The Advent of Spring (Li Chun) and Spring Festival
In ancient China, there were two ways to tell time, the solar calendar and the lunar calendar. The solar calendar is calculated by the earth’s revolution around the sun, while the lunar calendar is calculated by the moon’s revolution around the earth. The Advent of Spring belongs to the solar calendar; it is the first day of the solar New Year. The spring festival belongs to the lunar calendar; it’s the first day of the lunar New Year.
The Chinese Horoscope (Sheng Xiao) derived from the Chinese era (Tian Gan and Di Zhi), which is calculated by the solar calendar, that’s why we say Sheng Xiao and Ba Zi are concepts that belong to the solar calendar of China. Up till now, almost all the software about Ba Zi use the Advent of Spring to divide the years.
The characters are the carrier of a nation’s culture. The Chinese oracles enjoy the same reputation with the bulrush characters of ancient Egypt, the mash characters of Babylon and Maya characters of the American Indian, the four characters are called the four ancient characters of the world.
The Chinese oracles mainly refer to Yin Xu oracles. In the later period of Shang Dynasty (14-11 century BC), the royal family carved (or wrote) on turtlebacks or animal bones. It is the oldest and relatively most complete set of characters of ancient China.
“Shi Jing” (the collection of classic poems) is the first collection of poems from China. It gathered 305 poems during the 500 years from the beginning of Xi Zhou to the middle of Chun Qiu. “Shi Jing” was called “Shi” (poems) or “Shi 300” (300 poems) in early Qin dynasty. “Shi Jing” was first made at the end of Chun Qiu (6th century BC). Confucius, the founder of Confucianism wrote a book called “Liu Yi” (six skills): Shi, Shu, Li, Yi, Yue, Chun Qiu. “Yue” was lost after the first emperor of Qin dynasty, thus the rest of the five books were called “Wu Jing” (Five Classics), and was named “Si Shu Wu Jing” (four books and five classics) together with “Da Xue” “Zhong Yong” “Lun Yu” and “Meng Zi” in Song dynasty.
The book “Zuo Zhuan” is about 180 thousand words, recording the important facts about politics, military, diplomacy and culture of all the emperors during the 254 years of the Chun Qiu period; the contents covering every aspect of society.
There is a chapter called “Dao Zhe” (the thief) in “Ri Book”, which describing the looks of thieves using the characteristics of the 12 animals from the Chinese horoscope. The 12 animals in “Ri Book” are almost the same with today. Scholars think that this is the earliest record of the 12 animals in Chinese history.
Nuo Folk Dance appeared in Zhou Dynasty (middle 11 century BC to 256BC, about 30 generations, 37 emperors) The main character of the Nuo ceremony was Fang Xiang Shi and the Chinese Horoscope’s 12 sacred animals. The 12 animals (or jinns) that were chosen in the ceremony were to protect people in each month, and expel ghosts from 12 directions. The purpose, overall, was to turn ill luck into good luck.
The first group: rat and ox. The rat stands for intelligence, while the ox stands for diligence. The two have to bond tightly. Intelligence will not work without diligence, and diligence will turn into stupidity without intelligence. That’s why the two can’t be separated. This is the expectation and requirement from our ancestors; it is also the most important group.
The second group: tiger and rabbit. The tiger stands for bravery and the rabbit stands for carefulness. Only by putting this two together can perfection be reached. Bravery will be rashness without carefulness, and carefulness will turn into cowardice without bravery, that’s why this is the second most important group.
The third group is dragon and snake. The dragon stands for strength and valor, while the snake stands for flexibility. Things too strong will break easily, and people too soft will lose their own positions, that’s why we should be both strong and flexible, which is also a lesson left by our ancestors.
The fourth group is horse and sheep. The horse gallops to his goal and the sheep is always mild. If people head to their goal without paying attention to the outside environment, bumping and stumbling will be inevitable. But if people keep looking around and not moving, passion and motivation will be lost, and so will be their goal. That’s why we need to combine the two tightly.
The fifth group is monkey and rooster. The monkey stands for agility, while the rooster stands for perseverance, because it crows every morning. Agility without perseverance will end up with no achievements at all, and perseverance without agility will also lead you nowhere. Only the harmony between the two can make us advance stably.
The last group is dog and pig. The dog stands for loyalty, while the pig stands for gentleness. If a person is loyal but not easy-going, he will lose his principles. Loyalty has to be bonded with gentleness to keep oneself close to other people. That’s why in Chinese concepts, people should know how to disagree with each other while still being in harmony together.
Each person has his/her own Sheng Xiao (animal signs) but what’s the meaning of this? As a matter of fact, our ancestors expected us to find the harmony of life and not be narrow-minded. For example, people who’s Sheng Xiao is “pig” should find loyalty in his nature, while keeping gentleness, and so should “dog” people.
