!!!Gung Hey Fa Choy !!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR OF THE BLACK DRAGON!

The first day of the 2012 Chinese New Year is on January 23, 2012. This day is a new moon day, and is the first day of the first Chinese lunar month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar system. The Year 2012 is the 4709th Chinese year. The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the first emperor of China). The Yellow King became king in 2697 B.C. therefore China will enter the 4709th year on January 23, 2012. Also, the Chinese Year uses the cycle of 60 Stem-Branch counting systems and the Black Water Dragon is the 28th Stem-Branch in the cycle. Therefore, 2012 is the Year of the Black Dragon. For more details, click here:

http://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/2012.htm

Dragons are legendary creatures. All stories about Chinese dragons say they from the sky, which means heaven in China. The image of dragon is blurred, misty, mystic, occult, noble and untouchable. For China, it is the symbol of power from heaven. The Chinese emperor was considered to be the son of heaven. An emperor had the authority to send commands to Dragons.

After 581 AD, Chinese emperors began to wear imperial robes with dragon symbols. During the Ching Dynasty (1644-1911 AD), the dragon can be seen everywhere on the roofs, doors, pillars, bridges, and utensils of the forbidden city. The most powerful dragon is the five-clawed dragon. It appears only on the yellow imperial robe. Because of this, the Dragon is one of most auspicious animals in China.

It is said that the Dragon has nine sons. People didn't know too much about the Nine Dragons until the Ming Dynasty (1368-1644 AD). And, there is more than one version of the Nine Dragons story. One is the following:

The Dragon sent its nine sons to help the first emperor of Ming Dynasty to conquer China. After completing the mission, nine dragons were preparing their journey to return to heaven. But the emperor wanted them to continue to help the Ming Dynasty. The nine dragons wouldn't stay and the emperor couldn't stop them. So, the emperor decided to play a trick on the most powerful dragon, the 6th son. He tricked the sixth dragon son into carry a magic stele with a carved inscription, which could suppress any ghost, spirit or evil creature. The 6th dragon couldn't move under the magic stele, and all of his other brothers wouldn't leave without him. However, they wouldn't work for the emperor anymore. They decided to no longer show their dragon identities and turned themselves into evil creatures. Since then, the nine dragons have stayed in China.

Until now...

We have always been among you, watching, waiting, charting the course of history. It is the dawning of a New Age, when peace will guide the planets and love will fill the stars.

Your General Orders are: "First,do no harm."
Second, “Do unto others as you would have done unto yourself.”
Third, "Live and let live.

This is the message for the Year of the Black Dragon.

You cannot choose when you were born, but you can choose how you face life. This is one path. Do your best. That is all that is expected of you… Jet Li

Live Long and Prosper
Happy Chinese New Year of the Black Dragon!

I remain,
Ashida Kim