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Preparations and predictions for the new year

Source: Agencies | February 17, 2015, Tuesday | Online Edition

Program Code: 0909346150205005 | Source: CNTV

PREPARATIONS for Chinese New Year are well underway in Beijing and Shanghai, with decorations lining the streets. Locals are gearing up for the national holiday to usher in the Year of the Sheep.

As the lunar New Year approaches, lanterns and decorations as well as sheep-themed knick-knacks have sprung up in shops across the country.

Ceramic figurines, cuddly toys and even hongbaos red envelopes used to give gifts of money during the holiday, all have the sheep, or goat, treatment in the run up to the Spring Festival.

For Chinese astrologers like Dong Jialing, this is one of the busiest times of the year, with people anxious to get a sense of what the change in zodiac will bring.

Unfortunately, Dong's outlook for the next year is not very optimistic. "2015 will bring wind-based natural disasters. Air flow, air currents can all be considered wind-based. Considering the geography, China doesn't really get tornadoes, so our wind-based disaster will be air pollution, coming in with dirty air currents and affecting everyone's lives," He said.

But he stresses that any disaster will be on a smaller-scale, according to his projections.

The Year of the Sheep or Goat in China is traditionally considered as one of the least preferred of the 12 signs of the Chinese zodiac.

"If you are a sheep you are first and foremost very generous. Now if as a person you are very generous, then your life will be very strenuous. You use all your own energy, exhaust your energy in doing things. So your life will be more tiresome, more strenuous." Said Dong.

Some people even avoid having babies during sheep years, either putting pregnancy off until the following Year of the Monkey or rushing to give birth before the end of the Year of the Horse.

In the lead-up to the holiday, locals continue to make preparations, visiting temples and sharing their hopes for the year and plans for the holiday.

But it's not just traditional decorations on show. Luxury shopping malls in Shanghai and Beijing, competing for consumers in the run up to the holiday, are also getting in on the act.

Sheep made out of colored balls, large lamb statues and intricate goat designs are on view everywhere.

The 7-day Spring Festival holiday begins on Wednesday, with Thursday marking the first official day of the Year of the Sheep.

Nation


 

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