Happy "Niu" Year!

This last week was probably one of the most important weeks in China, it was our Spring Festival or "Chunjie". We are celebrating the beginning of the Chinese Year of the "Ox"! The Joinway Dental team Congratulates all its friend on this new year of the Ox.
For those of you not quite familiar with the Chinese Calendar, here's a brief introduction:

The Chinese calendar is a lunar calendar and it is divided into 12 months of 29 or 30 days (compensating for the lunar month's mean duration of 29 days, 12 hr,

44.05 min).

This calendar is synchronized with the solar year by the addition of extra months at fixed intervals.

The Chinese calendar runs on a 60-year cycle. The cycles 1876-1935 and 1936-95, with the years grouped under their 12 animal designation, along with the first 24 years of the current cycle.

This current cycle began in 1996 and will last until 2055. Feb. 9, 2005, marks the beginning of the year 4703 in the Chinese calendar, and is designated the Year of the Rooster.

In the Chinese calendar, the beginning of the year falls somewhere between late January and early February.
The Chinese have adopted the Western calendar since 1911, but the lunar calendar is still used for festive occasions such as the Chinese New Year. Many Chinese calendars will print both the solar dates and the Chinese lunar dates.

The order of the 12 animals on the Chinese Calendar has a very curious origin, according to the Chinese legend, the twelve animals quarreled one day as to who was to head the cycle of years. The gods were asked to decide and they held a contest: whoever was to reach the opposite bank of the river would be first, and the rest of the animals would receive their years according
to their finish.

All the twelve animals gathered at the river bank and jumped in. Unknown to the ox, the rat had jumped upon his back. As the ox was about to jump ashore, the rat jumped off the ox's back, and
won the race. The pig, who was very lazy, ended up last.
That is why the rat is the first year of the animal cycle, the ox second, and the pig last.

The current Chinese Year of the Ox represents and wealth and prosperity, for Ox is a symbol of powerful individuals with unyielding and stubborn personalities.
People born under this sing are natural born leaders who typically succeed when
given the chance . They are upright, inspiring, easy-going and
conservative.

I hope you find this information interesting and leave us some comments with your opinion.