Author · The Zodiac Lore
海波 / Haibo
Haibo lives in Datong, Shanxi, China, where he writes and maintains The Zodiac Lore. Datong is his hometown and current home, as well as the setting for many of the family memories he shares here.
Where these stories begin
Haibo first encountered zodiac and Five Elements customs through things his family actually did: adding a water or wood radical to a name, preparing red underwear and socks before Chinese New Year, folding paper talismans into a phone case, and bringing a jade pendant home from Guangdong. Each detail is small, but each shows how an idea can enter everyday life.
The three accounts below concern naming, Ben Ming Nian, and a zodiac guardian figure. They record what Haibo and his family experienced or observed, and describe how one family encountered these customs.
Two drops of water in a name
Both characters in Haibo’s name—海 and 波—carry the three-dot water radical 氵. His birth chart was described at the time as lacking Water, so an older relative chose the name at home according to the idea of “supplying what is lacking.” The family did not pay for this naming; the relative made both the assessment and the choice.
In the next generation, his young niece’s chart was described as lacking Wood. This time the family paid for a reading and chose a name containing 檬, whose left side is the wood radical 木. The character is the second half of the Chinese word for lemon, 柠檬; in this Five Elements naming practice, attention falls on the character’s visible component.
The two names were chosen a generation apart and by different routes: one by a relative at home, the other through a paid naming service. Yet the advice that reached the family was equally concise—use a water radical when Water is said to be lacking, and a wood radical when Wood is said to be lacking. Haibo also occasionally notices storefronts offering naming services. He has not counted them or compared their prevalence across regions.
Red socks and three talismans in a phone case
As Chinese New Year approaches, Haibo’s mother prepares red items for a family member’s Ben Ming Nian, including red underwear and red socks. Some socks have a small human figure woven into the sole. Stepping on it each day plays on the auspicious phrase 踩小人, literally “stepping on petty people.” The family may not set out a formal theory of the custom; preparing the objects already carries its meaning.
There is also a weightier family saying. Since childhood, Haibo has heard older relatives say, 本命年是个槛—“a zodiac year is a hurdle.” Those who take the saying seriously may be especially cautious about major decisions that year. It is an inherited concern, not a basis for prediction; Haibo records it because it genuinely shaped how family members approached Ben Ming Nian.
The Tai Sui talisman is a small object carried close at hand. Haibo received three paper talismans from a Daoist priest: one associated with wealth, one with Tai Sui, and one with peace. Folded inside his phone case, they sit beside a yellow cloth pouch. Someone would be unlikely to know they were there without deliberately opening the case. Haibo later photographed the set and confirmed each talisman’s name individually.
A large jade pendant brought home from Guangdong
While buying jade in Guangdong, Haibo’s older sister chose a large Samantabhadra pendant for her husband. In the commonly seen zodiac guardian mapping, Samantabhadra is associated with the Dragon and Snake. Choosing the figure therefore begins with knowing the recipient’s zodiac animal; an abstract-looking correspondence becomes something a person may use when selecting a family gift.
The gift was not timed for a birthday or a Ben Ming Nian year. Haibo put it simply:
“You don’t have to wait for a particular occasion. If you want to give it, you can give it anytime.”
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Profile details confirmed September 4, 2026.