Chinese dates are written and read from the bigger unit to the smaller. A year is read digit by digit,followed by the character “年nián”. A month or date is read the whole number followed by “月yuè”and “日rì /号hào”respectively. A day of the week is expressed by the word “星期xīngqī”plus a specific number. For example,“August 8th of 2008, Friday” is read as “èr líng líng bā nián bā yuè bā hào, xīngqī wǔ”.