Good morning, my dear classmates .
Have you ever been asked by your Chinese friend? What is your zodiac sign?
Don’t think they are making small talk. If you say “I ‘m a Pig.” They are immediately know you are either 24,36,48 or 60 years old. Asking a zodiac sign is a polite way of asking your age. By revealing your zodiac sign, you are also being evaluated. Judgements are being made about your fortune or misfortune, your personality, career prospects, and how you will do in a given year. If you share you and your partner’s animal signs, they will paint a picture in their mind about your private life. Maybe you don’t believe in the Chinese zodiac. As a quarter of the world population is influenced by it, you’d be wise to do something about that.
So what is the Chinese zodiac, exactly? Most westerners think of Greco-Roman zodiac, the signs divided into 12 months.
Chinese zodiac is different. It’s twelve year cycle labeled with animals, starting with a rat and ending with a pig, and has no association with constellations.
For example, if you were born in 1975, you are a Rabbit.
Our Chinese ancestors constructed a very complicated theoretical framework based on YIN and yang, the five elements and the 12 zodiac animal. Over the thousands of years, this popular culture has affected people’s major decisions, such as naming, marriage, giving birth and attitude towards each other. And some of the implications are quite amazing.
Chinese believe certain animals get on better than the others. So parents choose specific years to give birth to babies, because they believe the team effort by the right combination of animals can give prosperity to the families. We even refer to the zodiac when entering into romantic relations. If I ‘m a pig, I should have perfect romance with tigers, goats and rabbits.
Chinese believe some animals are natural enemies. For example, a pig needs to be careful with a snake..
We believe some animals are luckier than the others, such as the dragon. Unlike the western tradition, Chinese dragon is the symbol for power, strength and wealth. It ‘s everyone’s dream to have a dragon baby.
Jack Ma’s parents must have been very proud, and they are not the only one.
In the 2012, the year of the dragon, the birthrate in china, hongkong and TAIWAN increased by 5 percent. That means another one million more babies. With the traditional preference to baby boys, the boy-girl ratio that year was 120 to 100. When those dragon boys grow up, they will face much more severe competition in love and job markets.
According to the BBC and the Chinese government’s press release, January 2015 saw a peak of cesarean sections. Why? That was the last month for year of the horse. It’s not because they like the horses so much, it’s because they try to avoid having unlucky goat babies.
If you are a goat, please don’t feel bad, those are the goat babies. They don’t like losers to me.
Tiger is another undesirable animal due to its volatile temperament.
And they are all tiger babies.Many Chinese regions saw a sharp decline of birthrate during those years. Perhaps one should consider zodiac in reverse, as those tiger and goat babies will face much less competitions. Maybe they are the lucky ones.
I went through the forbes top 300 richest people in the world, and it’s interesting to see the most undesirable two animals, the goat and tiger are at the top of the chart, even higher than the dragon. Maybe we should consider, maybe it’s much better to have less competition.
So if you are a dragon, don’t be proud. If you are a goat, don’t be sad. You are unique, nobody can replace you. No matter you are a dragon or a goat ,you should work hard and play hard to show the best of yourself.
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