Snakes in Chinese mythology of the Han dynasty, which claimed to rule with the protection of water and the north. Although the Black Warrior (Xuan Wu) is generally depicted as a snake entwining around a turtle, sometimes they are viewed as two separable generals. In Chinese culture mythologized snakes and snakelike beings have various roles, including the calendar system, poetry, and literature. In Chinese culture, years of the Snake are sixth in the cycle, following the Dragon Years, and recur every twelfth year. The Chinese New Year does not fall on a specific date, so it is essential to check the calendar to find
Chinese calendar "Ming Pao" () reckoned 1905 as 4603 (using a year 0 of 2698 BC). Liu Shipei (, 1884–1919) created the Yellow Emperor Calendar, with year 0 as the birth of the emperor (which he determined as 2711 BC). There is no evidence that this calendar was used before the 20th century. Liu calculated that the 1900 international expedition sent by the Eight-Nation Alliance to suppress the Boxer Rebellion entered Beijing in the 4611th year of the Yellow Emperor. The plum-rains season (), the rainy season in late spring and early summer, begins on the first "bǐng" day after "Mangzhong" ()