The Charming RAT 'Tze'
Now is the time to put your life in order and balance any areas of your life that have taken too much prominence lately. Your nervous system could feel tattered as a result of prolonged emotional drama and a steady dose of stimulation. Use 2006 as a new beginning of perspective and strive for serenity. Jan. continues to be a healing month and a four star energy period! Everything looks a little cheerier now as restless Rats navigate back onto a productive path. New ideas flow freely and many possibilities and choices are offered to you. Feb. is a useful period for making changes to your home. Greatest benefits surround projects in the southeast areas of home or office.

The Stable OX ' Chou'
The beginning of 2006 brings a very auspicious time for Oxen it is a time of forward-thinking and flexibility. Socially, relax some and try to have more fun. As Jan. approaches, a more obstinate streak in the dutiful Oxen rears it's head. Your ideas tend to be set in stone now and this could lead to confrontations on hot issues such as money, children and sex. Compromise can only be productive and give and take on both sides brings a satisfying conclusion. Feb.’s energies highlight out with the old and in with the new. A potential change in living arrangements, while unsettling, will open the door to new adventures which await you this year.

The Courageous TIGER 'Yin'
2006 throws Tiger's into a whirlwind of activity. A medical problem that has been taking up so much of your energy of late, resolves in a satisfactory way. Looking back, you can see how personal stress exacerbated your symptoms and vow to be more aware of this in the future. Jan’s Ox-ruled month feels like a wet-blanket thrown on your enthusiasm. Keep the status quo and wait it out, as a wonderful new year is just about to begin! Feb.’s auspicious climate should be a eventful one. Passionate Tigers come into their own during Feb when their own Tiger-ruled month teams up with the auspicious new Dog year. Anything is possible now.

The Discreet RABBIT 'Mao'
The beginning of 2006 may find Rabbit native’s nerves on edge. The eccentric energies of the Rat month make you anxious about your health. A thorough interpersonal housecleaning would serve you well and a parting of ways may be eminent between you and a partner or close associate. Life and love improve after Jan. as the Rabbit's good friend the Dog ushers in a New Year and auspicious energies for you on the 29th. Excitement and luxury are the gifts of Feb.’s Tiger-ruled month and new ideas lead to new adventures. A widening of your social circle may well lead to a meaningful romance which will strengthen as the year progresses.

The Outspoken DRAGON 'Chen'
Dragons enjoy an unpredictable year rich with social invitations and increased visibility. Be cautious however, as the Dog year is your opposite sign and this may usher in the wrong kind of publicity. Whether in business or romance the Dragon finds the ideal climate in Jan’s Rat-ruled month. Past projects are brought to their zenith and successful conclusion now. In Feb. be sure to keep your word on any commitments during this rather stagnant period. Don't become frustrated by obstacles now as the New Year of the Dog makes it's entrance on the 29th. As the Rabbit-ruled month of Mar. arrives, Dragons find the potential for career improvement and recognition for successful achievement. An award of some type may also be involved.

The Philosophical SNAKE 'Si'
2006 could prove to be a year of reaching goals, completing projects and aggressive acquisition for those born into Snake years. You will have success in both mundane and esoteric pursuits. Hard work pays generously during the fortunate Ox month of Jan. Dedicated commitment to your goals will bring rewards that will have long-lasting effects. Your superb luck dips a bit in Feb.’s Tiger-ruled month but not to worry -- if you feel piled with problems, select an easier option. Simplify, prioritize and wisely choose your battles in everything. Withdraw gracefully for now and wait patiently for this cycle to run its course.

The Talkative HORSE 'Wu'
There is a direct opposition occuring in Jan’s Rat-ruled month and Horses will feel its pesky influence under their feet. An antagonist may exist and be working against your interests amongst those you consider friends. Keep lines of communication open, be forthright and let the cards fall where they will. In Feb you may feel that your workload leaves no free time for you. Don't despair, this is only a transitional time and your luck is about to become sterling. Beginning in MAR, healthy Horses find themselves at the top of their power. The double auspicious energies of the Tiger-ruled month teamed up with the new Dog year, completes the "Triangle of Compatibility" for those born into Horse years. An excellent time to marry, start a family or begin major projects.

