Chinese New Year 2014: Fierce Battles and Volcanoes Predicted in Year of the Horse

As the Chinese celebrate their New Year, some bizarre predictions have surfaced, including a rough year and fierce battles.

Citing earlier episodes during the Chinese Year of the Horse, which is part of a 12-year cycle of animals comprising the Chinese Zodiac, Feng shui practitioner Raymond Lo says there is a possibility of bloody fighting in the coming months.

Such happenings, he says, have occurred during similar occasions such as the Chinese Calendar of Heavenly stems and Earthly Branches.

In the Chinese convention, the 12-year animal cycle interacts with the five earthly elements – earth, fire, metal, water, and wood – creating various effects for each year; 2014 will be the year of "Wood Horse" taking over from the year of the "Water Snake".

Lo says: "This year [1954] marked the bitter defeat of the French troops in the famous battle of Dien Bien Phu in Vietnam in May 1954. Further looking back in history in the year 1894, the Sino Japanese August, and this a yin fire day.... With the combination of stubborn yang wood war broke out in August leading to the famous sea battle of the Yalu River with the Qing Dynasty Beiyang fleet almost totally destroyed by Japanese warships in September 1894."

He adds: "With such serious conflicts on historical record in the previous two yang wood horse years, I cannot rule out the possibility of war and fierce battle in 2014."

Since it is the year of the wood, other fortune-tellers say that those who are in the business involving wood or fire will perform well in their ventures.

Others have also warned of volcanoes and gunfights.

"The wooden horse represents fire energy. In the last month, we've seen a lot of fire issues in the southern areas, like South Australia and, in extension to that, we'll see more in South America and south New Zealand. Because the fire energy is so strong, we'll get a lot of fire issues like volcanoes and gunfire protests, which will be very violent," Chinese astrologer Lok Tin told the Sydney Morning Herald.