The Year of the Ox: What should we expect?

This year the Chinese New Year will begin on February 12, ringing in the Year of the Ox.

It marks the first day of the Chinese lunar calendar, which starts as the first new moon appears, usually between January 21 and February 20 each year. A full moon occurs in the middle of the month.

 

Here is what you need to know about the Year of the Ox:

1. The new Year of the Ox started on February 3, 2021 and end on February 4, 2022.

2. There are 12 zodiac signs in the Chinese lunar calendar, with Ox being the second. The previous year of the Ox was 2009.

3. The Ox represents hard work, diligence, kindness, honesty and stubbornness.

4. Lucky numbers for those born in Year of the Ox are 1 and 9.

5. Red, blue and purple are their lucky colors.

6. North, South and Southeast are the directions that are deemed lucky for them.

7. The flowers that bring them luck are tulips and peach blossom.

Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, is the most important holiday in China, celebrated with delicious meals carefully prepared for the annual New Year's Eve family dinner and many other traditions including putting up spring decorations, exchanging red envelopes and offering a sacrifice to ancestors.

This year, the festivity will be celebrated mostly virtually in China as people are encouraged to avoid traveling, especially for long distance, back home to prevent new coronavirus infections.

This year's Spring Festival Gala, a Chinese New Year special show aired by the China Media Group (CMG) as the world's most watched television program, is expected to be particularly grandiose, presenting a host of performances from dance routines and medleys of popular songs to comedy sketches, acrobatic stunts and much more.

"After a year of hardship, we can understand more than ever the significance of a community with a shared future for mankind," said Chinese President Xi Jinping in his 2021 New Year address, acknowledging the challenge ahead – the global fight to defeat the COVID-19 pandemic.

"We still have a long way to go in pandemic prevention and control. People from all over the world should join hands and support each other to early dispel the gloom of the pandemic and strive for a better 'Earth home,'" Xi added, wishing Chinese people a better year than the previous one.

February 12 witnessed the first dawn of the Year of the Ox. Many parts of China were wreathed in the warm sunshine, embracing the arrival of the Spring Festival.

The Spring Festival, which falls on February 12 this year, marks the beginning of the Chinese Lunar New Year.

Yesterday, the blooming plum blossoms in Baogong Park in Hefei City of east China's Anhui Province attracted large groups of tourists celebrating the second day of Chinese New Year on Saturday. The delicate flowers in pink and white created a vivid festive atmosphere.

The poll once again shows that though the five-day historic impeachment trial spared Trump from the first-ever conviction of a U.S. president, it exposed the fragility of America's democratic traditions and how divided the nation is.

The national online poll, which surveyed 998 adults, showed that over 70 percent Americans thought Trump was at least partially responsible for the violent confrontation between police and his loyalists who broke into Congress in hopes of stopping lawmakers from certifying the November 2020 presidential election results.

Among them, 30 percent of Americans said he was "fully" responsible for the riot, another 25 percent said he was largely responsible, and 16 percent said he was partially responsible. The remaining 29 percent said Trump was not at all responsible for the attack.

Still, the final Senate vote on Saturday was 57 to 43, 10 short of the 67 votes needed to secure a conviction, despite it being, by far, the largest bipartisan support for conviction in impeachment history. The failing conviction vote means the Senate cannot bar Trump from holding future federal offices.

Seven Republicans vote to convict

With control of the Senate split 50-50, a party always has an uphill battle to convince members of the other party to cross the party line. This time, Democrats failed to persuade 17 more Republicans to convict a former president who is still very popular with a large part of the GOP base.

Only seven Republicans voted to convict Trump, among which two are retiring, and four just won their elections and aren't up for reelection until 2026. The other GOP vote came from Mitt Romney – the only Republican to vote to convict Trump in his first impeachment trial.

"Our Constitution and our country are more important than any one person. I voted to convict President Trump because he is guilty," Senator Bill Cassidy of Louisiana said after his vote to convict. He had initially sided with the vast majority of Senate Republicans who voted last month to block the trial from moving forward.

"Tribalism is a hell of a drug, but our oath to the Constitution means we're constrained to the facts," Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska said, adding he wouldn't vote against his own conscience "simply because it is politically convenient.”

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi scoffed at the Republicans who voted to acquit. She called them "a cowardly group of Republicans" who "were afraid to defend their job, respect the institution in which they serve."

"We censure people for using stationary for the wrong purpose. We don't censure people for inciting insurrection that kills people in the Capitol," Pelosi said at a press conference following the Senate impeachment trial.

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