TechnoPhobia Newsletter

Welcome to TechnoPhobia's Newsletter

Happy Chinese New Year

Why Chinese New Year and not an English New Year Newsletter? Well the reasons are many:

• We've been too busy;
• We wanted to do something different;
• Yours truly has had a bad case of man flu;
• We're determined to give you the best newsletter out there; and
• Wei, our resident bid manager, is Chinese so we've done it to honour her

All those reasons ring true to a certain extent and we're hoping that you'll forgive us. So bear with us while we tell you a little about what Chinese New Year is all about and then we'll talk clients.

The Gregorian Calendar

So then, Chinese New Year. Right – the Chinese New Year is traditionally celebrated on the first day of the New Year containing a new moon and ends on the Lantern Festival fourteen days later. In the Gregorian calendar, the Chinese New Year falls on different dates each year sometime between January 21 and February 20. This time round it is the Year of the Pig, which has fallen on February 18th 2007.

The elemental animals associated within the Chinese calendar are a rough equivalent of the Gregorian zodiac signs, with each animal attributed a number of personality traits/characteristics (supposedly) synonymous with people born under that sign. There is a 12 year cycle of dating the years. Use our chart below to find out animal you are. The characteristics are listed beneath: I'm a monkey by the way!?

Find out which sign you are in this table.

• Rat – are charming, passionate, charismatic, practical and hardworking.
• Ox – are leaders, being quite dependable and possessing an innate ability to achieve great things
• Tiger – Tiger people are difficult to resist, for they are magnetic characters and their natural air of authority confers a certain prestige on them. They are tempestuous yet calm, warm–hearted yet fearsome, courageous in the face of danger yet yielding
• Rabbit – are ideal diplomats or politicians. They are graceful, cultured and well–mannered.
• Dragon – The Dragon is omnipotent. He is flamboyant, attractive and full of vitality and strength. The Dragon is the symbol of power and wealth.
• Snake – The person born in the year of snake is perhaps the wisest and most enigmatic of all. He/she can become a philosopher, a theologian, a political lizard or a wily financier.
• Horse – The horse personality is often willing to give as well as expect a lot of liberty. These people are extremely independent and confident. The horse person is very quick–witted, inquisitive and determined.
• Goat – The Goat is thought to be the most artistic sign of the zodiac, perhaps because this is a very creative sign. The Goat is artistically talented and has a great sense of fashion.
• Monkey – Monkey people (!?) are often inventors, plotters, entertainers and the creative geniuses behind anything ingenious, including mischief. They have natural quick–wittedness which enables them to understand what is happening and then make a right decision.
• Rooster – People born in the year of the Rooster are usually very observant. They are brave, resilient and tenacious but can also be quite self–absorbed, pretentious, and overly romantic.
• Dog – Like his animal namesake, he is Loyal with a capital "L". He is the one who people are most likely to turn to when they need help. The dog person will come through every time.
• Pig – The Pig type is usually an honest, straightforward and patient person. They are a modest, shy character who prefers to work quietly behind the scenes. When others despair, they are often there to offer support.

The animal signs serve as a useful social determiner for finding out people's ages. Rather than directly asking how old a person is, people often ask what, 'your animal sign is?' This would place that person's age within a cycle of 12 years, and with a bit of common sense, one can deduce the exact age.

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