The Chinese calendar, commonly known as the Farmers calendar, or the Hsia calendar, is a fascinating system, which not only records the passage of time, but is also a tool for fortune-telling. The famous traditional fortune-telling system - the Four Pillars of Destiny - is exactly referring to reading a person's destiny from his birth data as presented in the Hsia calendar format. The unique feature of such calendar is that all information about time - year, month, day and hour are presented in terms of the five basic elements - metal, water, wood, fire, and earth, which are believed to be the basic components of everything in the Universe.

The Year of the Rooster, 2005, in the Hsia calendar, is symbolized by two elements - with wood sitting on top of metal. According to the cycle of birth and destruction, which governs the inter-relationship between elements, metal will destroy wood. Therefore, wood sitting on its destroyer - metal, is a symbol of disharmony and this may lead to international conflicts. The elemental relationship is same as last year of Monkey which is also wood standing on earth. But the difference is that in the year of the Monkey, it is yang wood which is always compared to a tall tree, with the characteristic of being proud, tough, stubborn and sticking to principles, inflexible and uncompromising. So last year the metal wood conflict is very serious resulting in fierce fighting in the war against terrorism, especially in middle East, including Iraq and Saudi Arabia. However, in the year of the Rooster, the yin wood is symbol of flower which is flexible and easy to adjust to the environment. As such, it is anticipated that the struggle will not be as serious as in 2004. It seems chance of compromise and making peaceful settlements over international issues will be easier to achieve in the year of the Rooster. . In accordance with feng shui flying stars, the bad star 5 Yellow will be present in the northwest in 2005. Therefore, areas to the northwest of a country or a continent will have more chance to encounter conflict or natural disasters.

The Chinese calendar year goes on 60-year cycle. This means that we had experienced the same year of yin wood on metal Monkey in 1945 when the Nazi and Japanese suffered their final defeat and the second world was ending. The allies were liberating Europe from the Nazis . In 2005, sixty years after, with the same pair of elements yin wood on metal appearing again, let us hope this is a year of victory in the war against global terrorism and we can expect there will be major gain in the global war against Al Queda . However, as wood and metal are conflicting elements, we still cannot expect the year of Rooster will be a peaceful one. Like in 1945, the victory can only be achieved with fierce fightings and heavy casualties .

The Yin wood - in the system of Four Pillars of Destiny, is a symbol of flower and grass which will bend as the wind blows. So it is signal of flexibility, and adjusting oneself according to circumstances. As such, the yin wood year will bring more hope for compromise and resolution of long term conflicts. .

In the Four Pillars of Destiny system, the Rooster represents small metal object like a knife or a dagger. And Yin wood is often associate with the neck, the back of a person. With yin wood sitting on rooster, it presents a picture of stabbing a person's back with a dagger. Therefore, it will not be surprising that assissinations could also occur in the year 2005. The Rooster is the animal which will clash against the rabbit, which is also yin wood. So this year besides events of famous people get stabbed by knife, it may also bring accidents involving breaking of neck or back. It is recommended one should pay more attention to proper sitting position as health problem related to back and neck will certainly be more serious in the year of the Rooster. As rooster represents small knife cutting into body, for people who are born in the year of rabbit, or on a day of rabbit, it is often a good timing for undergoing certain surgery operation or for extracting tooth. The more critical time for such event to occur will be March and September..

The elements appearing in each year in the Chinese calendar is a signal revealing areas that we should pay attention during the year. With the appearance of wood being destroyed by metal in 2005, it is a warning that there could be problem in wood area and this is associated with plants and the environment. There could be natural disasters leading to serious damage of forest and the environment. We can project that troubles may also emerge in area of agriculture, forestry area.

The Rooster is the birth place of Yin Fire which is symbol of explosion. As such, the year of Rooster is particularly vulnarable to fire disasters and explosions.

The Rooster is a "Flower of Romance" in the system of Four Pillars of Destiny. So a Rooster year will bring more activities related to entertainment and glamourous events. In the negative sense it will also bring controversay of sex scandals among celebraties or in political circle. The Rooster is yin metal which is symbol of decorative jewellery metal. This metal will often induce more acitivities in the area of cosmetics, skin care, and other glamourous business such as entertainment, advertising, Public relations... etc.

The five basic elements also represent different parts of our body, yin wood is the liver, the neck and the back bone, and metal is the breathing organ, teeth, and skin. As wood is very weak this year, it means it will easily trigger diseases related to the liver, the neck and the back area. . Also wood represents principle and inflexibility in adjusting to pressure. As such, people born in days of yang wood are more easy to collapse and suffer nervous breakdown. It will not be surprising that more celebrities or famous people suffer from nervous breakdown in the year of the Monkey. This may even lead to tragedy such as committing suicide. The metal attacking wood is also a cause of motion sickness - such as Alzheimers and Parkinson sickness which may be more serious this year. Also the metal is very strong this year, it could symbolize sickness related to breathing organ and skin. In recent research, metal is also associate with motion sickness such as Parkinson disease and Alzheimer. The former US President Regan died of Alzheimer in 2004 the year of Monkey also confirmed the link between metal and motion illness. As such, it is anticipated that this sickness will be more in focus this year.

