You are born in the year of the Rat, according to Chinese astrology.  You are extremely clever passionate and creative.  You live every day to the full as if it is the last.  You keep splendid company.  Remember that Shakespeare was a Rat like you.  In spite of all these positive qualities you may get a bad publicity irrespective of what you do.  Moreover you may get accused for no fault of yours.

Rat is considered as a supreme opportunist, and gluttonous and sometimes greedy.  You are a man who generally finds it hard to refuse an invitation for a lunch or dinner.  This is partly due to your polite manners and partly due to your taste for good food.  Generally you will be more active during night than day.  It makes you an ideal personality to assume responsibilities in positions where night vigilance is more significant.  One should not be surprised to see you as an active member of some good night club.

No one makes love like you with more energy, or expect so much in return.  Representing Rat, you have a restless, nervous temperament.  It is probably due to your sub-conscious belief that the world around you is hostile.  You are constantly on the move.  This makes you ideal material for traveling type of job opportunities.  Due to the same reason, it becomes difficult for you to keep your house in order, or to stock anything for tomorrow.

At times when plans go badly, as a Rat man, you are the first to find fault with someone else and grumble.  Moreover you have the inner reserve to adopt a sudden reversal in approach.  This shows your mental ability to think of alternatives instantaneously.  Some of your negatively minded critics might say that it highlights your shallow outlook when you decide to withdraw from a given path.  But being an opportunist Rat, you will come up successful once again.

Your trump card is charm, opportunism and tenacity.  Hence you will be a winner and will be able to turn loss into profit on account of your special personality and charm and also failure into success.  It will be foolish on the part of your colleagues or superiors to underestimate you, based on few initial set backs you may experience.  You are much deeper than the external charming smile reveals.  Once you have set your heart on something, you will use every trick to attain it, pursuing the object of your desire to the bitter end.  But at times this trait can work against your best interest also, as Richard Nixon found, when trying to talk his way out of Watergate.

You have ideal qualities to be a detective agent or spy.  Hence you have the mental make up to become the best accomplished and the brilliant espionage agent, given the right opportunity.  It is to be expected that you will demonstrate the good and bad effects of these qualities, wherever you are placed in life.  Your life's philosophy is to make hay while the sun shines.  As such it is not surprising that you are living so much for the moment.

As an executive or a businessman, the usual complaint that is leveled against you is that you have precious little sense of time, since you may not keep up appointments as expected of a gentleman.  When you are invited for a party, your guests should not expect you to turn up in time.  However the most interesting part of your personality is that your guests will not feel annoyed with you; instead they will be made to appreciate your good gesture because of your personal charm.

Your poor time-keeping and living for the moment will be suddenly reversed on the day you decide to enter an organization like armed forces, where punctuality is a form of religious observance.  Your basic Rat characteristics undergoes an astonishing personality reversal.  Your natural habit of turning up late will be replaced by an obsession to arrive at the exact moment expected.  Your ever present undercurrent of nervous aggression finds an outlet in worrying about life's most trivial matters.  Your warm and sentimental nature will be taken over, by an unpleasant stubbornness.  Hitler's Gestapo head, Heinrich Himmler, a mild mannered school teacher until he put on his jack boots was a Rat.

As a Rat, you are naturally gregarious and adore company.  You enjoy being with friends.  You do not enjoy solitude.  If left alone against your wish for too long periods, you grow anxious and your power of judgment becomes clouded.  On such occasions you become vulnerable and act self-destructive.

When choosing a profession you must avoid routine and repetitive type of work.  On a challenging assignment, you show good perseverance, but you also may not enjoy long term interests or capital investments.  Both will irritate you and lead you to bad decisions.  It is perfectly safe for you to gamble with your own money.  Rat is suited for a job, in which you need to travel considerably, at short notice and be charming in interpersonal dealings.  The job of Prince of Wales is ideal.  Prince Charles is indeed a Rat.  You may enjoy passing on light comments and being a critic.  The posts for which you are suited are journalist, travel writer, politician, linguist, soldier, hunter, car dealer, actor, sales executive etc.

You may not waste much money in the construction of your house.  You generally prefer rented accommodation, unlike the Cat, who fills the home with beautiful objects.  Your possessions are comparatively very little that they can be packed up in no time.  As a husband you will enjoy helping your wife with household chores and will plan to spend your holidays and weekends with your family.

According to the principles of Chinese Astrology your basic animal sign and hence your personality is influenced by WATER, the fixed modifying agent for the year, in which you are born.  Therefore, you come under the classification of WATER RAT.

You are really firm in your views and often express your opinions with a great degree of assertion.  Your insight is excellent and you relate well with people of all levels.  Moreover, you are accommodating and understanding in nature.  You are really adaptable to the moods and needs of others.  You know how to please those in a position to help you.  You continue your learning even at old ages and you have an insatiable thirst for knowledge.  When you argue, you have the facts and figures before you and hence it is difficult for anyone to influence you to change your stand.  You are really shrewd in your business dealings.  You will go to any length for self advancement.  Though your feelings are really deep, you are not sufficiently demonstrative in your love.  You are more effective through written communications.  When forced into a corner, you will fight relentlessly to escape.  It might be an honorable exit. However, you may not be sufficiently discriminating and tend to talk or argue with those who care to listen.  This might get you into trouble.

According to the Western styles, your Zodiac sign (Sun sign) is Pisces.  Being a Rat, this combination gives you the influence of WATER + POSITIVE WATER. So, you will be a pleasing personality as the Pisces is melodious and psychic.  At the same time, the Rat is well versed in taking care of the family's interest.  You will be able to demonstrate your creativity when required, even though you are shy and not desirous of facing the public.  You could be a prolific writer because of the Fish's deep appreciation of human emotions.  The natural aggressive and acquisitive tendencies of the Rat will be subdued to a large degree.  So, you will be a person with less aspirations and more peaceful inclinations.  You will value home and security more than anything else.  You are meditative, resourceful and sensitive but productive.