The Year of the Dragon is bound to be big. Among the twelve zodiac animals that mark the traditional cycle of calendar years, the dragon is the only mythical beast and the most powerful. It stands in marked contrast to the rabbit that will hand over its psychic reign on 10 February. Soothsayers may well emphasise prosperity and good fortune in their forecasts, but most people will not believe them. Those of a scientific cast of mind may discount astrological beliefs as mumbo jumbo, but they certainly affect the expectations of a large proportion of the peoples of East Asia.
The last dragon year was 2012, marking the height of the European debt crisis and, across the Middle East, the brutal crackdown on the protest movements of the Arab Spring. Julia Gillard defeated Kevin Rudd as Leader of the Labor Party and became our first woman Prime Minister. In China, it was the year that Xi........