The Artistic GOAT 'Wei'
2006 should be a time of rest, recuperation and a lightened workload for artistic Goat souls. Jan may be the most challenging months of this season. Hold your current path and don't make any sudden or life-altering changes for the time being. Buy a new sketchbook, favorite hobby/craft supplies or update your personal journal. The Tiger energy in Feb continues to rub against the peace loving Goat's grain. The lesson now is the wisdom of the middle path of moderation and patience. Seek out happy and auspicious events such as parties and enjoyable get-togethers. Mar finds you emerging looking more radiant than ever with a new independence of Spirit and ability to cope.

The Entertaining MONKEY 'Shen'
Monkey's are masters in their ability to manipulate language and ideas during 2006. You are able to talk yourself out of tricky situations and nobody questions your unconventional methods. Your efficiency and ability to get things done, continues into February and socially Monkey's find themselves swept-up in a stream of activity. A mutually supportive partnership makes this period an especially harmonious one. March could rain on your parade with it's path of caution and reserve. Keep your sense of humor and steer clear of arguments and controversy.

The Industrious ROOSTER 'You'
A productive month starts off 2006 for busy Roosters. Your organizational skills really pay off. Jan’s Ox-ruled month is very auspicious and for single Roosters there should be plenty of admirers, some from diverse backgrounds. Consider spending some time with a strong and silent type Ox or a sage and sophisticated Snake. Feb could be a bump in the road and difficult month for Roosters as the diffident Dog heralds in the New Year. Use this friction in a positive way to consider improvements to your environment. House remodeling, or changing your living space is favored, but hold off on any major move of locations.

The Observant DOG 'Xu'
2006 brings a period of growth and development. Steps taken this year will set the stage for the next two years and lead to noticeable improvements. The time can be spent usefully redistributing assets or reorganizing expenditures. The astral climate dips somewhat during the Ox-ruled month of Jan. and a bit of caution is in order. It's all work and no play for a while as your workload gathers momentum. The financial benefits from this come as a lovely surprise next month. Feb.’s Tiger-ruled month combined with the energies of the New Dog Year make for a 4 star month! If every Dog has their day, then 2006 will indeed be yours. Enjoy! The Honest PIG 'Hai'
2006 begins with beleaguered Pigs offering moral support and a kind ear to friends and family alike. Try to hear what these folks are not saying, what they may never be able to say. During JAN Pigs feel the urge to go into the wild for a time and hikes, excursions and discovering new hideaways are favored now. It's 4 stars for MAR! This is a wonderful period for Pigs when the excitement of new projects and the possibility of a change in residence or new living arrangement beckons, there is an excellent chance of meeting up with your soul mate during this awesome month.

Hello all students and alumni, firstly I would like to apologize for the delay in publishing my next edition, I just seemed to keep procrastinating and the next thing I knew a few months had gone by, I will make the attempt to be more of a doer and less of a procrastinator from now on. Keep your eyes open for more information about our exciting and newly created COM-COM society. As everyone knows the most pressing challenge for all people coming to Shenzhen is to meet people for social or work reasons, so we will be trying to establish a COM-COM society, where students, alumni and there friends can join, so that they can form groups to play games, hold activities, talk about music, literature, etc, but most of all meet people. These groups do not need to use English, but all groups that have signed up with our Society organizer may book our class rooms when not in use for classes to use for their activities. Also once a month an activity will be planned for all groups and their members to join in and meet each other. At this very moment our software designers and R & D departments are putting the finishing touches on a new Web site that will both assist our students in new and exciting ways but also will be fully bilingual, in both Chinese and English. COM-COM is now offering business classes for new and old students to meet there ever pressing needs from their work environments. This means now students can choose from our standard General English course or one of our two Business English Courses. Please also ask us about our children course, if you have a child and want him to study in the COM-COM way we have classes here, but these require a long term commitment. Currently there are two children’s classes in operation. Children’s classes are based on four students only.

