Happy Chinese New Year on 1/29

2006 is the year of the Dog, or Chinese year 4704. My question was, what's different about the chinese calendar? Apparently, opposed to the Gregorian calendar, the Chinese calendar is baised completely on astronomical observations.

• Day - One rotation of the Earth's about is axis, which causes the apparent movement of the Sun from East to West
• Week - The concept of week is not important to the Chinese as it has no direct astrological significance.
• Month - The time it takes the Moon to go through on cycle of motion (about 29.5 days)
• Year - One roation of the Earth about the sun's axis (about 12 months)

How long is the year? The Chinese have the longest uninterupted count of a year to a value of 365.24 days. The accounting of this additional .24 days is what results in the leap month in the Chinese lunar calendar or leep day in the modern solar calendar.