Home › Stories › Tai Sui › Yi-You
The Yi-You Tai Sui: General Jiang Chong
A night watchman on the frontier who never once fell asleep at his post.
- Guardian of
- People born in a Yi-You year, the Year of the Rooster
- Born between
- Feb 9, 2005 – Jan 28, 2006
- Past life (legend)
- Jiang Chong, a watchtower officer on the Tang frontier (folk legend)
- Symbol
- Two red staffs crossed in an X: this road is closed to evil
If you were born between these dates, you were born in a Yi-You year, the Year of the Rooster, and General Jiang Chong watches over you.
(A new year starts on Lunar New Year’s Day.)
A vine and a rooster
Yi is soft wood, a vine that keeps finding its way up. You is the rooster, who announces the time with perfect accuracy. The vine's patience and the rooster's precision work together.
General Jiang Chong guards this year. People born in Yi-You years are often careful and exact. They keep their promises, and once they decide something is right, no pressure can bend them.
The crossed staffs
His most striking feature is his pose. He holds a red staff in each hand and crosses them in an X, like two gates no evil can pass through.
He wears a plain dark blue hat, a green robe and a yellow cloak. His sharp eyes quietly study everything, like a rooster that hears the faintest sound in the dark.
Every night awake
According to legend, he was Jiang Chong, a watchtower officer on the Tang frontier. His job was to watch through the night and beat the drum the moment he saw the enemy. If the watchman slept, the whole army could be caught in its sleep.
For years, in wind, snow and rain, he never once dozed off. Others laughed: "There aren't that many enemies. Is it worth staying up every night?" He said, "My job is to catch them before they show up. So every night I stay awake is worth it."
The sound that was wrong
One moonless autumn night, a small enemy band crept toward the walls as quietly as they could. From the tower, Jiang Chong caught the faint sound of hooves and beat the drum. By the time the enemy arrived, the whole fort was ready, and they turned back.
Asked how he knew, he said, "I heard a sound that was wrong. I only know what wrong sounds like because I listen every night." Heaven named him the Tai Sui of the Yi-You year. Two crossed staffs and a steady watch: that is his gift to everyone born in the Year of the Rooster.
Questions people ask
Who is the Tai Sui for people born in 2005?
People born between Feb 9, 2005 and Jan 28, 2006 were born in a Yi-You year, the Year of the Rooster. Their Tai Sui is General Jiang Chong.
Who was General Jiang Chong before becoming a Tai Sui?
Jiang Chong, a watchtower officer on the Tang frontier (folk legend).
What does General Jiang Chong hold?
Two red staffs crossed in an X: this road is closed to evil.
Stay for the next story
A new fortune poem and the old story behind it, every day on YouTube.