Sheng Xiao and Wu Xing (The Chinese Horoscope & the Five Elements)
Chinese people believe that nature consists of Metal, Wood, Water, Fire and Earth, the five elements.
Wood has the character of growth, development.
Fire: heat, being upward
Earth: nurturing, fostering
Gold: clean and clear
Water: coldness, moving downwards
People born in 1996 and 2008 are both in the year of the rat, but they belong to different elements or Wu Xing. The former, belongs to earth, the latter belongs to fire. People born in 2008, are the same as people born in 1948; they both belong to the earth element. Sixty years is a cycle; that’s why an age difference of 60 years makes you the same Sheng Xiao and the same Wu Xing.
60 years are a Jia Zi. Jia stands for wood, and Zi stands for rat. Jia Zi is the first group pf the 60-year-cycle, which dominates the other groups.
“Heads” of the 12 animals:
Ox: In 2000, the China Poly Group Corporation bought the ox head for 7 million HK dollars, at auctions held by Christie’s and Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, and the head is now displayed in Beijing Poly Museum.
Tiger: Poly Group auctioned it for 14 million HK dollars, three times the reserved price. It is now displayed in Beijing Poly Museum.
Horse: September 2007, Macao gaming tycoon Stanley Ho Hung-sun bought the bronze horse head for HK$69.1 million and donated it to the Chinese motherland when Sotheby’s planned to auction the bronze.
Monkey: Poly group auctioned it in 2000 for 7.4 million HK dollars, and the head is now displayed in Beijing Poly Museum.
Pig: A Chinese foundation bought the bronze pig head from a U. S. collector through a private sale.
The rat and rabbit are in a private collection of Yves Saint Laurent and his former companion and longtime business partner, Pierre Berge. Berge plans to auction part of their collection including the two bronze animal heads to raise funds and help form the Pierre Berge and Yves Saint Laurent Foundation.
The locations of the remaining five heads – a dragon, snake, sheep, rooster and dog – are still unknown.
In 1860, when Anglo-French allied invaders looted and then burned down Yuan Ming Yuan, the imperial palace of Qing Dynasty which perfectly combined both western and Chinese style, these bronzes’ heads were cut off and taken abroad.
Examples of the eight characters about one’s birth:
Born in Honolulu, Hawaii on 19:24 August 4, 1961. Changed into Chinese era:
乾造： 辛Xin 乙Yi 己Ji 甲Jia 丑Chou 未Wei 巳Si 戌Xu
大运：甲午 癸巳 壬辰 辛卯 庚寅 己丑 戊子 丁亥
始于：1970 1980 1990 2000 2010 2020 2030 2040
From the relationship of Jia-Ji: The person has the willingness to be a government official.
From the relationship of Ji-Si: The person has the opportunity to be in power.
From the relationship of Jia-Xu: His rank is very high.
Because Xu implies government, and Jia-Xu means an official that leads the government.
From the relationship of Si- Xu: His power comes from the government and is also controlled by the government.
From the relationship of Ji-Xin: The person is eloquent, inherited from family genes.
From the relationship of Ji-Yi: The person is shouldering extremely high pressure.
From the relationship of Chou-Wei: The person left his hometown very young.
From the relationship of Xin-Yi: The person is good at communicating to dissolve pressure and problems.
From the relationship of Xin-Chou: Behind him is his own brainpower, or knowledgeable people that support him.
From the relationship of Yi-Wei: He faces more than a little pressure and problems, it’s a lot of trouble.
In terms of balance, he lacks water in his Ba Zi. In Ba Zi, water stands for money. He didn’t get much fatherly love in his childhood.
His Ba Zi is in eagerness for water, which means he has a severe financial problem.
Xin stands for the west, and Yi stands for the east. The place of Xin-Chou leads to recession, and Yi-Wei leads to prosperity.
His top priority is to balance the east and the west, especially in financial aspects.
1963 Gui Mao, tells us something about the father. The parents got divorced.
1967 Ding Wei, he left his ancestors and moved out.
1971 Xin Hai: went back to his birthplace. (Obama went back to Hawaii and lived with his grand parents)
1983 Gui Hai: graduated from Columbia University, worked on Wall Street.
1985 Yi Chou: moved to Chicago, he then was the “organizer” of the community.
1988 Wu Chen: went to Harvard Law school to study.
1991 Got the diploma from Harvard Law School.
1992 got married.
1996 revealed his speech making ability and became the senator for Illinois (伊利诺伊州).
1999 his first daughter was born.
2004 became senator for congress.
2007 declared his campaign to run for president.
2008 became the American president.