|
| 2002 Chinese Black Horse Year |
 |
Year 2001 is a Chinese Golden Snake Year. Why do the Chinese name year 2001 as the Golden Snake Year? Chinese
calendar uses the Stem-Branch system to count the day, month
and year. There are 10 Stems and 12 Branches in the system. Stems are named by the
Yin-Yang and Five Elements (Metal, Water, Wood, Fire and Earth). The Stem sequence order
is  Yang Wood, Yin Wood, Yang Fire, Yin Fire, Yang Earth, Yin Earth,
Yang Metal, Yin Metal, Yang Water and Yin Water. Branches use the animal names. The Branch
sequence order is  Rat, Cow, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Chicken, Dog and
Pig. |
Stem and Branch are used together to form a cycle of 60 counting systems which begin from 
Wooden Rat and end with 
Water
Pig. You can see the entire sequence from the Chinese New Year's page. From Year 1924 to Year 1983 is a complete
cycle. Year 2001 is Yin Metal Snake, the 18th of the Stem-Branch in the system. The
Chinese use the same Chinese character for Gold and Metal, and as Gold
sounds more valuable, the Chinese like to call year 2001 the Golden Snake rather than the
Metal Snake.
Chinese New Year
 |
The Chinese New Year day is on
January 24th. 2001. because this is the new moon day, the first day of the first Chinese lunar month in the Chinese Lunar Calendar system.
Chinese will add one year to their Chinese age on this day. If a
baby is born on January 23rd. 2001, it is born in the year of Dragon. This baby will be
two years old on the Chinese New Year day, because the Chinese count a baby as one year old when
it is born. The baby will then add one year to its age on each the Chinese New Year day. In China, the first day of the Golden Snake Year is February 4th. 2001 in the Fortune-Telling Calendar system, because February 4th. 2001 is the first day of Tiger month and the Tiger month is the first month of a year in Chinese Fortune-Telling Calendar system. |
In the Chinese Fortune-Telling calendar, the first day of the first month, Tiger month, is called "Start of Spring", which is when the sun enters 315th degree on the tropical zodiac. In the China time zone, the time of Start of Spring is at 02-04 02:29. So the first day of the Golden Snake year 2001 is on 02-04-01. For USA the time of Start of Spring is on 02-03 at 10:29 PST and on 02-03 at 13:29 EST. Therefore we can say that the first day of the Chinese Golden Snake year is February 3rd. 2001 in USA.
The Year 2001 (Golden Snake) is the 4698th Chinese year. The Chinese believe that the first king of China was the Yellow King (he was not the first emperor of China who completed the Great Wall). The Yellow King became king in 2697 B.C., therefore China will enter the 4698th year on February 4th. 2001. Also, the Chinese Year uses the cycle of 60 Stem-Branch counting systems and the Golden Snake is the 18th Stem-Branch in the cycle. Since 4698 = (60 *78) + 18, therefore this Golden Snake Year is the 4698th Chinese Year.
Some web sites say the year 2001 is the 4699th Chinese year. If you cannot find the explanation from there, here is a possible answer for you. The Yellow King's inauguration was held in the spring of 2697 B.C.. But the calendar of Yellow King used the winter solstice day as the first day of the year. So the first winter solstice was on around December 23rd. 2698 B.C.. Today's January 1st means nothing to Yellow King. If we count that extra eight days in 2698 B.C. for a year, then year 2001 is the 4699th Chinese year.
White Snake
 |
Year 2001 is the year of Golden Snake or Metal Snake. Year 2001 is also called the Year of White Snake, because Metal is equivalent to White in the Five Elements system. |
Many Chinese would prefer to say year 2001 is the year of White Snake, because there is a thousand-year-old Chinese love story about a man and a White Snake that has been adapted to comics, cartoons, novels, opera and movies so many times. If you are interested, please click here to read the White Snake page.
