The Year of the Tiger is upon us, and it seems that many astrologers think we should head for the hills. While the tiger is admired for its strength and speed, it is also feared for its vicious cunning. To make matters worse, 2010 is associated with metal, which, according to the astrological system of the Five Elements, is tied with the color white. White tigers are not only strong and vicious, but also unusual and therefore often perceived as unnatural, which gives this cosmological beast a monstrous quality that has the fortune-tellers all a tremble.
War and misfortune follow in the tiger’s wake, and such is its potential for destruction that one local astrological Web site (tw.5d8z.com) states that traditional Chinese families are reluctant to ask the help of people born in a tiger year to assist in tasks such as moving house or organizing marriage celebrations. They should not look at pregnant women or new-born infants, either. Put this way, the tiger sounds like the ultimate slacker star sign.
Other good news for tiger people is that since 2010 is associated with metal, financial good fortune will attend people in this, the year of their birth sign.
While tigers might be getting rich, people born in the year of the monkey, the snake and the dragon need to watch out, for these signs are in direct conflict with the tiger, and the big cat is not an animal to turn the other cheek. An article in the Apple Daily (蘋果日報) cites traditional practice as requiring people born under these star signs, which must add up to quite a large number, to make a pilgrimage to the five temples nearest their home to absorb auspicious energy and shake off the tiger’s fearsome aura. This should be done within 15 days from today to be effective.
Certainly within Chinese literature, the tiger is usually associated with conflict. The most famous story involving a tiger is probably the one recounted in the classic novel Outlaws of the Marsh (水滸傳), in which the martial hero Wu Song (武松) gets drunk and defeats a tiger in hand-to-hand combat (武松打虎). As the tiger is usually portrayed as a beast of mystical powers, this victory enhanced Wu’s status as a warrior of super human strength.
The divine aspect of tigers is largely due to their association with the Earth God (土地公), whose shrines are dotted across the country. Tigers are believed to be servants of the Earth God, who often lends his underlings out to other deities as a suitably prestigious form of conveyance. If you look carefully, you will often find a small image of a tiger under Earth God shrines.
Although this little tiger is parked, as it were, in the Earth God’s garage, he’s still quite important, and the faithful regularly seek the tiger’s aid in calming the fears of small children or seeking protection from illness. The tiger is also a bringer of wealth, and many businesspeople pray to the Tiger Lord (虎爺) to aid their commercial endeavors.
The tiger is not all bad, and while feared, it is also respected. A huge number of popular phrases in Chinese feature the tiger, probably the best-known one, familiar even to non-Chinese speakers, is “crouching tiger, hidden dragon” (臥虎藏龍), a phrase suggestive of great powers held in check behind a seemingly innocuous exterior. The tiger is often coupled with the dragon, highlighting the former’s mystical powers. The phrase “dragon moves, tiger changes” (龍行虎變), referring to world-altering events like the rise and fall of dynasties, acquires its meaning from no lesser source than the Yi Ching (易經), which, to paraphrase, says that the clouds are commanded by the dragon, and the wind by the tiger. When a sage rides upon a tiger all creation takes notice.
It is venerable endorsements like these that have put the tiger right up at the top of the astrological charts, and has allowed astrologers to go to town with their picture of a year full of uncertainty, but also of opportunity. It seems we are heading for “interesting times,” when only the bold will win through.
Fortunately, there are ways of mitigating the effects of the tiger. In addition to various religious rites, commentary on astrological Web site Fateasia.com suggests that people refrain from purchasing tiger-themed ornaments over the New Year period, or tiger-themed toys for children, as this could usher in bad tiger vibes and generally upset the feng shui. The site suggests that kirin (麒麟, the Asian unicorn) or pixiu (貔貅, a combination of dragon and lion), which are both auspicious, be used
as substitutes.
Even though it is a tiger year, the beast itself seems to be getting short shrift all round. Clearly the Lunar New Year holiday is the time to brace ourselves for a challenging year ahead
before the arrival of the much more
lovable rabbit.
By global standards, the traffic congestion that afflicts Taiwan’s urban areas isn’t horrific. But nor is it something the country can be proud of. According to TomTom, a Dutch developer of location and navigation technologies, last year Taiwan was the sixth most congested country in Asia. Of the 492 towns and cities included in its rankings last year, Taipei was the 74th most congested. Taoyuan ranked 105th, while Hsinchu County (121st), Taichung (142nd), Tainan (173rd), New Taipei City (227th), Kaohsiung (241st) and Keelung (302nd) also featured on the list. Four Japanese cities have slower traffic than Taipei. (Seoul, which has some
Michael slides a sequin glove over the pop star’s tarnished legacy, shrouding Michael Jackson’s complications with a conventional biopic that, if you cover your ears, sounds great. Antoine Fuqua’s movie is sanctioned by Jackson’s estate and its producers include the estate’s executors. So it is, by its nature, a narrow, authorized perspective on Jackson. The film ends before the flood of allegations of sexual abuse of children, or Jackson’s own acknowledgment of sleeping alongside kids. Jackson and his estate have long maintained his innocence. In his only criminal trial, in 2005, Jackson was acquitted. Michael doesn’t even subtly nod to these facts.
Writing of the finds at the ancient iron-working site of Shihsanhang (十 三行) in New Taipei City’s Bali District (八里), archaeologist Tsang Cheng-hwa (臧振華) of the Academia Sinica’s Institute of History and Philology observes: “One bronze bowl gilded with gold, together with copper coins and fragments of Tang and Song ceramics, were also found. These provide evidence for early contact between Taiwan aborigines and Chinese.” The Shihsanhang Web site from the Ministry of Culture says of the finds: “They were evidence that the residents of the area had a close trading relation with Chinese civilians, as the coins can be
During her 2015 trip to Taiwan, Sophia J. Chang (張詠慧) got fewer answers than she’d hoped for, but more revelations than she could have imagined. “That was the year I last saw my grandmother. She was in hospice care in Tainan, and it was painful to see her in bed, barely able to open her eyes,” says Los Angeles-born Chang. “The grandma I’d known, a fantastic cook and incredibly kind, was already gone.” After their visit, Chang and her grandfather went back to his apartment. There she asked him how he’d met her grandmother. “He hesitated, then started talking a bit.
RSS