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Kung Hei Fat Choy - Happy New Year!                                                                                        

The Year of the Rat: 2008 - February 7, 2008 - January 25, 2009
To purchase your lucky Year of the Rat jade pendant click here

MrBead is based in Hong Kong, where at present is the main annual holiday for Chinese New Year.  Lion dancers and carnivals take to the streets and fireworks to the skies.  However, your orders will only be slightly delayed over this period.  In Mainland China many people work inside large prosperous cities in the South East, a long way from their poor native village homes.  Over Chinese New Year hundreds-of-millions commute back to their village to be with the family.  It's always a big strain on the railway and airways, but this year has been made worse by severe snow cutting off power lines and runways!

February 7^th 2008 was the start of the Chinese New Year of the Rat.  First in the Chinese horoscope of 12 animals, that recur every twelfth year. The Rat Year brings plenty, opportunity and good prospects.  Year 2008 is the 4705th Chinese year. The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (not the first emperor), crowned in 2697 B.C.

The Rat Year also means Mouse Year, and is a time of hard work, activity, and renewal.  This is a good year to begin a new job, get married, launch a product or make a fresh start.  Ventures begun now may not yield fast returns, but opportunities will come for people who are well prepared and resourceful.  The best way for you to succeed is to be patient, let things develop slowly, and make the most of every opening. 

In Chinese, the Rat is respected and considered a courageous, enterprising person.  People born in the Year of Rat are clever and bright, sociable and family-minded.  They have broad interests, easy going manner, and adapt to their environment.  They are active and pleasant, tactful, and able to grasp opportunities and do things well.

The gemstone for this Chinese year is garnet and the equivalent sign in the Western Zodiac is Sagittarius.

Other Rat Years are:
01/31/1900 - 02/18/1901, 02/18/1912 - 02/05/1913, 02/05/1924 - 01/24/1925, 01/24/1936 - 02/10/1937, 02/10/1948 - 01/28/1949, 01/28/1960 - 02/14/1961, 02/15/1972 - 02/02/1973, 02/02/1984 - 02/19/1985, 02/19/1996 - 02/06/1997, 02/07/2008 - 01/25/2009.  If you were born in any of these years, then you are a Rat.