Lunar New Year predictions for Xi and Trump
Jan 13, 2025
The Year of the Snake begins on 29 January. Over the next couple of weeks, fortune tellers will flood the press with their views, each with as much weight and reliability as the mottos in fortune cookies.
Predicting the future by reference to zodiac signs may be as unscientific as other astrological or phrenological forecasts, but if enough people believe and rely on this practice such forecasts may be self-fulfilling. For all its commitment to materialism, the Chinese Communist Party has not succeeded in wiping out popular superstitions including reliance on astrology and fortune telling, which persist throughout China and the Sinosphere.
The Chinese zodiac is a 12-year cycle based on the lunar calendar with each year being associated with an animal: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. This cycle is further differentiated by reference to five fixed elements: wood, fire, earth, metal and water. When combined with 12 earthly and 10 heavenly branches the system forms a 60-year cycle that is used for timekeeping purposes. The animal links feature prominently. They reflect distinct personality traits that influence the careers, marriages and compatibilities of the people born in each zodiac year.
This raises the question: what to expect of the Year of the Snake?
Popular attitudes to snakes are culturally based and differ considerably between East and West. In Chinese culture, the snake is seen as an animal that can do good as well as harm, while in the Judaeo-Christian world, it is regarded as the embodiment of evil and the cause of sin in the world. The Bible (Genesis 3) relates that a serpent tempted Eve to eat the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil that grew in the midst of the Garden of Eden and for this, God cursed the serpent “above all livestock and all wild animals” and condemned Eve to bear children in pain and to be subservient to her husband. In the West, the snake has never recovered from this condemnation.
Chinese myth ascribes the creation of humanity to the mother goddess Nuwa, a being with a human head and a serpent body. Nuwa repaired the pillars holding up the heavens and patched the sky, survived a great flood with her spouse Fuxi, and made humans out of mud because she wanted companions, so she has positive features. Snakes appear in many classic Chinese stories and operas, the most famous being the Legend of the White Snake, a romance between a young man and a white snake spirit who appears to him as a beautiful woman. This White Snake is not evil, but powerful, sexy and loving. A recent book by Luo Liang traces the spread of this snake legend in East Asia and around the world.
Despite these positive aspects, the snake also has negative connotations in Chinese culture and language. Poisonous snakes are not uncommon in South China and fatal encounters are no doubt responsible for their bad image. Snakes seem shy, but when disturbed strike quickly. A hypocritical person is said to have the mouth of a Buddha and the heart of a snake. Non-poisonous pythons are notorious for swallowing their prey whole and a Chinese proverb describes a greedy person as like a snake swallowing an elephant.
Popular belief holds that those born in the Year of the Snake share its personality traits, that is they are wise, patient, cunning, fastmoving and unpredictable. Sharing some characteristics with the dragon, but not as powerful, they are known as “little dragons”. Snakes regularly shed their skin so that they can emerge with new vigour. This coming year is therefore predicted to be much like the last, but less extreme. Those born in 2025 or a previous snake year are predicted to benefit from their sign being in the ascendance.
President Xi Jinping was born in 1953, the Year of the Water Snake. It is not my intention to assess his birth-year characteristics against his zodiac sign. Those who are interested to know more about his personality would do well to consult Michael Sheridan’s new book The Red Emperor: Xi Jinping and his New China. The author describes a man who knows the capriciousness as well the usefulness of power and who believes he has a mission to create a “new China”. The people of China understand the significance of this lucky year for him. Bolstered by general belief in the inevitability of the zodiac sign, he surely will enter 2025 with new confidence, knowing that it is “his year”. Of course, he has to tackle major economic and social problems at home and abroad to achieve his goals. I do not detect any wavering from his commitment to this “struggle” in his New Year message published on 1 January.
Incoming US President Donald Trump was born in 1946, the Year of the Dog. He was previously elected president in 2018, the most recent Dog Year. That was then, and this is now. The character traits of a Dog are those of a noisy companionable animal, energetic and eager. Reading Trump’s latest sprays about domestic and foreign policy, I hear him madly barking. This is the Year of the Snake, not the Dog.
Snakes bide their time and are not easily provoked, but will strike if attacked. If it should come to pass that Trump decides to test his strength against Xi, I would back a wily snake against a savage dog.