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What Does the Rat Year Mean to Your Everyday Life?
The Rat year is a year of plenty, bringing opportunity and good prospects. It will be marked by speculation and fluctuations in the prices of commodities and the stock market; the world economy in general will boom.
Business will be be on the upswing, fortunes can be made and it will be an easy time to accumulate wealth. However, this is also the time to make long-term investment plans as the bonanza the year of the Rat brings will serve to see us through the bleak years that may follow.All ventures begun at this time will be successful if one prepares well. But do not take chances or unnecessary risks: the year of the Rat is still ruled by the cold of winter and darkness of night. Those who speculate indiscriminately and overextend themselves will come to a sad reckoning.
On the whole, this will be a happier year than most; free from explosive events and wars and with far less catastrophes than, say, the years of the Tiger or the Dragon.
Nonetheless, it will be spicy. It promises a lot of bickering, bargaining and petty arguments that will do little harm. A congenial time that will find most of us socializing and enjoying ourselves.
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Why did the Chinese name the year 2008 as the Brown Earth Rat Year?
Chinese calendar used the Stem-Branch system to count the days, months and years. There are 10 Stems and 12 Branches in this system. Stems are named by the Yin-Yang and Five Elements (metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth). The Branch sequence order is Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog and Pig. Stem and Branch are used together to form a cycle of 60 counting systems.
The sequence of 12 astrology animals is
Rat ranks number 1 in the 12 calendar animals. There is a related story for children. once the God of Heaven wanted to choose 12 animal names as the sequence of the calendar. He announced to hold an animal racing to determine the order. When the racing date is closing, Cat forgot the time and asked Rat the schedule. alert Rat gave Cat the wrong time on purpose. Smart Rat stayed on the horn of Ox while crossing the river, then jumped over the bank to reach the final line to win the champion. Cat missed the racing time and swear to kill Rat for generations. That’s why Cat always chase Rat forever.
The odd number is Yang and the even number is Yin. Therefore, Rat, Tiger, Dragon, Horse Monkey, Dog are Yang (Male) Animals. Cow, Rabbit, Snake, Sheep, Chicken and Pig are Yin (Female) animals. The one saying about the animal sequence is something to do with animal toes and paws.
Tiger, Dragon, Monkey and Dog have five toes or paws. Horse has a single toe. Cow, Rabbit, Sheep, Chicken and Pig have four toes or paws. Snake has no toes, but it has fork-like tongue. Rat has 4-toe in the front legs and 5-toe in the back legs.
The front leg of Rat has 4 toes and back leg has 5 toes. The Rat hour is from 23:00 P.M. to 1:00 A.M., which covers late night and early morning. Rat is ranked number one, which is Yang (odd) number. But 
contains Female Water, according to Chinese astrology calendar. Water in Chinese astrology represents cold, black, wisdom and lust.
Rat is a very alert, coward, quick, sly, ambitious and smart animal. Human still learn something from rats. When all rats run away from a building with no reason, we should run and leave the building soon too. Ancient Chinese won’t get on a ship without rats, because that’s not normal.
Rat is in the Water group. Snake and Horse are in the Fire group. Fire is afraid of Water. They said Horse will die after eating the waste of Rat. Weasel-like Rat can fight and kill Snake.