What is the meaning of Mao Sui's virtual age?

One year old = real age, hair age = virtual age. The ancient Chinese age calculation method, we now call it "virtual age". This title should have originated in recent times, and is relative to the concept of "real age". So this statement does not exist in ancient books.

According to the concept of ancient Chinese, the beginning of a woman’s life is already counted when she conceives and gives birth. Therefore, after ten months of pregnancy, when the baby falls to the ground, it is counted as one year old, and the age The increment is not like what we do today, where one is counted as one year older after a certain birthday. Instead, one is counted as one year older starting from the new year (the first day of the lunar calendar).

For example, if someone is born in the fifth month of the lunar calendar, then he is one year old when he is born, and then by the Spring Festival of the next year, he is counted as two years old, and so on in the future. In this case, people born at the end of the year will be older in age. An extreme example is that a baby born on New Year's Eve (New Year's Eve) is one year old on the day of birth, and the next day is the first day of the Lunar New Year, so he becomes two years old. Therefore, the imaginary age of such people is often two years older than their actual age.