A few simple precautions can help you survive the bad luck and difficulties of your zodiac year, as Cheng Anqi reports.

'Tai Sui (also known as the Grand Duke of Jupiter) pledges to sit. No woes is a blessing as there will be misfortune," said Li Mo, 36, whose Chinese zodiac sign is a rabbit, summing up her horoscope for the year ahead. She has bought a red waist belt and red socks, even prayer beads to help ward off the bad luck heading her way. In northern China, adults and children see in their zodiac year by wearing a red vest and red underwear in a bid to overcome misfortune and pursue good fortune. "According to Chinese tradition I will have a bumpy ride this year. A difficult year financially, my friends who are bureaucrats will be easily demoted, and if taking a trip I must be extra careful," Li said. Chinese people traditionally believed in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. Each year of the 12-year cycle is named after an animal. Each animal has a different personality and different characteristics that are believed to be the traits of a person born in that year and which determine their success, and happiness.

In this way a person's fate is determined at birth, so their zodiac year is considered their year of fate.

Bai Yansong, a prominent Chinese news anchor, known for his articulate and confident style, recalled a year of fate he endured when he appeared as a guest on a TV talk show in Shanghai.

"I had a very tough time during my last zodiac year of birth," said the 44-year-old, who disappeared from public view for a year after achieving huge success in the live telecast of 2000 Sydney Olympic Games.

"I was 36 years old then and I suddenly seemed to see the finishing line. Before that, I would seldom think of death. But during my zodiac year of birth, I suddenly thought that half of my life had passed. I felt depressed and gradually understood what a mid-life crisis was."

Bai admitted that he suffered from serious insomnia during the year and his weight dropped from 80 to 55 kilograms. He communicated with his wife by writing notes.

"But fortunately, I got over the difficulties without taking a single sleeping bill. Everyone will meet their low point in life. You just have to stay strong," he said.

According to Hurdling Barriers in the Year of Fate, an essay by China's noted writer Liu Xinwu, after experiencing the five barriers, which are repeated once every 12 years, people become increasingly calm.

In the Chinese zodiac, the first year of fate is reached at age 12, when a person leaves childhood and starts to become an adult. If they are expected to conform to a rigid identity or excessively hedged in by rules and regulations, they are likely to behave badly, becoming angry and restless.

At the age of 24, people encounter another wave of difficulties as they try to make their way in society. They can easily experience confusion or go to extremes as they try to find their path in life.

The third and fourth phrases may be generalized as a period in which people mature and achieve their position in society, but are apt to make mistakes due to self-aggrandizement.

By age 60, while indulging in the past, people may become set in their ways and hate to see any changes.

Lu Yue, a psychological consultant at PKU Boss Psychological Consulting Center compares the years of fate cycle to the Buddhist concept of samsara, or continual flow.

"It is like snake sloughing its skin, meaning that growth is often connected with dangers and renewal."

"The year of fate reminds people to always be in awe of nature and the mysterious. We need to know there are things out of our control," she added.

No matter whether you wear red underwear or make a Tai Sui tip bag, the best way to live your year of fate is by being active and optimistic.

(China Daily 02/02/2011 page7)