Over the past few weeks the city has been awash with beautiful red lanterns and an abundance of red and gold cow paraphernalia. China has been ramping itself up for their New Year and it has been hard to miss the importance of this event for this nation.
The New Year has now been welcomed in, the rat has been said goodbye to and today is the first official day in the year of the ox. A new era is upon us and while the rat is clever and quick, the ox is industrious and straight forward. This, the second sign of the Chinese zodiac, signifies new beginnings as well as prosperity through fortitude and hard work.
It all seems to be quite appropriate in these troubled times of a global financial crisis. If we knuckle down and muck in, we should get through this… or that seems to be the hope anyway. In any case, I am glad that we have extra help from the stars. Am glad to see the year of the Ox finally upon us, but I will miss all those lanterns and the big bronze cow statues that dot the streets and malls of Shanghai.
My Chinese lesson of the day is: 牛 niú - which means ox.
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