Happy New Year! Across Taiwan this week, fireworks and firecrackers are filling the air as revelers celebrate the start of another year in the traditional lunar calendar. As you listen to this program, we have just left the Year of the Pig and entered the Year of the Rat. Both pig and rat are part of the traditional Chinese zodiac used to track the passage of years. There are twelve animals in this system, each in charge of a year in a predictable twelve-year cycle. Maybe you’ve heard of this zodiac before, and maybe you’re the sort of person who looks at zodiacs as simple superstition. But did you know that the Chinese zodiac has tangible, real-world effects on people’s lives? On the line with us this week to explain the zodiac and its impact is Professor Lin Mao-hsien, an expert in Taiwanese folklore.