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YankeeRose
01-24-2004, 12:33 AM
I thought that adorable little guy, FunkMonkey, would enjoy this tidbit of info...Chinese New Year started yesterday and this is the Year of the Monkey!!!!!

Go Funk!!!!



kisskissyoucutiepie..

YankeeRose
01-24-2004, 08:54 PM
bumpin' for the monkeyman....:)

Elitest
01-25-2004, 02:42 PM
He will already know ALL about this


believe me...

he is an expert on such matters....

and yes he IS adorable...

alexpgrimes
01-25-2004, 11:21 PM
Since it's the year of the monkey do we need to spank it more or ease up on it?

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 11:59 AM
Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!

eeek! eeeeeeeeeek! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

http://www.powerpointart.com/powerpoint-backgrounds-samples/2003-01-background-samples/chinese-new-year.jpg

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 12:01 PM
http://www21.brinkster.com/wansuen/3lions.jpg

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 12:02 PM
http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/ipho2003/English/images/lion%20dancing.jpg

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 12:08 PM
http://annualecard.tsmc.com.tw/inet/harmony1.swf

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 12:13 PM
http://www.chinapage.com/images/yr2004a.jpg

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 12:19 PM
Tuesday January 20, 10:00 AM
Lunar New Year Heralds Monkey Business
By Juliana Liu

BEIJING (Reuters) - The Year of the Monkey, Chinese soothsayers predict, will bring a stock market boom, a freer yuan currency -- and a hefty dose of political chaos.

Like the temperamental animal from which the Lunar New Year starting on Thursday borrows its sign, 2004 will keep everyone on their toes with revolution and change, they say.

"It's always a naughty year with the monkey around," Xu Kun, a glamorous Beijing-based adviser to tycoons and politicians, told Reuters as she aimed an eight-pointed compass, the basic tool of her trade.

"With luck flowing to the northeast, stock markets, especially China's stock market, will rally," she said with a confidence backed by thousands of years of collective observation into relationships between the Earth and the heavens.

Brought to mankind by a mythical horse and tortoise, the Chinese fortune-telling system codified in the "Book of Changes" or "I Ching" was banned as heretical and nearly stamped out during the tumultuous Cultural Revolution.

But defiant devotees on the mainland and millions of followers around the world have kept alive the ancient art, making the 12-year animal cycle as mainstream as Chinese takeout.

Just as common is the sale of racy red underwear in the Chinese-speaking world, a color seen as warding off bad luck among people born under the Monkey sign.

Practitioners like Master Ang Tian Cheong of Singapore said the Year of the Monkey would propel Chinese economic growth and may bring political chaos to Southeast Asian countries such as Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia.

The war of words between China and Taiwan, the democratic island considered a renegade province by the mainland, would remain just that, he said."

"Taiwan is behaving like a pet monkey," Ang said. "All teeth and no bite."

A DOG'S LIFE

World stock markets would boom by the second half of the year and Chinese officials would widen the trading band for the yuan currency by summer, he predicted.

Experts said President Bush, born in the Year of the Dog in 1946, faced a difficult re-election campaign in 2004 even after the capture of Saddam Hussein.

"Years ruled by the Monkey can bring the culmination of family disturbances, accusations and losing face. The Dog's reputation may be on the line this year," U.S.-based astrologer Shelly Wu wrote.

Tension in the troubled Middle East would lower slightly owing to a mild dose of luck from the East, practitioners said, though the Monkey year was synonymous with hidden dangers.

Master Raymond Lo of Hong Kong, who says he correctly predicted Saddam's downfall in a particularly inauspicious 2003, said 2004 would be a decisive year against international terrorism.

"Like D-Day, it will be a deciding year for long term world peace, but such peace can only come after a final struggle," he predicted.

While each animal sign repeats every 12 years, the combination of zodiac and element, wood in 2004, happens once every 60 years.

In 1944, the last year of the wood monkey, the Allies reached a turning point in World War II and established the Bretton Woods agreement for post-war reconstruction.

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 12:40 PM
Chinese New Year Celebrations Begin
Celebrate Year Of Monkey

UPDATED: 9:43 a.m. EST January 21, 2004

While many of us celebrated the new year three weeks ago, millions of others around the world will be ringing in another new year Thursday.


While the Western world celebrates the year 2004, Jan. 22 marks the beginning of the year 4701, according to the Chinese lunar calendar, which is based on movements of the sun and moon.

The Chinese New Year is the oldest and most important festival in China. It celebrates the earth coming back to life and the start of plowing and sowing.


On the 15th day, the end of the lunar month, houses are decorated with colorful lantern displays and children carry lanterns in a parade for the Lantern Festival.