Q - Steven asks: Why did you want to learn English after University?

A - Tracy Lin says: In order to gain entrance to western companies, as we know the salary in western companies is higher when compared with Chinese ones. As well as being a Software Engineer, an excellent English level allows me to understand the professional materials more easily

Q - Steven asks: Did you not study English before in your home province?

A - Tracy Lin says: No, people seldom speak English in my hometown; it is even very hard to find an English word on the streets except for the occasional brand name.

Q - Steven asks: Did you study English in University?

A - Tracy Lin says: Yup, but I studied it for examination.

Q - Steven asks: Do you feel your University trained you well enough in your English to survive in your chosen business career?

A - Tracy Lin says: It depends on the situation, and as you know different people will have different opinions. For me, it was unhelpful do to my environment and training I ended up returning most of the English knowledge back to my English teachers, but I am lucky to enter my present company where I can slowly rebuild all my lost English skills.

Q - Steven asks: Has your company helped you more in English skill development or have you had to help yourself?

A - Tracy Lin says: Please promise that you won't laugh at me? When I entered the company, my English vocabulary was little, once, I even did not understand what the word 'zero' meant and asked my colleague, she was surprised and cried, 'it is zero!' so now you see my original level. After that, I worked hard in learning English. When I was brave enough to speak out a complete sentence, I entered an English corner and made some friends who had the same interest in English. Then the luckiest thing happened to me was my company assigned me to COM-COM, where I found a good system of training and some teachers to push me.

Q - Steven asks: Do you think it is better to pay for your own English training or is it better if you pay for it yourself?

A - Tracy Lin says: Before learning in COM-COM, I was not sure how much I could get from a training company, now I would pay push my English skills to higher levels

Q - Steven asks: What would you tell new students to COM-COM as the best way to get the best results?

A - Tracy Lin says: The first step is to learn some English vocabulary that is enough to describe the simple things in life, for example, introduce yourself (major/age/sex/hobby/etc), say hello to a new friend, etc. It is easy to get these from the baby level English books. Don’t laugh, it is true. Secondly, buy a recorder that can play record and save & play your voice. Correct your pronunciation by using the recorder. Then next is to push yourself to enter English corners and make friends there who can speak English with you, who also share your need to build up their English skills. When the friendship is going well, try to write to each other every day and phone each other for no less than 5-7 minutes everyday

Q - Steven asks: If you were to build an English school what would you want to have in it?

A - Tracy Lin says: A leisure environment is necessary as most students are from companies, so the training environment should not be the same as their working places. I would hope that there would be some tables and chairs in an area that students can talk and or read with coffee or some other beverage, as well as some plants around the are and , a big fish aquarium on the wall.

Q - Steven asks: What about English?

A - Tracy Lin says: The training company should make available coffee, English books, English magazines, computers; students don't only preview courses on the computers but watch English movies and listen to English songs.

Steven says: Thank you very much for the interview

Yurong Wang(Yurong)

Ying Xiang(Ying)

Yongfu Gui(Manful) from Hunan Province

Zhen Zhou(Quake) from Jiangxi Province

Tuanjiao Wu(Mnmady) from Hunan Province

Dan Liu(Angell) from Gansu Province

Bin Wang(Bin) from Fujian Province

Fan Luo(Stanley) from Hubei Province

Jun Liu(Jun) from Guangdong Province

Yao Liu(Yao) from Jilin Province

Peng Sun(Peng) from Jilin Province

Miao He(Miao) from Shanxi Province

Fangui Zeng(Jacky)

Xiaohua Zhong(Wendy) from Guangdong Province

Xiangshun Yi(Xiangshun) from Hunan Province

Zheng Yang(Wilson) from Hubei Province

Chuan Huang(Chuan)

Jingxing You(Jingxing)

Yuanzhen Xiao（Emily）

Shitong Yang(Stone) from Sichuan Province

Jianzhen Xu(Jennifer) from Shanghai

Xiang Wang(Kevin) from Shanxi Province

Yaowu Wang(Blues) from Henan Province

Yunming Chen (Jeffry)

