bodyType

customContents

entityId

entityUuid

articlePageQuery

filter

article

articleBaseAdvertisingInfoArticle

articleListArticle

articleSeoArticle

helpersCheckIsPostiesArticle

hooksArticleAcknowledgementGateOverlayArticle

hooksTrackPageViewArticle

hooksContentInterestArticle

articleLinkingDataContent

articleSchemaContent

liveArticle

advertZone

sentiment

contentLock

topics

types

sections

moreOnThisArticles

urlAlias

commentCount

authorLocations

authors

paywallTypes

corrections

sponsorType

displaySlideShow

multimediaEmbed

printHeadline

seriesContainer

socialHeadline

headline

flag

firstTopic

glossary

flattenTypeIds

publishedDate

additionalInfoBoxes

images

image

relatedLinks

relatedNewsletters

__typename

createdDate

sponsor

factSheets

seriesReverseOrder

series

disableOffPlatformContent

published

updatedDate

summary

subHeadline

body

keywords

copyrighted

customTimezone

liveContents

Mabel Lui

Those born during the Year of the Snake may be inclined to think 2025 will be their lucky year.
After all, their zodiac animal will soon be plastered on red packets, stamps, clothing and more.
But according to Chinese geomancy, Snakes (born in 1929, 1941, 1953, 1965, 1977, 1989, 2001 and 2013) will in fact experience unstable luck and challenges in relationships when the new lunar year begins on January 29.
That is because of the 12-year curse, or ben ming nian in Mandarin Chinese.

Every year, the animal whose year it is clashes with tai sui, the guardian deities, so it can lead to bad luck for those born under that zodiac sign.
That said, people can also experience good luck during their ben ming nian if they are able to align with the lucky stars. There are also some actions you can take to maximise your luck and prevent misfortune. Read on to learn more.
What is the 12-year curse?
According to Chinese astrology, your ben ming nian, also called your “threshold” year, is said to be tumultuous because of the clash with the tai sui, the guardian deity of the year.
The term for this overlap is fu yin, and while it can lead to good or bad luck, it results in a period of change and adjustment – a “reset” for the next 12 years.

During that year, you are most likely to encounter unlucky stars because of your susceptibility to offending the tai sui, and that means that you should prepare yourself for instability, whether in work, relationships or health.
Some people may face financial setbacks, illness, divorce or extramarital affairs.
That said, ben ming nian affects people differently, and it is still possible to experience good luck because of certain lucky stars.

This year, for example, those born in the Year of the Snake are expected to go through setbacks in love, relationships and health and at home, but may see positive changes in terms of career and wealth.
Whether you will have a year of misfortune or good luck depends on whether your innate virtues, ambition and talent are a good match for the year. To take advantage of any possible auspiciousness, you should seek to improve your skills and work on your shortcomings.
And if you do face anything negative during the year, it is also helpful to remember that such incidents can pave the way for better opportunities and luck later on.
How can I avoid bad luck?
The first way to avoid the wrath of the tai sui is simple: wear lots of red.
In Chinese culture, red is considered the most auspicious colour, symbolising prosperity and good fortune.

Wearing jade jewellery items such as pendants or bracelets will also protect you from the instability brought on by your ben ming nian.
Known as the “stone of heaven”, jade has long been associated with longevity, and according to Chinese folklore carries mystical powers.
For extra luck, you can wear a pendant of your own zodiac animal on a red string on a day-to-day basis.
Alternatively, you can also wear an amulet that depicts pixiu, a Chinese mythical hybrid creature that is said to bring good fortune and wealth.
Another way to avoid bad luck is to simply make offerings to tai sui at the beginning of the year, asking for forgiveness and help in warding off bad luck.
If you want to take it one step further, set up a tai sui shrine in your house – but be sure to consult an expert on where to place it.