The lunar calendar is represented by a cycle of 12 years -- each year symbolized by a different animal of the zodiac. The story behind the selection of those animals is that thousands of years ago, Buddha invited the entire world to a "beginning of spring" festival. But only 12 animals showed up.

So to honor each one of the animals, Buddha gave them each a year in which to celebrate their birthdays.

Year Of Monkey

This year is the year of the monkey, which is a symbol of energy, activity, mischief and loyalty. People born in this year are said to be very intelligent, well-liked by everyone and have a very clever wit. However, they must guard against being an opportunist and distrustful of others.

You are a "monkey" if you were born in 1932, 1944, 1956, 1968, 1980, and 1992. Famous people born in this zodiac sign include Will Smith, Julius Caesar, Lord Byron, Elizabeth Taylor, Leonardo da Vinci, Harry S. Truman, and Jennifer Aniston.

Celebrating The New Year

Although the holiday is known as the Chinese New Year, it is not just a tradition celebrated among the Chinese. Vietnamese and Koreans also light up firecrackers, get together for family feasts, and pay respect to their ancestors and worldly gods during this observance.

If you live in a city with a thriving Asian-American population, the outdoor festivities may be familiar to you. This includes the ubiquitous dragon or "lion" dance, the lantern lighting and the hanging of lucky red banners or couplets by the door.

But what you might not know is what goes on inside the house.

To prepare for the new year, families clean up and organize their homes to purge all of the evil spirits that have paid them a visit within the past year. Adults also take home and spread out a lot of flowers, plants and food to encourage the kindly gods to stop by. That way, your entire year will be lucky.

You're also supposed to forgive all those who have wronged you and settle all debts by this time so you can start the year on a clean slate. But this is much more difficult to do than the spring cleaning.

When New Year's Day arrives, you just sit back and relax with friends and family. Although there is no football game for which to huddle around the television set, Chinese New Year's Day is celebrated a lot like Christmas.

Families reunite, eat a lot of traditional food, drink in moderation, play games and give out gifts. But instead of presents, children and unmarried people receive red envelopes (or lai see ) filled with nice crisp bills. The amount of the bill depends on the closeness of the relation. The money is supposed to signify a wish for prosperity in the coming year.

Commercial Holiday?

Just like Christmas, the Chinese lunar holiday runs the risk of being exploited and over-commercialized.

But who could blame them? The new year is a time of high hopes and loose wallets.

Visit any Chinatown, Koreatown or Little Saigon during this time of the year and you'll see the markets busy with vendors hawking flowers, plants, foods, desserts and plenty of written new year's greetings.

But it's not just the small businesses. According to Kang and Lee Advertising, a national firm that targets Asian-American consumers, "This is one of the best times of the year to strengthen relations with consumers, a time of year of heavy consumer activity within the target markets."

So look out for those "Year of the Monkey" visas, airfares, family-calling plans and similar promotions. Even Hallmark has gotten into the act, expanding its card lines.

But you can't be too cynical about the new year. That would bring really bad luck! So you have to take what you can get and believe that the holiday's growing popularity and acceptance in mainstream American culture is a step forward for diversity.

And even if you're not Chinese or Asian, observing the lunar new year can be fun. If not a good reason to clean your house and wish others prosperity, it gives those who procrastinate one more legitimate chance to start on those New Year's resolutions.

-- Kim Ngan Nguyen

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 12:44 PM
eek! eeeeeeeeeeek! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 12:46 PM
:D

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 12:51 PM
Originally posted by YankeeRose
Go Funk!!!!



kisskissyoucutiepie..


What great fortune, a fragrant YankeeRose! How lovely!

::monkey takes a big sniff::




Oh be still my furry beating heart....

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 12:54 PM
Originally posted by alexpgrimes
Since it's the year of the monkey do we need to spank it more or ease up on it?

That could depend on either how much lubricant you have or if there are enough bananas in the house.

eeeeeek!

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 12:56 PM
Originally posted by Elitest

and yes he IS adorable...

SHAKE SHAKE SHAKE


eek! eeeeeeek! eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeek!

Funkmonkey
01-27-2004, 01:01 PM
Originally posted by YankeeRose
bumpin' for the monkeyman....:)

::Argentinean music fades up::

two for a Tango?


One and Two and One Two Three

DIP!

Elitest
01-27-2004, 05:57 PM
..told you...

Elitest
01-27-2004, 05:58 PM
the minkey post could have done with some of those pics...

YankeeRose
01-27-2004, 07:26 PM
Originally posted by Funkmonkey
::Argentinean music fades up::

two for a Tango?


One and Two and One Two Three

DIP!


oh my...:)

When are you gonna come live with me and let ma take care of you and pet you and cuddle and stuff?