The Tai Sui, as sharp-eyed readers of this guide will have noted, rotates at the same speed through the heavens as Jupiter - 12 years per rotation - but in the opposite direction. How the Tai Sui began is unclear; some think perhaps the Grand Duke is a nod to the apparent retrograde periods of Jupiter’s movement. The Tai Sui first appears in records from the 3^rd Century BC. Soon after that, the sexagenary cycle, with the 60 combinations of stems and branches, took precedence as the method for denoting years. And so, the Tai Sui, with its cycle of 12, fit in perfectly. These days there are indeed 60 figures, each taking a turn as the yearly Tai Sui. This year, we welcome Wang Zhen to the position of enforcer-in-chief. From a family of officials in the Ming Dynasty, he passed the highest examination, the jinshi, in 1493 and would go on to serve three emperors before dying in office. He rose eventually, with occasional career setbacks on account of his outspoken honesty, to the post of Vice Minister. We asked him for career highlights that would help us understand his role this coming year. He mentioned the suppression of bandits, a strict remonstration with an emperor who was spending too much time away from the Forbidden City and, importantly, a list of ruling principles submitted to a new emperor. He made much of the difficulty working under the Zhengde Emperor who played politics with favourites and eunuchs and destabilised the empire by not naming a successor.

This coming year, the Tai Sui sits due south and has a taste for rats, horses, oxen and rabbits. To keep the peace, we advise all concerned parties to minimise important events during the fifth and eleventh lunar months - those that favour the Tai Sui. It is also important to maintain a healthy sleeping regimen, particularly between the hours of 11pm and 1am, and to wear colours likely to please the Tai Sui: reds and greens, which are associated with fire and earth, will catch his eye this year. Should you need to cause a ruckus, encasing yourself and your activities in sound-reducing insulation is preferable. Driving a loud vehicle? We recommend roads featuring a combination of asphalt with crumb rubber filling. Extrapolate accordingly.