Positioning is important to tai sui, and during the year it is best to face away from them as much as possible. This means rearranging your bed, sofa desk and chairs accordingly so the tai sui are always behind you and can usher in good luck.
As with the shrine, each year the deities have a different position, so do not go moving around all your furniture before checking with a feng shui expert. This year, the tai sui are in the southwest, so all furniture should face northeast.
Finally, benevolent acts such as donating blood or doing charity work can also help prevent misfortune.


Malaysians’ embrace of Mandarin is a win for multiculturalism

Why Year of the Snake is cursed for Snakes, and how to appease deities to avoid bad luck

Learning to celebrate Lunar New Year in deepest, darkest Devon

The earliest Chinese lotteries, and how one operator was murdered over fraudulent tickets

Chinese culture

The Year of the Snake is bad for Snakes. Photo: Getty Images

Wearing red during the year of the Chinese zodiac sign you were born under is one of the ways to prevent bad luck. Photo: Shutterstock

A guardian deity inside of a Chinese temple. According to Chinese geomancy, those born in the Year of the Snake may face misfortune this coming year. Photo: Getty Images

Some set up a shrine at home dedicated to the tai sui to ask for forgiveness and protection against bad luck. Photo: Shutterstock

Naga, the King of Serpents, is widely worshipped, especially in Southeast Asia. He represents both good and evil. Photo: Getty Images

Wearing jade jewellery can be another way to prevent misfortune during your ben ming nian, as the stone is believed to bring longevity, and have mystical powers. Photo: Shutterstock

Positioning is key when reorganising your home to bring good fortune. It pays to consult a feng shui expert before doing so. Photo: Shutterstock

Year of the Snake 2025 predictions for Horses, including lucky colour and love prospects

The Year of the Snake will be an auspicious one for Horses. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

The Year of the Snake will bring good luck in love for Horses, with single ones poised to find their perfect match. Photo: Shutterstock

Horses’ lucky colour in the Year of the Snake is grey. Our model wears a Marant Etoile grey dress c/o Net-a-Porter. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung/Jonathan Vit

It’s going to be a good year financially for Horses, who will benefit from a clear mind and quick thinking. Take advantage of this to get that pay rise or promotion. Photo: Shutterstock

The love lives of Horses will be spectacular this year, especially for women. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

Year of the Snake 2025 predictions for Snakes, from lucky colour to making easy money

Snakes will have mixed fortunes in the Year of the Snake. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

Feng Shui master Tong Pik-ha reveals what lies in store for Snakes in 2025. Photo: Jonathan Wong

Money will come easy for Snakes in the coming lunar year. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

Tai sui are guardian deities. Those born in the Year of the Snake clash with them in 2025. Photo: Shutterstock

Year of the Snake 2025 predictions for 12 zodiac signs. How is your health, luck, wealth?

Feng shui master Tong Pik-ha predicts the varying fortunes of people born under the 12 Chinese zodiac signs in the coming Year of the Snake. Illustrations: Victor Sanjinez

Why the Year of the Wood Snake starting in 2025 could bring major change, and more luck

A snake at a farm in Bangkok, Thailand. The next lunar new year will be a Year of the Wood Snake, which comes around every 60 years. The previous one, in 1965, saw dynamic change and upheaval. Are we in for more of the same? Photo: Getty Images

Snakes made of palm leaves are displayed in Shanghai to celebrate the previous Year of the Snake in 2013. Photo: Getty Images

Following the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965, people line up to vote, most for the first time, in Alabama in the US in 1966. Photo: Getty Images

Angry depositors protest and clash with police outside the office of the chairman of the Canton Trust and Commercial Bank in 1965, the previous Year of the Wood Snake in the Chinese lunisolar calendar. Photo: Chan Kiu

Lifestyle

Chinese Zodiac

Culture

Year of the Snake 2025: predictions, facts, myths and feng shui

Why there are fewer babies born in the Year of the Snake, and what it means

A family where the lucky colour red for Lunar New Year. Fewer babies are born in the Year of the Snake, with many parents believing they will be unlucky. Photo: Shutterstock

A lighting installation at Beijing’s Wenyuhe Park to welcome the coming Year of the Snake. Photo: AFP

