via freepik
February 8, 2016 marks the beginning of the 4713th Chinese new year and is the year of the Red Monkey.
While much too involved and complicated to explain in this blog post, the Chinese zodiac calendar is certainly unique and interesting. All 12 zodiac signs of this calendar are represented by animals with Monkey being the 9th animal. It is preceded by sheep and obviously followed by #10, the chicken. The calendar is also made up of five elements--metal, water, wood, fire and earth--and monkey falls into the metal and water cycle. You may be familiar with these elements as they are also used in the application of feng shui in interior design. The metal element is represented by gold, indicating that money or financial issues will be dealt with in the coming year. According to some astrological experts "Monkey is a smart, naughty, wily and vigilant animal. If you want to have good return for your money investment, then you need to outsmart the Monkey. Metal is also connected to the Wind. This implies the status of events will be changing very quickly. Think twice before you leap when making changes for your finance, career, business relationship and people relationship." The water element is also part of this cycle and is connected to wisdom as well as danger. Therefore, as the last sentence above warns, use your wisdom and think twice to avoid "danger" in both business and personal relationships. The monkey is also thought to increase humor and wit, which could prove useful as we enter what just might be a very loud and noisy election year in the United States.
You can read about previous Chinese new year icons in these posts and you can view our entire collection of architectural hardware on our site at www.martinpierce.com.
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