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Last year was the year of the dog and this year honors the golden pig.
Beijing, Feb. 18 (PTI): Amid unprecedented economic boom and warmest winter, Chinese people today flocked to local temples, parks, restaurants and burst firecrackers to ring-in the first day of the Lunar New Year, ushering in the ‘Year of the Golden Pig’.
The pig is one of the 12 animals on the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac, which follows the lunar calendar. According to Chinese astrology, people born in pig years are polite, honest, hardworking and loyal.
The year 2007 is the ‘Year of the Pig,’ based on the lunar calendar. But it is not just an ordinary pig, it is a ‘golden pig.’
According to some fortune-tellers, it is going to be the ‘Year of the Golden Pig’ which comes every 60 years.
Babies born in the ‘year of the golden pig’ are believed to have good fortune and will lead a comfortable and wealthy life.
More significantly, they are lucky with money and business, which is why hospitals around the mainland are gearing up for a baby boom.
An official in Beijing said the capital city alone could see 1.7 lakh births this year, up 50,000 from 2006.
In the Communist nation’s gleaming commercial hub, Shanghai, authorities expect 7,000 more births this year, while in Hong Kong, the number could rise 11 per cent, media reports said.
Beijing had no snow on the eve of the Lunar New Year, but when people woke up in the morning today, they saw the streets covered by a carpet of red scraps of paper, debris of last night’s fireworks.
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