zhèng huà dù
Also rendered: An upright transformation measure (this site; 度 as the reckoning the table makes) · A regular transformation measure (smooth; 正 in this chapter answers 邪, and regular does not)
Reviewed · 2026-10-14
At a glance
The verdict reached by counting. Nineteen of the sixty years end 正化度也, nine end 邪氣化度也: 庚辰、庚戌歲。上太陽水，中太商金運，下太陰土。寒化一，清化九，雨化五，正化度也. The difference between 日 and 度 is not in the meaning — both say whether the year’s transformation is the upright one — but in how it is arrived at. The 日-rows judge the year by its 化; the 度-rows judge it by the numbers those 化 produce, which is why the word appears where the table is at its most arithmetical. The closing line of the table gathers both: 凡此定期之紀，勝復正化，皆有常數.
Passages where the term does real work, with the original, pinyin and English on the same line.
Every rendering below is a decision about which reader is being addressed. There is no neutral option.
| This site | an upright transformation measure | the word that ends nineteen of the table's years, and the rendering keeps the counting |
| Literal | upright transformation degree | exact; 'degree' suggests a scale the text does not have |
| Gloss | a year whose transformation, reckoned by its numbers, is the upright one | right, and too long for a table |
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