Amiram talked about the coincidence of Chinese and Jewish calendars. They are actually more similar than most people think.
Unbeknown to even most Chinese, the traditional farmer's calendar, or YinLi (Lunar calendar), is solar. It divides a solar year into 24 periods; 4 of them correspond to the solstices and equinoxes. These 24 periods have poetic names that describe the typical climate of that time or the important agricultural events, such as harvesting time in the fall.
Lunar phases mark the passing of the time and human-oriented events such as birthdays. But a day starts at the solar midnight. A month starts on the day of the new moon. A year starts, usually, on the day of the 2nd new moon after winter solstice.
Jewish calendar is also solar-lunar. Maybe someone can explain its intricates?