Regarding the economy, the year 2004 showed the yang wood on the Heavenly stem was able to bring fire element, which is the driving force behind the old economy. Hence there had been strong signs of economic recovery in the USA and other industrial countries with anticipation of inflation coming back in 2004. In 2005, the yin wood is not as powerful as the yang wood to bring about strong fire to support the economy. Hence we still expect moderate improvement in the economy in the spring and summer months between February and June but the upward trend will not be as drastic as 2004. But we can still see strong growing economy activities and stock market especially in the strong fire months of June and July. .

With respect to the hi-tech economy, as represented by the NASDAQ. I have postulated that this industry is mainly represented by metal element. In 2005, the wood element symbolises money to the metal industry. This is positive. But the strong metal underneath will bring more competitors into the industry to erode the money profit. However, the optimistic view is that the early springs months in the year of the Rooster contains strong water and wood which is the productivity and money of metal industry. Therefore I can expect there could be a boom in this sector in the first quarter of 2005. However, as metal gets strong from August to Oct. It will bring in strong competition in the high tech market and these months may not be favourable for high tech business.

Property industry is classified as Earth element, as earth produces metal, the strong presence of metal this year will bring strong activities in the property market. This will be more obvious in autumn and winter. The other industries represented by Earth elements are insurance, mining, chemical, computer software... etc. These industries will be active and productive in 2005. Another industry more favourable in 2005 will be business related to fire element which are energy, electricity, entertainment, restaurant, and electronic goods.... It seems there will be more activities in fire industries as fire conquers metal, so a strong metal year means money profit for the fire industries. This favours oil prices which will continue to be high since 2004..

The most unfavourable industry will be business related to wood element. This is industries including textile, fashion, clothing, paper, magazines, furniture, plants, flowers and other consumer products related to wood.

In summary, the industries that will perform well in the year of the Rooster will be industry related to earth and fire elements - Earth industries including property, insurance, mining, and chemicals. Fire industries are energy, electricity and entertainment. On the other hand, industries related to wood element - such as textile, fashion, magazines, books, plants, etc. are into an unfavourable year. The remaining two elements, water - transport, travel, shipping, communication, bars, drinks, spa... may see improvement this year as wood is productivity of water. And metal industry, such as heavy industry, engineering, high- tech, cars, will be neutral to weak as their money element wood shows up, but being conquered by overwhelming metal underneath the wood.

In general, the yin wood Rooster is symbol of more moderate changes and flexibiltiy . The metal cutting the root of the flower still represents hidden danger and disturbance to the foundation. But the flower is by nature moderate and easy to submit. So it will be a year of resolving conflicts and disharmony in international relationship by compromise. And this may lead to longer term peace as from 2006.

The animal sign, which are not so favorable, is the Rabbit, which is into a year of clash against the Rooster. Such clash usually bring about movements. So people born in the year of the Rabbit will anticipate more changes and moves this year, such as travelling, moving house, changing job... etc. It is necessary to carry a pendant of Dragon as protection to attract the Rooster away. For the Rabbit people, the clash against the rooster could also mean surgery, accidents involving breaking of neck or back. It is also recommended to avoid dangerous exercise and pay attention to sitting posture or position. It is not good to travel so much directly to the west especially in the month of September and March , as west is the position of the Grand Duke of the Rooster year.

The other animal sign under negative influences is the Rooster , which is offending the year and is in self penalty with the year. Penalty is related to hidden danger, hidden sickness and self penalty may relate to disharmony with colleagues, bad competition, or trouble bought about by oneself due to carelessness. So people born in year or day of Rabbit or Rooster should also be careful of their health this year. If clash occurs at the day pillar, it may also affect harmony in the family, it is recommended to minimise chance of such disharmony but taking more trips, or taking the chance to move house if necessary.

The better animals signs in the year of the Rooster are the Dragon, and the Snake and Ox, as they are in combine relationship with the Rooster, so will be into a more harmonious year. There is some good news for people born in the year of the Monkey, Rat and Dragon , they will be into a year favorable for romance. However, such animal astrology is not totally reliable as the system is not recognized as formal kind of fortune-telling. It requires more information than just the birth year to determine a person's luck.

Feng Shui energies also changes from year to year. Therefore, it is necessary to watch out for the reallocation of good and bad energies at the beginning of each year, so that we can take necessary precautions if some bad energy happens to arrive at important locations of our residence or office. In the year of the Rooster, the bad energy called "Five Yellow" - symbolizing obstacles and misfortune, arrives at the northwest . If your northwest of the house is very active area such as entrance or passage ways, it is recommended to hang a metal windchime there to dissolve this bad energy. The worst months will be in February, August and November. Another bad star number 2, symbolizing sickness, will arrive at the East in 2005. The traditional method to dissolve is to hang a string of 6 metal coins in the affected area in the East of the house. The Grand Duke this year is in the West, hence it is not favorable to "Move earth" or making substantial construction work in the direction. It is also not suitable to sit with back against exact East as you will be sitting against the unfavorable energy called "Three shars" or "Three Killings". The bad star 3 is a star of conflict and robbery. This is present in the South east. It is also good to put a piece of red paper in the east of the house to minimise its bad influences.