A serpent-shaped light installation in Nanjing, Jiangsu, eastern China to mark the Year of the Snake. Photo: AFP

Year of the Snake 2025 predictions for Monkeys, from lucky colour to a big career boost

Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

The Monkey’s lucky colour for Year of the Snake is red. Monkeys can expect career advancements, according to Chinese geomancy, but trouble on some fronts. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung/Jonathan Vit

Those born in the Year of the Monkey will enjoy a lot of career development this year. Photo: Shutterstock

This year, married Monkeys will be affected by a menacing star that will leave them prone to emotional changes. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

Year of the Snake 2025 predictions for Sheep, unlucky in love but money prospects good

Things will go well for Sheep who are married or in a stable relationship in the Year of the Snake. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

The lucky colour for Sheep in the Year of the Snake is khaki. According to Chinese geomancy, those born in the Year of the Sheep will make money this year if they are careful. Photo: Llewellyn Cheung/Jonathan Vit

Sheep will need to be prepared if they are thinking about switching careers, changing jobs or starting a business. Photo: Shutterstock

Things will go well for Sheep who are married or in a stable relationship. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez

Why do people born in the Year of the Snake make good lovers, friends and colleagues?

People born in the Year of the Snake are caring friends – once you break the ice. They are also romantic lovers and also one of the best colleagues to have in a crisis. Illustration: Victor Sanjinez Garcia

Feng shui master Tong Pik-ha at her office in San Po Kong, Kowloon, Hong Kong. The independent Snake is very good at networking, Tong says. Photo: Jonathan Wong

People who are born in the Year of the Snake are very enterprising. Illustration: Adolfo Arranz

10 snake-themed Chinese-language movies that charm us, from erotica to horror to animation

A still from Anaconda (2024), one of our picks of the best Chinese snake movies.

A still from White Snake (2019), one of 10 Chinese-language films featuring snakes that we think make perfect viewing with the Year of the Snake coming.

A promotional poster for The Snake Girl (1974).

A promotional poster for Snake Beauty (1994).

7 snake idioms to ring in the Year of the Snake, including one about being two-faced

Why would legs drawn on a snake mean something is ruined? What does a bow’s shadow have to do with reptiles? Seven snake idioms and their meanings. Photo: Shutterstock

One idiom refers to drawing legs on a snake – in other words, making unnecessary changes to something. Snakes do not have legs. Those are called lizards (pictured: an iguana). Photo: Shutterstock

A snake and dragon statuette with Chinese coins and a pyramid. One idiom referring to snakes and dragons is used in association with spaces where both good and bad people can be found. Photo: Shutterstock

A golden Buddha statue in Thailand. A Chinese idiom refers to a person who has the words of the Buddha but the intention of a snake. Photo: Getty Images

An illustration of a giant snake killing an elephant, similar to a Chinese idiom that describes a snake trying to swallow an elephant – meaning a person who is never content. Photo: YouTube

An idiom that refer to being scared of rope after being bitten by a snake is like the English proverb “once bitten, twice shy”. Photo: Shutterstock

8 celebrities born in the Year of the Snake, from Taylor Swift to J.K. Rowling to Psy

Taylor Swift during a concert in Singapore as part of The Eras Tour. The singer is among a number of celebrities born in the Year of the Snake. Photo: Getty Images

Oprah Winfrey at a campaign rally for US Vice-President Kamala Harris in Philadelphia in 2024. Photo: AP

Chris Martin of British rock band Coldplay on stage at the Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna, Austria in 2024. Photo: AFP

Author J.K. Rowling at an HBO series premiere in New York in 2019. Photo: AFP

Donald Trump at a bilateral meeting with Xi Jinping during the G20 leaders summit in Japan in 2019. Photo: Reuters

Why ‘growing snakes’ – shingles – is so painful and how to prevent it

That snake-like shingles rash can appear anywhere - not just on the trunk, but also the face where it can affect the eyes and vision.
Photo: Shutterstock


