The world can look forward to peace and harmony at the start of the Lunar New Year, but Chinese soothsayers say the world should also expect conflict, disease outbreaks and natural disasters later in the year.
As the world waves goodbye to the Year of the Rooster and welcomes the Year of the Dog on Sunday, believers in Chinese superstition have been consulting traditional fortune tellers, feng shui geomancers and a wealth of new books that claim to be able to predict the year's fortunes.
Feng shui expert and astrologer Raymond Lo said that according to ancient Chinese belief, dog years are characterized by a rise in the strength of fire and earth.
PHOTO: AP
"Fire sitting on earth is a symbol of support and harmony and this may bring a relatively more peaceful year with less international conflicts than in the past few years," Lo said.
60-year cycle
The Chinese calendar moves in 60-year cycles, meaning the world will experience in the new year similar events that took place in 1946.
That was the year World War II, a time when world powers were concentrating on recovering from war and creating a new world order.
"Likewise, it is expected that there will be more co-operation among countries in 2006 aimed at setting up a more effective world order for the protection of global interests, such as solving environmental issues, global warming problems, religious differences, and the prevention of epidemics," Lo said.
The lunar calendar is based on the cycles of the moon and associates each of the 12 years that form a partial cycle with an animal. The dog is the 11th in the zodiac sequence that starts with the rat, followed by the ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and ending with the pig.
Fortune-tellers base their predictions on the relationship between the zodiac animals and the characters of each animal year.
They also take into account the changing balance over the years in the five spiritual elements that Chinese philosophy believes form the core of the universe -- metal, wood, fire, water and earth.
Not all soothsayers agree on what the year heralds.
Another feng shui expert Lee Sing-tong says that things will turn worse later in the year.
"Things might look peaceful first of all, but a lot of problems will start in the middle of the year," warned Lee, a third-generation feng shui master.
He predicted worsening conflicts between China and Japan, a serious earthquake in the Middle East and a shortage of medicines worldwide.
"There will be a false impression that there will be an improvement in the political environment, peoples' livelihoods, public resources or social welfare at the beginning of the year," Lee said.
"But in the second half year, a situation of shortage will appear and this will result in serious problems in society or cause chaos," he said.
The US would pull its troops out of Iraq after autumn leading to instability in the Middle East, Lee said.
Character-shaping
For individuals, the year in which you were born is believed to shape your character.
People born in years of the dog are thought to be loyal, reliable, persistent, resourceful, unselfish and honest. However, they also tend to be introverted, nosy, anxious, pessimistic, cynical and moody, soothsayers believe.
Celebrities born in years of the dog include US President George W Bush, model Naomi Campbell, singers Mariah Carey, Cher and Kate Bush, and operatic tenor Jose Carerras.
This Year of the Dog will be especially auspicious as it is a "Double Spring" year, the Chinese calendar equivalent to a leap year, a period during which it is considered lucky for young couples to marry.
Another fortune-teller, Alion Yeo, warned of increasing intestinal illnesses or other deadly diseases between April and May.
Unlike the rooster year, whose predicted sex scandals largely didn't materialize, the dog year would come as a complete contrast due to the strong fire element, Yeo said.
"Love will burn like fire; people will be more passionate about their relationships. There is no hiding it," he said.
In the sweltering streets of Jakarta, buskers carry towering, hollow puppets and pass around a bucket for donations. Now, they fear becoming outlaws. City authorities said they would crack down on use of the sacred ondel-ondel puppets, which can stand as tall as a truck, and they are drafting legislation to remove what they view as a street nuisance. Performances featuring the puppets — originally used by Jakarta’s Betawi people to ward off evil spirits — would be allowed only at set events. The ban could leave many ondel-ondel buskers in Jakarta jobless. “I am confused and anxious. I fear getting raided or even
Eleven people, including a former minister, were arrested in Serbia on Friday over a train station disaster in which 16 people died. The concrete canopy of the newly renovated station in the northern city of Novi Sad collapsed on Nov. 1, 2024 in a disaster widely blamed on corruption and poor oversight. It sparked a wave of student-led protests and led to the resignation of then-Serbian prime minister Milos Vucevic and the fall of his government. The public prosecutor’s office in Novi Sad opened an investigation into the accident and deaths. In February, the public prosecutor’s office for organized crime opened another probe into
RISING RACISM: A Japanese group called on China to assure safety in the country, while the Chinese embassy in Tokyo urged action against a ‘surge in xenophobia’ A Japanese woman living in China was attacked and injured by a man in a subway station in Suzhou, China, Japanese media said, hours after two Chinese men were seriously injured in violence in Tokyo. The attacks on Thursday raised concern about xenophobic sentiment in China and Japan that have been blamed for assaults in both countries. It was the third attack involving Japanese living in China since last year. In the two previous cases in China, Chinese authorities have insisted they were isolated incidents. Japanese broadcaster NHK did not identify the woman injured in Suzhou by name, but, citing the Japanese
RESTRUCTURE: Myanmar’s military has ended emergency rule and announced plans for elections in December, but critics said the move aims to entrench junta control Myanmar’s military government announced on Thursday that it was ending the state of emergency declared after it seized power in 2021 and would restructure administrative bodies to prepare for the new election at the end of the year. However, the polls planned for an unspecified date in December face serious obstacles, including a civil war raging over most of the country and pledges by opponents of the military rule to derail the election because they believe it can be neither free nor fair. Under the restructuring, Myanmar’s junta chief Min Aung Hlaing is giving up two posts, but would stay at the
RSS