Aan Xiong (Aan)

Xiaohan Gei (Grace) from Jilin Province

Yunfang Zhao (Betty) from Shandong Province

Wei Wu (Raymond)

Yujuan Wu(Jenny) from Hunan Province

Tong Lu(Angles)

Xia Hong(Ann)

Niu Bing(Benvin) from Hubei Province

Hai hong Mei (Anglela)

Leizhao Jun (Fred) from Hebei Province

Junming Yang (Eric) from Shanxi Province

Yaqing Tang(Tamya)

Huo Huan (Bob) from Sichuan Province

Hui Lin (Lawrence)

Yong Zhang (Wing) from

Junxiong Chen (Victor) from Hubei Province

Xiaoya Yu (Tina) from Guangdong Province

Zhongjing Qu (Alex) from Hunan Province

Qian Wang (David)

Jing Wu (Jessica)

Huazhe Su(Alex) from Henan Province

Jiaqian Ye (Jessie)

Huichao Shi (Mendy) from Jiangsu Province

Yifang Deng (Grace)

Xiaolin Liu(Xiaolin)

Renjian Liu(Renjian)

Cuo Zhang(Apple) from Guizhou Province

Jing Wu(Helen)

Xiao Lin(Simon)

Yanzhong Xu(Alex) from Guangdong Province

Xiaolin Lai(Miumiu) from Guangdong Province

Jinluo Lin (Jim) from Guangdong Province

Yahui Cai （Yahui） from Fujian Province

Zhimin Sun (Rita )

Keyin Zhou (Keyin)

Hongming Zheng （Homer）from Jiangxi Province

Shaoqiu Zeng (Sicow) from Shenzhen Province

Shuying Guan (koala) from Liaoning Province

Ximei Guo (Ximei) from Shanxi Province

Jing Wen (Monica) from Guizhou Province

My astrologer tells me that in the Year of the Dog it will be all work and no play for a while as my workload gathers momentum. However, she says that the financial benefits from this will come as a lovely surprise.

Of course, I’d like to believe this but it sounds very similar to what she said in the Year of the Chicken and the Year of the Horse and…

Financial riches aside however, from an English language point of view, this lunar new year is certainly rich in associated idiomatic expressions.

In the Year of the Horse, we may have horsed around (fooled around) a little and we may have pigged out (eaten too much) in the Year of the Pig, but in the Year of the Dog, our choice is much wider. It seems that in English, the number of dog-related expressions in common use is many times larger than those for any other animal.

Sadly, apart from the puppy-love (romantic adolescent love) or our puppy-fat (the temporary fatness of a child or adolescent) carrying youth, most dog-related expressions are not as positive as my astrologer’s predictions.

Outside, it may be raining cats and dogs (raining very heavily) but, you still manage to arrive at work dressed like a dog’s dinner (very smartly dressed).

You might feel like the office dog’s body (a person who does the monotonous or menial tasks) as you attend to the many small jobs that nobody else wants to do.

In the dog-eat-dog (ruthlessly competitive) world of business you may feel that you are being treated like a dog (treated very badly).

The dog- eared (with bent or worn corners) papers on your desk may look like the dog’s breakfast (a real mess).

You may have worked like a dog (worked very hard) all day, so you tell your boss that you are going to see a man about a dog (Said when one is unwilling to state one's true destination) and go home feeling dog tired (very tired).

Your health has gone to the dogs (deteriorated) and there are far too many dog ends (cigarette butts) on the floor.

You eat the restaurant leftovers that you brought home in a doggy-bag (the bag used to take leftover restaurant food home) as you think about the dog’s life (life of misery) you are leading.

You console yourself with one too many drinks and wake up the next day in the doghouse (in disgrace) with dog’s breath (bad breath), feeling as sick as a dog (very sick, especially stomach sickness or flu).

You reach for the bottle once again for a hair of the dog that bit you (having another drink to cure a hangover)…….

Mmmm, every dog may have its day but….is it the Year of the Tiger yet?