The shingles virus generally only appears on one side of the body, not both. Photo: Shutterstock

The shingles rash can appear anywhere, including the face, where it can affect the eyes and vision. Photo: Shutterstock

Dr Wong Sze-man says there is a lack of awareness of the complications that can arise from shingles. Photo: Marina Medical Clinic

Photo: Shutterstock 

The CDC recommends that everybody over 50 should get Shingrix, which comes in two separate doses separated by two to six months. Photo: Shutterstock

Shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus – or chickenpox – which most of us were exposed to as children. Photo: Shutterstock 

Mark Chern is a TCM practitioner in Singapore whose approach to treating shingles includes acupuncture and herbal remedies. Photo: LinkedIn 

From evil to good snake, how the zodiac animal became a righteous figure in Chinese mythology

Nüwa, the creator deity in Chinese folklore, is often depicted with a human head and serpent-like body. Photo: Pictures From History/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

An image from the Summer Palace, Beijing, China, depicting the Legend of the White Snake. Photo: Summer Palace

The cover of Liang Luo’s book.

Snakes are depicted as evil spirits in the Chinese classic tale Journey to the West. Photo: Imagin8 Press

The Legend of the White Snake has evolved over the centuries. 

The coming Year of the Snake celebrates an animal that has been transformed from evil spirit to righteous demon in Chinese mythology. Photo: Shutterstock

What the mythical snake Naga represents, both good and evil, in Hinduism and Buddhism

The seven-headed Naga Mucalinda (seen here in Thailand) is King of the Serpents in Buddhist mythology. The snake figure is also worshipped by Hindus. Photo: Shutterstock

A late 12th–early 13th century Cambodian statue depicting Mucalinda protecting Buddha from a storm. Photo: The Met

Naga statues in Lop Buri, Thailand. Sculptures of the serpents are more colourful and vivid in Thailand than those in Cambodia. Photo: Shutterstock

Stone carvings of Naga serpents and Khmer deities at Banteay Srey Temple, Angkor Wat, Cambodia. Photo: Shutterstock

Pet snakes trending in Hong Kong as Gen Z opts for ‘chill’ animals over cats and dogs

A ball python at Slave World pet shop in Hong Kong. Photo: Austin Zhang 

A ball python at Fishman Shop reptile specialist in Hong Kong. More youngsters in the city are keeping snakes as pets. Photo: Austin Zhang

A snake at Fishman Shop, a reptile specialist in Mong Kok, Hong Kong. Photo: Austin Zhang

A red bull snake at Slave World in Mong Kok. Photo: Austin Zhang

A Stuart’s milk snake at Fishman Shop. Photo: Austin Zhang

A ball python at Slave World. Photo: Austin Zhang

New understanding about how snakes regrow their guts could help treat human diseases

The mechanisms pythons use to regrow their intestines may provide insight on treatments for human gastrointestinal diseases, a new study shows. Photo: Dreamstime/TNS

Dr Stephen Badylak, deputy director of the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh. Photo: University of Pittsburgh

Todd Castoe, the biology professor at the University of Texas at Arlington who led the python gut study. Photo: University of Texas at Arlington

A Burmese python on Hong Kong’s Lantau Island. When digesting their first meal in a long time, the Burmese pythons used in the new study increase their metabolic rate to 22 to 44 times that when fasting as they regenerate their intestines. Photo: Peter Parks

The new study’s findings about the gene BEST5+ could unlock new ways of healing and repairing Crohn’s disease, coeliac disease, and colorectal cancer in humans. Illustration: Shutterstock

An African ball python at Kadoorie Farm and Botanical Gardens in Hong Kong. Castoe says humans share with pythons a “back door secret” to remodelling their gut and reprogramming their metabolism. Photo: Jonathan Wong

How the snake is loved, hated or feared in cultures and religions around the world

A depiction of the Egyptian sun god Ra fighting the snake god Apep. Snakes are either hated in mythology as evil, sneaky, dangerous, or revered as saviours and friends of the gods. Photo: Getty Images

In the Biblical story of Adam and Eve, a serpent persuaded Eve to eat fruit from the forbidden tree.

