The Geng-Chen Tai Sui: General Dong De

A dragon of gold

Geng is yang metal, a sword that is straight and clean. Chen is the dragon rising with the spring thunder. Put them together and you get a golden dragon, powerful but pure at heart.

General Dong De guards this year. People born in Geng-Chen years often have a strong sense of right and wrong and will not stay quiet about something unfair, even if it costs them.

Steady and seasoned

He wears a black scholar's cap and has a short, neat beard. His sharp eyes have the calm of someone who has walked many roads.

He wears a deep blue robe like the night sky with a red cape over it. In his right hand he carefully holds a small cup, as if carrying something precious.

"I can't hold this city alone"

According to legend, he was Dong De, a prefect at the end of the Sui dynasty, when harsh rule had sparked rebellions everywhere. Many officials either ran away or crushed the people. A few chose a third way: stay, and share the people's fate.

His city was poor and squeezed between rebel armies. He called the town leaders together and said honestly, "I can't hold this city alone. But if you stand with me, we might keep our people safe a while longer."

He cut his own pay, opened the granary to the poorest families, and paid volunteers for guarding the walls with grain and cloth instead of forcing people to serve. The townspeople answered his call.

"He held on to the end"

That little city made it through two years of chaos until things settled. Then Dong De, worn out, died at his post. The people put up a stone with just a few words: "He held on to the end."

Heaven named him the Tai Sui of the Geng-Chen year. A cup of virtue in his hand and a straight, brave heart: that is his gift to everyone born in the Year of the Dragon.