Superstition remains deeply rooted in Chinese culture, extending into the corporate world. Business decisions are often prompted by superstitions, from favouring lucky numbers to avoiding certain colours or dates to incorporating feng shui principles into corporate decisions.
Recent attention related to the superstition has been drawn to Sanxing Transportation, a company in Guangdong Province, southern China, due to its unusual hiring policy. According to the South China Morning Post, the firm has gone viral on Chinese social media for explicitly banning job applicants born in the Year of the Dog. Their rationale behind this decision is that those born under the dog zodiac sign might be the source of misfortune for the head of the firm, who is a dragon. The conflict in the 12-year zodiac cycle between the dragon and dog is represented in Chinese astrology.
Sanxing Transportation's job advertisement for a clerk position, offering a monthly salary between 3,000 and 4,000 yuan (approximately Rs 35,140 and Rs 46,853), has mentioned that anyone born under the dog sign shall not need to apply. This clearly demonstrates the company's reliance on zodiac-related superstitions to guide its hiring practices.
According to SCMP, on August 2, a member of staff told Hubei Television that the reason the company banned those applicants was because their boss was a "dragon," and "dragons and dogs do not get along well.".
They said that less qualified applicants would be considered "as long as their zodiac sign is not the dog." Each zodiac sign corresponds to an "earthly branch" and is assigned to one of the "five phases": metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.
It is said that the dragon has a water element, while the dog has a fire element. As a result, if a dragon works with a dog, they will often disagree. Superstitious beliefs also regard dog people as vindictive and capable of bringing bad luck to the careers of dragon people. When it comes to romance, the opposite is true. It is believed that people born in the Year of the Dog would suffer more if they dated dragon zodiac people because dragon people tend to be less loyal and tolerant. The belief is also mixed with the feng shui theories, which suggest that if dog and dragon zodiac people are colleagues, they could hang lucky charms in the workplace to bring harmony.
