Kung Hei Fat Choi. No, I’m not just psychic; multilingual too.

As I scan the planet looking for a something interesting to take my mind of the defeat of dear Andy Murray, it’s been impossible to avoid the vibe sweeping the East. When 1, 3000,000 inhabitants of mainland China reconvene in their family units to celebrate their New Year, it’s a big deal. To appreciate the full scale of the event, we need to add in the many millions more Taiwanese and the ethnically Chinese residents of Singapore, Malaysia and Vietnam and Thailand, not to forget the further millions of immigrant Chinese raising their glasses and yelling “Gom bui” in the many Chinatowns all around the world. It's a time for reflection and not a little apprehension, as seen on the faces of these worshippers at the Wong Tai Sin temple in Hong Kong.

As a dog with an ingrained European viewpoint, I’ve been struck by the need to get my head around China. Any nation that can achieve the seamless impressiveness of the Beijing Olympics, whilst buying up all the cheap assets that the so-called developed world currently can’t afford, is clearly a force to reckon with.

As the Empire of America implodes, however much President Obama proves able to slow the process, the Empire of China will surely rise to occupy the yawning vacuum of power and economic clout. If it happens without a huge armed conflict, this will surely be the first time in history that the baton of global dominance passes unstained by the blood of many nations.

Which is why I choose to wish all ethnically Chinese persons Happiness and Prosperity as they enters the Year of the Ox. I never did like rats, anyway!