The "dry branch" method used to record the year of calligraphy works. "Dry" is "heavenly stem" and "branch" is "earthly branch". The so-called "dry branch" is the abbreviation of heavenly stems and earthly branches. Ten days' work is A, B, C, D, E, G, Xin, Ren and Gui. The twelve earthly branches are Zi, Ugliness, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai.
When ten heavenly stems and twelve earthly branches are joined together to record the year, they become Jiazi, Ebou, Bingyin, Xinyou, Ren Xu and Guihai, with a 60-year cycle, commonly known as "Sixty-year Flower Jiazi".
In the annotation of calligraphy works, some people advocate the use of the new calendar, namely the Gregorian calendar, emphasizing that pen and ink writing should keep up with the times, while others advocate the use of the old calendar, namely the lunar calendar, emphasizing the maintenance of national characteristics and traditional habits. In fact, these two methods can be used at the same time.
If you use a new calendar, the method is very simple, just write it according to the daily application. If you use the old calendar to record time, then there are many things to pay attention to, especially many nicknames to be clarified.