本文經由對商周文獻的研考，推論商周文明有「自然時間」、「祭祀時間」、「歷史時間」三種時間觀念。早期中華文明的時間觀主要由「周轉」、「循環」概念構成，「直線時間」的概念很晚纔出現。「周轉時間」觀顯然源自古人對自然的觀察。新石器時代的農耕文明早已發現天象規律與季節循環的相關性，二分二至的日曆、月曆都以「自然時間」為基礎。 然而在歷史發展過程中，用以計時的單位不僅有四季循環。殷商時期出現以宗廟祭祀為周轉單位的時間觀念：「祀」。「祀」是所有先祖先妣的祭祀週期，其周轉既不依循自然時間，又不是歷史時間，而是以宗廟祭祀天數為基礎的特殊周轉時間觀念。「祀」的長度依祖先數量來決定，先祖先妣 逐代增加，祀的週期也隨之延長。因祭祀週期與自然週期不能相合，使這兩種系統無法統一，亦難以作計年之用。直到西周懿王時期的銘文，纔開始使用「年」字記錄王在位的年度。這種以王世為週期的計時方法，已同時反映了自然時間與社會現象兩重意義，中華文明的「歷史時間」觀念應濫觴於此。

This study is based on authentic Shang-Zhou documents. Conducted analysis showed that there were three types of time cycles in Shang-Zhou era: natural, ritual, and historical. There was no concept of “linear time” in early China; the concept of cyclic time dominated. This was caused by observation of recurrent cycles in the nature. The Neolith agricultural cultures very early discovered laws of correspondence of rotations of heavenly bodies and season changes. Both the solar calendar of solstices and equinoxes and the lunar calendar are “natural time”-based. However, over time, time measurement units grew beyond natural seasonal time cycles. In Shang period, a new time measurement unit was established, beside natural time, the cycle of sacrifices to ancestors, si. Si is the full cycle of sacrifices to all past wangs and their spouses. This is not the natural time, but it is not the historical time yet. This is a special kind of the ritual time. The length of si periods depends on number of ancestors. Their number had been growing; the ritual cycle was growing too. The natural and ritual cycles could not be harmonized; therefore, the ritual cycle could not become the foundation of time keeping. The record for the year of king’ ruling, using nian character, appeared only on bronzes of Yi-wang period (the first half of the 9 century B.C.). The period of king’s ruling as the unifying cycle for time-keeping demonstrates natural time, combined with the historico-societal definition. That was the birth of the historical time in the Chinese civilization.