Asclepius, the ancient Greek god of healing, is depicted with a snake coiled around his staff. Photo: Getty Images

Ancient Egyptian god Apep was a giant snake with human legs, and was at war with the sun god Ra. Photo: Getty Images

Jörmungandr is the giant snake monster in Norse mythology that declared war on the gods. 

Hindu god Shiva is often depicted with Vasuki the snake coiled around his neck. Photo: Shutterstock

Hong Kong ‘snake bible’ author on why they rarely bite and are ‘really quite special’

A  Burmese python, the apex snake species in Hong Kong. Photo: Adam Francis

A bamboo pit viper, the species responsible for most venomous snake bites in Hong Kong. They only bite as a last resort, says “snake bible” author Adam Francis. Photo: Adam Francis

Wildlife photographer Adam Francis on The Peak, in Hong Kong. Francis is also a snake enthusiast and researcher. Photo: Edmond So

A bamboo pit viper’s bite is “quite painful”, but Hong Kong hospitals are “amazingly good at treating them”, says Francis. Photo: Adam Francis

Francis says the Burmese python is “a big snake with a slow metabolism that eats big meals and then goes away and sits in a quiet, dark place to digest that meal”. Photo: Adam Francis

Year of the Snake fitness retreat in Hong Kong features snake-themed exercises and motifs

Two Sweet Feet’s Muay Thai coach Natalie Sin will put retreat participants through the paces of her martial art. Photo: Two Sweet Feet HK

Two Sweet Feet trainer Harry Taylor holds a strength-building class. Photo: Two Sweet Feet HK

Two Sweet Feet yoga teacher Kalam Chu holds a yoga class. Photo: Two Sweet Feet HK

The best snake-inspired fashion and jewellery for the coming Year of the Snake

René Caovilla’s Cleo shoes feature a snake strap design that coils around the ankle. Photo: Instagram/@renecaovilla

The Year of the Snake-inspired 2025 Hong Kong snake medallion necklace from Chantel Shafie Jewellery. Photo: Chantel Shafie Jewellery

Adidas Superstar Year of the Snake trainers have a red and black snakeskin print. Photo: Adidas

Hong Kong-based fine jewellery designer Chantel Shafie’s snake medallion necklace, made with 18K yellow gold and encrusted with ethically sourced diamonds. Photo: Chantel Shafie Jewellery

The Golden Red Bamboo watch from Swatch is adorned with a print that resembles the body of a snake. Photo: Instagram/@swatch

One of the pieces in Silk Laundry’s Lunar New Year capsule collection is this red slip dress, with a print of a pink snake amid white orchids. Photo: Silk Laundry

The Serpenti Viper bracelet is among the many snake-inspired jewellery designs from Bulgari. Photo: Instagram/@bvlgari

Join a race that snakes through Hong Kong country parks to avoid a run-in with loved ones

Runners on Wildtrek Hong Kong’s Chinese New Year Dragon Tour in 2024. This year’s run, the Snake Tour, is the second edition of what is planned to be an annual running event. Photo: Wildtrek Hong Kong

One of two routes for Wildtrek Hong Kong’s Chinese New Year Snake Tour 2025. Photo: Wildtrek Hong Kong

The trophy awarded by Wildtrek Hong Kong to participants who complete the Chinese New Year Snake Tour 2025. Photo: Wildtrek Hong Kong

Snake wine’s origins, reputed health benefits, use in TCM and how it can bite back

Many believe that snake wine (pictured) offers medicinal benefits, including improving blood circulation – but drinking it is not without its risks. Photo: Shutterstock

Why Year of the Snake is cursed for Snakes, and how to appease deities to avoid bad luck

The Lunar New Year in 2025 heralds the Year of the Snake. It’s bad news if the Snake is your zodiac – you’ll be hit by the ‘12-year curse’