Calendar - Leap Month
There is a leap month (extra lunar month) in the Chinese Calendar year 2001. Assigning the leap month is very complicated in the Chinese calendar. The official Chinese Civil Calendar announces the leap month as the leap 4th lunar month in year 2001. The Chinese Astronomical Calendar shows the leap 5th lunar month in year 2001. The reason for this disparity is discussed at 2001 Leap Months page.
The difference of assigning leap months impacts the Chinese calendar conversion from the Gregorian calendar between 5-22-2001 and 7-21-2001. If we adopt the leap 5th lunar month, then we have two Chinese Dragon Boat festivals in year 2001, because the Chinese Dragon Boat festival is the 5th day of 5th Chinese lunar month.
To find more related information about the Chinese leap month, please read the Essence of the Chinese Calendar, FAQ and Chinese Lunar Leap Months pages.
There is no impact at all on the Chinese astrology pages in our web site, because they use the Chinese astrology months, animal months not the lunar months.
There is also no impact on the page of Baby Gender Predictor. The months in the Chinese Infant Gender Statistic Chart are the Chinese astrology months, since there are no leap months in the chart.
There is no impact on the page of Calculate Your Chinese Age either, since the Chinese age is calculated using the Chinese new year's day.
Calendar - Lunar Days
The new moon day is the first day of a lunar month. The first day of a lunar month may be different in different time zones. If the first day of a lunar month is different, then all the lunar days of that month are different. Click here to find the year 2001 new moon dates and times comparison chart.
From the comparison chart, we find that the Chinese Valentine Day, the 7th day of the 7th lunar month, is on 8-24-2001 in China time zone, however, it's on 8-23-2001 in USA time zone. Also, the Double Nines Day, the 9th day of the 9th lunar month, is on 10-25-2001 in China, while it's on 10-24-2001 in USA.
If you use the page of Find the date of Chinese Festivals or Chinese Lunar Calendar Conversion, you need to select the China Civil Calendar option to get the Chinese official calendar of China time zone. All other time zones must select the Chinese Astronomical Calendar option.
Forecast
Chinese fortunetellers like to use the theory of Five Elements to predict people's fortune. If you want to know if you are lucky or not in the year 2001, you must know your lucky element from the Chinese Fortune-Telling Calendar page first.
Year 2000 is a year of Golden Dragon. Chinese say people cannot see the Dragon's head and tail at the same time. So the Dragon is unpredictable and untouchable. The Golden Dragon year 2000 was really an unpredictable year. Year 2001 is a year of Golden Snake. The Dragon year is the ending year of Wood cycle (Tiger, Rabbit and Dragon), The Snake year is the beginning year of Fire cycle (Snake, Horse and Sheep). That means the Snake is in the Fire Group. The Golden Snake is a Metal on the top of the Fire. The Metal is in trouble and has to fight with the Fire. That gives the hint that year 2001 will have many disagreements and arguments. Fortunately, the Snake contains Fire and Earth (Soil). The Earth will act as a compromiser between the Metal and the Fire, according the relationship of Five Elements. Therefore, there will always be a solution or helper when things go wrong. When you feel unlucky in year 2001, then think about Lady White fought to save her marriage in the the story of White Snake.
If your lucky element is Fire. And you need Fire to balance your Five Elements weight, you will do well in year 2001. If there is a Horse, Sheep or Tiger in your birth chart or in the 10-year Major Cycle, the power of Fire will increase and you will be very lucky.
Chinese Prophecy 2001
If you are interested in Chinese Political Forecast, the Chinese Prophecy for Golden Snake Year 2001 is a must read page.
Feng Shui 2001
In order to take advantage of Feng Shui to get an auspicious golden snake year, you need to understand your luck with Feng Shui 2001. One extra page for you to check the special relationships between year 2001 and your house is at Feng Shui 2001 Special.
May wealth and health always come your way in the year of golden snake!
Home of Chinese Astrology online