Year of the OX...

[Delta Moon]

Year of the OX...

Hi and thanks for the lesson, zed. Just discovered I am a rooster! Can't figure out why I'm not a morning person though.
Hi Lila!

[Lila]

Year of the OX...

Me too, a little brilliant, a little mucked up...still, good things seem to be coming to me, so in a bit of an intuitive place, in the middle of a mess, however. You know, where the fun is...

[Lila]

Year of the OX...

St John!!!
I am a Rooster too! And thanks, Zed, for cleaning up the language, you know...

[Lila]

Year of the OX...

....not saying cock...hate that!

[zed]

Year of the OX...

:H Lila your funny. Hey, just so you know, when I say 'absolutely brilliant', don't think that doesn't mean that I'm not messed up and struggling at the same time... we're all mucked up but we're getting there... glad to here you are tapping into your intuitive nature... dig into that... there is a lot there and you will great strength and solace in that space, I have a feeling...

St. John! Hello to you, greetings and thanks for your welcome back message. I see you are doing AF this month? Can you let me know where you and Sun are posting so I can come over? I am going AF too... until further notice. Wouldn't mind checking in with the AF crew to see what's being said/ get some support with that.

Cheers

[Boss.man]

Year of the OX...

Great post Zed. Also note that 2008 was the year of the Rat, and the next year is the Ox, all in order.

If/when you visit China, you can easily purchase jade sets of the Chinese years in the airport for $10-30 or so. The year of the Rabbit is also translated as Cat, as both animals are associated in Chinese. I found that out having eaten Sechuan "Rabbit" three times in Beijing before my brain turned on and I started questioning the host as to what sound the "rabbit" made before being cooked.

The greatest thing you learn when you actually go to China is that the population is huge. 1.2 or 1.4 billion people or so. The true population number is given by the Chinese Government and suspect. But in general, the population of China is about 100 times the population of England. Inside China there are more than 20 major languages and about 150 minor ones. It's very funny that many Chinese can't speak to each other, but can all read a single newspaper. A business contact of mine was jailed for an infraction (the infraction was named differently, but basically he failed to bribe sufficiently), and was put in a cell with another business person. He used his seven months of time to script out and learn Cantonese (He was a native Mandarin speaker).

Because Chinese script is simply images, you can "read it" in English. However, without the cultural knowledge it makes no sense. Just like our word "airport" doesn't mean a port (door) for air.

Chinese New Year (CNY) is a time to visit family. Much like the US Thanksgiving. Most employees have three weeks off to do it. All of our manufactured goods come from huge cities and factories in Guangdong province in Southern China (and nearly all made by women). But the workers themselves are commonly from the north, and live 500-800 miles away from their families and home villages. It takes nearly a week for these people to return home, celebrate New Year which is a multiple-day holiday, and then eventually get back to work. When you work with China, as I have done in the past, you simply accept that they will go home for three weeks for CNY. All the office workers. All the factory workers. They won't even check email in all that time. While the Chinese appear to be industrious, often working six days a week, with 15 holidays just for CNY, and 2 days of for Western New year, plus about 14 other days off a year, they NEED to work six days a week just to come back to a western style 200 day work-schedule.

Like everything in China, the scale of CNY is awe inspiring. 300-400 million people get on trains and buses and in the last few days, any vehicle that moves to travel to their home town.

So when you think of China, don't think of it like the French, or the Germans or the Poles. Those are all single people with a single language. Think instead of a country with higher population and cultural groups than the EU, Eastern Europe, and the Balkans, combined. A country where nearly every citizen is multilingual, fluent in their home language, and the national language. A country where the national government is as relevant as the EU government in Brussels is to business in London, a foggy far away entity.

Think of a country where the "Golden Rule" doesn't exist, because they don't have a culture based on Judeo-Christian philosophy. Without that, lines (queues) don't exist, because they are based on the golden rule. Agreements don't exist, a signature is not your word. Red lights are advisory and not mandatory, cars don't follow lanes. People go to the bathroom while the planes land, because the FAA does not exist there.

Despite the fact that the Chinese create all the world's clocks, microwave ovens, radios, and the maddening interfaces on VCRs and TVs, the Chinese have a profound sense of place. They live with a complete understanding that although it may take another 1000 or 2000 years, someday all westerners will someday understand the superiority of Chinese culture, and become subjects of a greater China.

The fact that so many people know their Chinese Zodiac sign will probably warm the hearts of those who know, in the long run, the lunar Calendar is the only true Calendar, and the only true culture is Han.

[zed]

Year of the OX...

Nice one Boss.man.

That is as good a contemporary introduction to China and the Chinese as any I've ever read.

Cheers. Z

[Evie.Lou]

Year of the OX...

cyclefan;513917 wrote: I am a dragon, as in my ass is dragon today. hahaha

Hubby is an OX...
I am a Dragon but unlike cycle I breath FIRE...
Dragon is the sign most Chinese people plan their children to be born under...imagine going 11 years without sex so you can conceive under the dragon???

[zed]

Year of the OX...

LOL! naughty :goodjob:

[A Work in Progress]

Year of the OX...

zed;514405 wrote:
St. John! Hello to you, greetings and thanks for your welcome back message. I see you are doing AF this month? Can you let me know where you and Sun are posting so I can come over? I am going AF too... until further notice. Wouldn't mind checking in with the AF crew to see what's being said/ get some support with that.

Cheers

Zed, welcome back! I've missed hearing from you. And I'd suggest the daily AF thread in the Monthly Abstinence section; it's been a very lively and helpful thread, especially the last couple of months... I think you'd enjoy it.

[zed]

Year of the OX...

Thanks WIP... missed you too. Ok great thanks for the tip. I'll come over to check it out. Cheers