Brothers and sisters — may this new beginning bring great fortune.
I wonder if you felt it too: the moment the eighth day of the Lunar New Year arrived in the Year of Jiachen (the Wood Dragon year), something quietly stirred inside you — an urge that whispered, “This year, I need to really give it everything.”
If you felt that, your intuition is sharp. You’re the kind of person with genuine natural gifts.
Now, in my earlier Chinese zodiac (生肖) analyses, I said the Year of Jiachen would still be primarily a year of inner cultivation and self-renewal — but also a year of new beginnings. Put simply: many good things, new things, and turning-point things will start taking shape this year.
This is my first piece of the new year. Here’s what I want to say:
• If you hold a salaried position, face this uncomfortable truth: the era of “work diligently, build real wealth” is finished. Unless you’re at the core of a cutting-edge industry, a conventional salary of 150,000 to 500,000 RMB simply won’t transform your life. At best, it raises your daily spending a notch.
Remember: a horse without night grass stays thin; a person without windfall income stays poor. That “windfall” — what we call 偏财 — means income beyond your main job. Side ventures. Secondary streams. Unless you’re fully content to coast, every spare hour and ounce of energy over the next two years should go toward building that.
• My clearest read on the Year of Jiachen: it will become the opening year of a new wave of class-consciousness divergence. Those who are cynical, self-destructive, emotionally unbalanced — yet completely unwilling to face their own issues — will keep sinking. And their capacity to poison those around them will only grow stronger, pulling others into the mud along with them.
Keep your distance from these people. If you cross paths, smile and move on. Don’t let them into your life.
On the flip side: because many formerly wealthy individuals lost their footing during those three difficult years, you now have a rare opportunity — to get close to them, learn from them, and absorb the inner mastery they’ve spent a lifetime building.
• There is another type of person you must especially avoid: those who spend their days doom-saying, ranting, and wallowing in persistent low energy. Venting between friends is perfectly normal. But if someone consistently radiates nothing but gloom and depression — all blame and grievance, never a thought for the road ahead — that person will carry bad fortune their entire life. Get away from them, quickly.
• No matter the era, the core abilities for moving upward never change: a continuously evolving desire to grow + an inextinguishable love of learning + humble and clear-headed thinking + unyielding willpower.
From my vast experience reading people: possess these qualities — or be willing to genuinely cultivate them — and within just over a year, you can achieve a complete transformation and begin pulling measurably ahead of those around you. After that, your main task is simply not letting lower-caliber blood relations or destructive friendships drag you back down. Hold that line, and you’ll climb two or three tiers of human existence (十阶众生) with nothing standing in your way.
• This era is profoundly unsuited to traditional entrepreneurship — especially for ordinary people. Taking a lump sum, pouring it into a business project, and waiting for profit is a strategy that belongs to another time. The rules have changed. Cling to the old playbook and you’re already out. Those outdated efforts? They only impress yourself.
This is the age of the personal brand. Whether you’re a professional or a hobbyist, whether your goal is explicitly making money or purely sharing life and having fun — people need to know you exist.
During the Spring Festival, I connected with distant relatives and friends from all walks of life. What struck me most: those with sharp instincts and the discipline to act had already started building their personal brands early. Some share daily life. Some discuss early childhood education. Some have a clear focus — selling fresh produce or premium imported fruit.
Have they all made money? No. Only a fraction have. But even those who haven’t earned a cent, if they’ve been building with genuine commitment, have developed sharp commercial intuition, brand management skills, and the practical know-how that business demands. These are skills that serve a lifetime. And who knows — maybe they’ll break through yet.
• I remember writing something important five or six years ago: in any era, strive to be an owner of assets, not merely a consumer — because consumers only ever spend and lose.
The same applies today. Become the person others care about and pay attention to — not the audience member who spends a lifetime pouring in time, energy, and money.
• Those difficult years, and the many ups and downs we’ve all lived through, have brought more and more people to a genuine appreciation of traditional Chinese learning (国学).
Let me be upfront: I don’t encourage new readers to rush to me for a destiny reading (命理) simply because of my reputation. On the contrary, I’d much rather you read more of my writing first — really absorb Master Chi’s worldview and way of thinking. Otherwise, coming cold for a full destiny chart (命盘) reading, most ordinary people simply cannot process that volume of high-quality insight entering their minds all at once.
My belief has always been this: Chinese metaphysics (玄学) is not a shortcut. It is a profound wisdom that allows you to see through the nature of the world. That distinction is essential, and it must be genuinely understood.
• This year and next, many accessible tracks will open up that ordinary people can realistically enter: quality lifestyle content, health and wellness, emotional and spiritual healing (灵性), pure joy and entertainment. These are tracks where a little groundwork is all you need — start small, share modestly, and gradually gather a community of like-minded people.
Don’t force an artificial persona or put yourself on a pedestal. Nobody responds to self-promotion anymore. What people love now is warmth and approachability.
So — no pressure. Just hold the mindset of learning, enjoying, and growing all at once, and start putting something out there. Don’t count on it making money right away. Treat it as a form of spiritual cultivation (修行) — a way to build your overall capabilities. And who knows? It just might take off.
• Don’t overthink the broader climate. For now, the right move is to stay level. Avoid rushing and clashing. Absolutely do not trust any speculative schemes or so-called high-return opportunities. Steady, calm, smooth, and understated — that is the optimal state.
To use an analogy: we are like a person just recovering from a serious illness. The body still needs to rest and restore its Chi (气). Don’t push. Don’t overexert. Recover quietly for a while longer, and everything will gradually improve.
I’ve shared this perspective with professors and scholars at several universities. Every one of them has agreed.