Most people who use e-mail now know enough to be on guard against “phishing” messages what pretend to be from a bank or business but are actually attempts to steal passwords and other personal information.

But there is evidence that among global cyber criminals, phishing may already be passé.

In some countries, like Brazil, it has been eclipsed by an even more virulent form of electronic con, the use of key logging programs that silently copy the keystrokes of computer users and send that information to the crooks. These programs are often hidden inside other software and then infect the machine, putting them in the category of malicious programs known as Trojan horses, or just Trojans.

Two weeks ago, Brazilian federal police descended on the northern city of Campina Grande and several surrounding states, and arrested 55 people, at least 9 of them minors, for seeding the computers of unwitting Brazilians with key loggers that recorded their typing whenever they visited their banks online. The tiny programs then sent the stolen user names and passwords back to members of the gang.

The fraud ring stole about $4.7 million from 200 different accounts at six banks since it began operations last May, according to the Brazilian police. A similar ring, broken by Russian authorities earlier this month, used key logging software planted in e-mail messages and hidden in Web sites to draw over $1.1 million from personal bank accounts in France.

These criminals aim to infect the inner workings of computers in much the same way that mischief seeking hackers used to do to deposit funny messages to open at predetermined dates. It is becoming more and more dangerous to leave personal information on your computer or open unsolicited mail thus self infecting your computer. So be warned and beware the email that you do not know or the pirated computer program. Make sure you are keeping your virus scanner as up to date as possible, but remember virus scanners are only updated after a new virus is found by the virus scanner companies, so vigilance is your best defense, in today’s modern criminal environment.

Some would suggest that there is a

spiritual link and that the two are in

fact, both creative forms of worship.

The ever-eloquent, and perhaps

more earthy, William Shakespeare,

took the notion a little further. In the

first line of the play Twelfth Night he

wrote: “If music be the food of

love…play on.”

As for me, I just like to cook and I

like to play music.

What better way is there to

experience Chinese culture?

As the weather cools down a little,

maybe something a little warming is

in order.

So this month, a heart-warming

musical love story from the ancient

Qin state and a stomach warming

recipe from spicy Sichuan.

Xiao Shi and Chi Yu (Red Jade)

Early in the Spring and Autumn

Warring States Period, the king of

the Qin state had a daughter named

Red Jade. She was beautiful and

intelligent (as indeed is every girl in

legends!) She was the brightest

pearl in the palace and she really

loved to play the xiao. Every month

when the new moon was shining at

its brightest, she would sit and play

xiao.

One day whilst playing xiao, she

heard a very beautiful sound coming

from far away. Red Jade was

entranced by the beautiful music.

She ran to her father and asked him

to look for the person who was

playing this beautiful music and to

bring them to her.

The king loved his daughter dearly

and as no request from her was ever

too great, he immediately dispatched

his trusted officials who eventually

tracked down the xiao player. His

name was Xiao Shi. When he

entered the palace, Red Jade hid

behind a curtain and peaked out at

the man. Seeing his youthful, heroic

features, Red Jade fell instantly in

love with him.

The King asked Xiao Shi to play for

him. Xiao Shi took out his xiao and

began to play a slow, haunting,

three-part melody. When he played

the first part it seemed as if a Spring

Breeze was gently blowing through

the palace halls. When he played the

second part, the clouds seemed to

take on beautiful shapes. When he

played the third part, a golden

phoenix danced in the sky and white

birds sang. The king was very happy

and so impressed by this earnest

young man that he wanted Xiao Shi

to be his daughter’s husband. Red

Jade was overjoyed and they

married soon after. From then on,

Red Jade and Xiao Shi practised

Xiao together every day.

A few years later, Red Jade had

become a master of the Xiao. She

could play all of Xiao Shi’s tunes and

many others including the beautiful

Qin Phoenix Song.

One day, as the two were playing the

Phoenix Song together, a real

phoenix flew past. On seeing this

magnificent sight, the king built the

couple a wonderful platform on

which they could play xiao. It was

called, naturally enough, Phoenix

Platform.

Chinese Astrology Predictions for 2006 Year of the Dog: