The Astrology of China

In her posting of 6 Jan, Lynn Hayes quotes from an article that graphically shows what a major world player China already is, and how that can only escalate. She concludes that Chinese mega-expansion is going to be THE big Pluto in Capricorn issue. I think she’s completely right, and it’s one of those issues that is so obvious that you don’t think of it!

Which means that there is a need to understand China through its astrological chart. I haven’t been able to find much on this, so I thought I’d give it a go myself.

I think the starting point is to come up with some possible charts. There aren’t many countries that have just one chart. At what point is a country born? It is arguable. And were the events recorded, or do we need to attempt some rectification? And was it just an aspect of the country that was born, like the government, with popular recognition coming later?

In the case of the USA, for example, 2nd July 1776 was when the government came into legal existence, and the 4th July 1776 was when the people were involved through the Declaration of Independence. Even then, the actual times remain open to debate and guesswork.

The same applies to China. China became a Republic in 1911/12, and there are various possible charts for this. But I want to look at China as the Communist Peoples’ Republic. There seem to be 2 main charts for this, neither of which have a birthtime. Firstly, there is 21 Sept 1949, when Mao proclaimed at a political conference: “We announce the establishment of the Peoples’ Republic of China.” Then there is 1 Oct 1949, when at a mass rally the proclamation of the central government of the new republic took place. (See Nicholas Campion’s Book of World Horoscopes).

So we could provisionally say that the Sept Chart is for the country as a whole, and the Oct Chart is for the government and its international relations.


What I like about the Sept chart is the Sun and Moon in Virgo, which describes the predominantly agricultural nature of China at the time that it went Communist and for decades afterwards. Even now, with the big shift to industrialisation occurring, they are quickly becoming technologically (Virgo) advanced, while the up-and-coming leadership (Sun) of the country has been selected not from e.g. lawyers, like you often get in the west, but remarkably from engineers, a Virgo profession. The Moon in a chart is the people, and its conjunction to Saturn emphasises the hard work for which the Chinese are known, which is also a Virgo characteristic. It also describes the restrictions (Saturn) placed on the people (Moon) by the government (Saturn).

As for a birthtime for this chart, the proclamation took place in the opening session of the conference, so I’m going to make a stab at 10.24am in Peking. The 2 main events that I am rectifying for are the ‘Great Leap Forward’ and the death of Mao and the economic changes that followed.

The Great Leap Forward of 1958-60 was an attempt to rapidly transform China from an agrarian society into an industrialised society. But it was a disaster and set the country back years. By transit, Pluto was crossing the 29.57 Leo Midheaven at the time. The Midheaven is also to do with the leadership of the country, and the Great Leap Forward was very much one man’s doing, Mao’s. (After this he lost much of his power to make economic decisions). Though it is the ‘People’s Republic’, it has never been any such thing, and the Leo MC points to Mao’s kingly role for 30 years.
The Sun is also to do with the leader (I’d say the actual leader, rather than the institution behind it, which I’d say is the MC), and here the (wide) natal square to Uranus describes Mao’s eccentric, even mad at times, leadership. (The first emperor of China, who had the vast terracotta army built, also went mad). The ‘Great Leap Forward’ also took place as Neptune began to conjoin natal Venus, dissolving (Neptune) the country’s wealth (Venus) through economic (Venus) delusion (Neptune).

In this rectified chart I also like Mars and Pluto in Leo in the 9th: the aggressive (Mars) control and repression (Pluto) through ideology (9th) by an autocrat (Leo). Mao’s natal Moon was somewhere near the middle of Leo, connecting him to this ideological repression. Jupiter is in Capricorn in the 2nd (just), and trine to the Sun, showing the potential for great wealth (Jupiter in the 2nd) arising out of hard work and professionalism (Capricorn).

Pluto has been squaring the natal 11th House Sun at 27.45 Virgo over the last few years, a period in which China has become much more powerful (Pluto) in the world community (11th).

The Cultural Revolution of 1966 onwards was an attempt by Mao to rid the country of its ‘liberal bourgeoisie’ elements and to continue revolutionary class struggle. His real motivation is said to have been an attempt to regain full control of the Party after the disaster of the Great Leap Forward. The Cultural Revolution created chaos on many levels, brought the country to the brink of civil war, and only ended with Mao’s death in 1976.

It was launched officially on May 16th 1966, with Uranus and Pluto both stationing and within 20 minutes of a degree of each other in mid Virgo. This is a very powerful astrological signature, and shows how the revolutionary idealism and power struggles that we saw in the west in those times were every bit as strong in China. Uranus and Pluto at the time were on their way from transiting the Chinese Moon-Saturn in Virgo and moving towards the Sun at 28 Virgo. This does not help rectify the chart, as House placements and Angles are not involved, but it strengthens the case for a 21st Sept Chart.


Mao was born on 26 Dec 1893 in Xiangtan. He died at 10 past midnight on 9 Sept 1976 in Peking. This event impacts the Oct 1st Chart strongly (see later), but not so the 21 Sept Chart, suggesting that while his death may have been very significant for the government and its foreign relations, it might not have been quite so significant for the country as a whole – they still had the same type of government. But what we do see is Saturn 2 years off conjoining MC, suggesting a coming of age for the government after the madness of the Mao years; we also see Neptune 2 years off the 2nd House Cusp, suggestive of the big economic changes that began a couple of years later, which have allowed China to develop into what it is now.


There is some evidence that 3.15pm as a time for the Oct 1st chart may be based on a recorded time, so I’m going to provisionally run with that. As I said, I’m using it as a chart for the government and its foreign relations. By transit, we can immediately see the chart functioning effectively in the case of Mao’s death. Pluto was at 10 Libra, conjoining the Oct 1st Sun at 7 Libra. You don’t get much more powerful transits than this, and it also suggests the power struggle which followed Mao’s death.

Sun in Libra also suggests a government that likes to be diplomatic, that does not, for example, denounce other countries as ‘The Great Satan’ or as belonging to an ‘axis of evil’. It puts the Chinese Sun in square to the US Sun at 13 Cancer. This was set off on April 1 2001 when a US spy plane crashed in China. The Sun was at 11 Aries, Venus at 8 Aries, and the Moon was in Cancer. Courtney Roberts Conrad writes about this incident and the need by the US for the Libran qualities of diplomacy and apology at StarIQ.

I think the Libran Sun also describes the Chinese government’s double-speak and not saying what it means. The Sun is square to Uranus and trine to the Moon/ASC in Aquarius, so here we have an ideologically driven government whose ideas in the case of Mao could be disconnected from reality (the Sun also conjoins Neptune). It also gives us the slogans. (In the Sept Chart, we see this in Mercury conjunct Neptune in the 11th) “Smash the Gang of Four.” “Raise fewer babies but more piggies.” With modern changes happening, they have the slogan; “Shout fewer slogans and do more practical things.”

Mind you, we can’t afford to laugh, we have our own slogans that have corporate rather than government origins. And they don’t always translate well. Kentucky Fried Chicken’s “Finger Lickin’ Good” came out in Chinese as “Eat your fingers off.” When Pepsi started marketing its products in China a few years back, they translated their slogan, "Pepsi Brings You Back to Life" pretty literally. The slogan in Chinese really meant, "Pepsi Brings Your Ancestors Back from the Grave." Then when Coca-Cola first shipped to China, they named the product something that when pronounced sounded like "Coca-Cola." The only problem was that the characters used meant "Bite The Wax Tadpole." They later changed to a set of characters that mean "Happiness In The Mouth."

In the Progressed Chart for China (Oct), Jupiter will conjoin the MC in 5 years time, describing its long-term expansion on the world stage; in the same year, the Prog Moon will Rise in Taurus, describing the economic success behind its growth as a world power.



At the same time as these events in the Prog Chart, Pluto will be squaring the Libran Sun by transit. The last time Pluto made a hard transit was around 1976, when Mao died, and the gradual transition to a western style economy started. This time, the Pluto transit may mark the beginning of a transition to a western style political system.

Mind you, I don’t necessarily view that as entirely a good thing. What I think is very strange about democracy is that the candidates for what ought to be highly skilled jobs are selected by people with no experience in that job, i.e. by you and me. You don’t get that in any other profession. You couldn’t run a hospital that way, or a legal practice. So why do so in what is arguably the most responsible job of all, i.e. running the country? Why’s that job so different?

So both charts seem to work in their own way. In a nutshell, I’d say the 21st Sept Chart, with its Sun and Moon in Virgo, describe well the Chinese people’s attitude to work, and the agricultural and now increasingly technological nature of that work. The very airy Oct 1st Chart doesn’t describe the Chinese people well, but I think it is pretty good for their ideologically driven government.