Today is January 1st 2009 by the calendar used by many Western nations. January 26th will be the beginning of the Chinese New Year of the Ox signifying prosperity through fortitude and hard work, a good year to be born for would-be Chinese entrepreneurs. That used to be the way people became prosperous here. Now of course they do it by cheating, lying and lobbying. But it isn’t the year 2009 for the Chinese. They are not a young country. For them it’s the year 4710.

Today is February 17th 2007 by the calendar used by many Western nations. Tomorrow is the beginning of the Chinese New Year of the Pig signifying fertility and abundance, a good year to be born for would-be Chinese entrepreneurs. But it isn’t the year 2007 for the Chinese. They are not a young country. For them it’s the year 4708.

I thought it might be a good idea to do a little work on this topic. I write a lot about how our lives are run by our unexamined assumptions, and many people here think that the whole world runs on the same calendar as Washington DC, the centre of the world.