep the editorial policy close when the person has moved from browsing into a specific lookup.
When Sources Disagree
Many apparent conflicts come from different question types. A calendar table may answer the date. A heritage reference may answer why the season matters. A food explainer may answer what a household cooks. A public notice may answer when a parade or market opens. These can all be true while pointing to different decisions.
The site resolves conflicts by naming the part. Date conflict: identify lunar date, Gregorian date, solar term, and year cutoff. Custom conflict: name place, household, or event setting. Food conflict: name region and substitution. Symbol conflict: keep folklore and art separate from prediction. This method favors a narrower accurate sentence over a broad confident one, especially when someone may act on the result.
When sources disagree for Source notes starts with the chosen entry point. Teach people how the site handles apparent conflicts between references. The section should work like a signpost: pick the festival, date tool, food guide, activity page, regional case, or source note that answers the immediate question. Keep the editorial policy close when the person has moved from browsing into a specific lookup.
Where To Go From The Source Guide
Open the editorial policy when the question is how the site writes dates, foods, regional customs, tools, and zodiac boundaries. Open Chinese festivals when a named holiday is the main question. Open 24 solar terms when the person starts from a seasonal word or Gregorian date. Open Chinese zodiac when the question is animal motif, year label, or Lunar New Year cutoff.
Open Gan-Zhi when stems, branches, elements, or the 60-year cycle control the answer. Open the lunar converter, zodiac calculator, or solar-term finder when the person begins with a date. Open seasonal foods or family activities when the source question has turned into a kitchen, classroom, or home-planning job. The path should get narrower after the source question is answered.
Where to go from the source guide for Source notes starts with the chosen entry point. Path people into the policy, festival, solar-term, zodiac, Gan-Zhi, and tool areas. The section should work like a signpost: pick the festival, date tool, food guide, activity page, regional case, or source note that answers the immediate question. Keep the editorial policy close when the person has moved from browsing into a specific lookup.