Golden Pig Year

[ruiskukka]

Why is 2007 a 'Golden Pig Year' (金猪年 jin zhu nian)?

Anyone knows?

[sissi]

This year is a 'Dog Year',next 'a Pig Year',the year of next year a 'Mouse Year'.

It's a way of counting the years by the ancients of Chinese minorities who lived in the northwest of China.This is one of the explainations.：）

[gougou]

I think what ruiskukka is referring to is the Golden, as indicated by the emphasis (writing the word in italics)

[roddy]

and what south-western ancient minorities? Never heard that before, sounds interesting.

[sissi]

I think what ruiskukka is referring to is the Golden

To Goguo:Yeah.I think it's only a custom of Chinese,such as '金鸡年','金猴年'.We want our life will be better this year by saying this. As you know,gold is valuable.

and what south-western ancient minorities?

To Roddy:There are 56 peoples in China,including the Han nationality which is overwhelmingly larger than others.So we call them minorties that live in the southwestward(壮、彝、苗、侗、瑶、白、傣等) and northeastward.

May I have not express myself clearly.

[semantic nuance]

Hi,

It has something to do with 五行(wu3 xing2)-金木水火土.

Hope it helps!

[sissi]

It has something to do with 五行(wu3 xing2)-金木水火土

I think it should have somtthing to do with 五行(wu3 xing2),but it may has nothingnow,for every year is titled with '金' now.

Have a look of this:

現代中國, 是中不成, 西不就。所謂過節, 欠缺了人文的深度, 都是一場玩樂。節日的後面, 其實幾無所知。就以春節來說, 香港近十多年, 一些媒體帶頭說, 今年是金狗年、金豬年、金鼠年, 總之金就是 $$$, 無事不金, 不管天干地支的流年五行, 大家又跟著說金X、金Y、金Z等等了, 其實是粗疏無文。

[sarahkuang]

金has lots of meanings: gold, golden color, valuable, harvest, money. Look at these :

金色童年

金婚

金色丰收

金钱

When Chinese talk about the coming year, they always add their wishes in it. Jin is a good word to use. You wouldn't wish you have a muddy pig year. After Chinese New Year, you will seldom see people using the Jin when they talk about the year. They would just use the normal expression.

[ruiskukka]

Thank u all for the replies. I read some news about many people rushing to get married in 2006. Because according to the lunar calendar, there are two 'Li Chun' (立春 the beginning of springs) in 2006, which makes it a good year. Wedding services are fully booked in some months already. Couples are planning to get married in 2006 and have a 'golden pig' baby in 2007.

http://news.sina.com.cn/c/2006-03-29/20059476800.shtml

http://gd.news.sina.com.cn/local/2006-04-04/2358632.html

“有市民抱着来年生个“小金猪”的想法，也纷纷赶在今年结婚。市民蔡小姐说：’明年是猪年，这一轮12年正好是金命年，明年出生的小宝宝是名副其实的‘小金猪’。要再等60年才有这样的机会，我们今年要把婚结了。’ ”

What confuse me are the words in bold.

Rough translation:

This round of 12-year is jin ming nian (金命年);

It takes another 60 years to have such an opportunity.

I am curious about the origin of this (why jin ming nian? why 60 years?). Perhaps it has something to do with 五行.

[novemberfog]

Perhaps the 60 years is from the 天干地支 system? There are 10 heavenly stems and 12 earthly branches. According to the system, a complete cycle of the stems and branches is 60 years. I am not sure, but check out this:

In answering "Why is 2000 a golden dragon year", Mathematics scholar and sinologist Helmer Aslaksen writes:

each branch, or animal, occurs five times in each 60-year cycle. An animal corresponding to an odd number, will meet the stems that correspond to the odd numbers. Year 2000 is the 17th year in the current cycle, so it corresponds to (7,5) (17 = 10 + 7 = 12 + 5) or (庚, 辰). So we see that it is a metal dragon year, or a golden dragon.

http://www.math.nus.edu.sg/aslaksen/calendar/chinese.shtml#dragon

[sarahkuang]

That is a good question. To find an answer for you, I found this http://www.nongli.com/Doc/0409/19163721.htm

I used to listen my folks talking lunar year, but I never asked how it came from. I learn now. In lunar year it makes up by 天干, 地支 and 五行。 According the news you read next year is 丁亥金年，丁 is for 天干， 亥 is for 地支， 金is for 五行。There are ten 天干s, 12 地支s and 5五行s. But 五行 runs every two years. OK, let's make it a little simple.There are three groups of symbol here: "ABCDE" is one group, "abcdef" is another group and the last group is 12345, you use one symbol of each group in order to make up a group of symbol: Aa1, Bb2,Cc3, Dd4,Ee5,Af1,Ba2 and so forth. It will take you for a while to come up the symbol Aa1 again. And so does the lunar year, for the next 丁亥金year, it takes up 60 years.

I hope I explain clear enough for you to understand.

Nice to study with you!

Sarah:

[bhchao]

Why is 2007 a 'Golden Pig Year' (金猪年 jin zhu nian)?

This year is actually a Fire Pig Year. There are five elements according to Chinese Taoist philosophy: 金, 水, 木, 火, 土.

If the last number of a year ends in 0 or 1, it is a metal year.

If the last number of a year ends in 2 or 3, it is a water year.

If the last number of a year ends in 4 or 5, it is a wood year.

If the last number of a year ends in 6 or 7, it is a fire year.

And if the last number of a year ends in 8 or 9, it is an earth year.

Each animal sign has its own fixed natural element (called the earthly branch); while the specific year itself also has an element, based on the last digit of the year. This is the heavenly stem as listed above.

Even though an animal's earthly branch may be different from the heavenly stem of the specific year, we don't call the year Metal Pig Year, Fire Pig Year, etc. based on the earthly branch. It goes by the heavenly stem.

The natural element (earthly branch) of the pig sign is water. The heavenly stem for this year is fire. So this year is called the fire pig year.

The combination of water with fire produces an unfavorable result since water puts out fire. Therefore, Chinese Taoist experts may forecast 2007 to be inauspicious in general terms. However Chinese astrology is very complex, and an individual's auspicious/inauspicious fate (or 命) for 2007 depends on the person's birthdate and hour of birth.

Animal signs with earth as the earthly branch: Ox, Dragon, Sheep, Dog

Animal signs with water as the earthly branch: Rat, Pig

Animal signs with wood as the earthly branch: Tiger, Rabbit

Animal signs with fire as the earthly branch: Snake, Horse

Animal signs with metal as the earthly branch: Rooster, Monkey

Add the earthly branch and the heavenly branch to ascertain a combination of elements that is either supporting in nature, or destructive.