Welcome to the Year of the Dragon, 4709. After the peaceful Year of the Rabbit, 2012 will feel like its bursting with energy and the spirit of the dragon will make everything seem ‘larger than life’. The year will be an ambitious and daring one. The Chinese have a saying, “with money, you’re a dragon; without it, you’re a worm”.
The Dragon is symbolized by two elements; with water sitting on top of earth. According to the cycle of birth and destruction, which governs the inter-relationship between the elements, earth is the destroyer of water and so the year will be filled with international conflicts and earth related disasters – such as tsunamis and earthquakes.
The most serious earthquakes in recent history happened during the year of Dragon, as they did in 1952 – Kamchatka magnitude 8.25, 1964 Alaska magnitude 9.2, 1976 Tangshan magnitude 7.8, 1988 Leninakan 6.9, and 2000 Sumatra magnitude 7.9. The Tangshan earthquake was notable in that 250,000 people were killed.
