Excerpt :

Astrology is one of the most ancient Chinese arts. It has been influencing the lives of the Chinese, from emperors to peasants, for centuries. Today though it no longer plays such an important
role in affairs of state, yet it still absorbs the interest of millions of people all over the world.

Astrology has been quite popular in the Asian subcontinent from ancient times. India and China were in the forefront perpetuating this age-old tradition and practice. Though astrology was prevalent in the West also, it vastly differed from that of the East. The main difference was with charting and mapping of the year. While the Western system of calendar was based on charting the year according to the Sun, the Eastern system was based on the Moon and the lunar cycle. Thus, whereas in the West the New Year is constant –i.e. falling on January 1 annually –in the Chinese system the beginning of the New Year is calculated according to the second new Moon following the winter solstice–i.e. the New Year is not fixed but may fall sometime in between the middle of January and February.

While the Western astrological system uses the zodiac and the symbolism of the planets, the Chinese astrological system uses twelve animal signs as the symbol to represent the nature and character of individuals born in different years. Thus, in the Chinese astrology the hour of birth, the month of birth, the year of birth, the element, the Yin/Yang polarity etc. are taken into account for a complete analysis of an individual character. In the strict sense, while analysing an individual, it is the year sign that underlines the fundamental description of the character, though this is subject to refinement by the element, the Yin/Yang polarity and animal characteristics governing both the month and hour of birth. In other words, Chinese astrological system is deep and complex in layers.

To a large extent, Chinese astrology focuses on a person’s life path and what fortunate and unfortunate events may befall whereas in the Western astrology, the analysis focuses on profiling the character of an individual rather than on the person’s fortune or fate.

Chinese Horoscope : MONKEY By Er. R. Prasad
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