We present to your attention new issue of the column "Audio Stories", timed to the beginning of the New Year according to the Chinese calendar celebration — a scetch about the history of the Eastern calendar.

Chinese New Year has long been the main and longest holiday in the Celestial Empire and other East Asian countries. Unlike its Western counterpart, there is no fixed date for the beginning of the Chinese New Year in the Chinese calendar, and each year it is scheduled for a different time. The celebration usually lasts 15 days. This year the celebration starts on the 10^th of February, and the Chinese New Year will be celebrated till the 24^th of February (Chinese New Year. Traditions of the holiday).

The Oriental or Chinese calendar is unique for two reasons. Primarily, it is one of the oldest, as it appeared, according to the most conservative estimates, 4,700 years ago during the reign of the legendary "Yellow Emperor" Huangdi and took its final form during the Han dynasty (206 BC - AD, 220 AD). Secondly, from a quantitative point of view, the Eastern calendar is the most popular. It is the main calendar in the states of Southeast Asia, the Far East and Oceania and it is used by about 2 billion people — a quarter of the world's population.

The Eastern calendar is a lunar calendar. It is cyclical, that is, it consists of repeating periods. One such cycle-period lasts 12 years. Each year is patronised by a certain animal. The sequence of animals is explained by an ancient legend, the details of which you will learn by listening to audio story about the history of the Eastern calendar.

* Traditionally, the time of "Yellow Emperor" Huangdi life in China is considered to be the period circa 2600 BC.