It’s the year of the Rat!

Chinese fortunes are based on a belief that events are dictated by the different balances in the elements that make up the earth — gold, wood, water, fire and earth. The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and associates each of the 12 years forming a partial cycle with an animal. Fortune-tellers base their predictions on the relationship between the zodiac animals and the characteristics of each.

The Rat is the first of the 12 animal signs, so marks new beginnings of changes with leadership in the United States, Russia and Taiwan. It is followed by ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

This entry was posted on Thursday, February 7th, 2008 at 2:24 pm and is filed under Asia, China. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.