By the time you read this, the Pig will still be a suckling, having just awakened from a 12-year slumber to occupy unfamiliar terrain vacated by the Dog after its year-long reign.
The Pig was only two years into its long hibernation when Hong Kong's most memorable event occurred - the passing of the city's control from British to Chinese hands. Much has changed in our political, social and economic life since then, and the Pig will find it has awakened to a very different place. Over the coming weeks it will have to adjust to the new climate, environmentally and politically.
As it sniffs its way around the partisan politics, it will find that the air is also thick with particles of polluted dirt, threatening its very health. And it will wonder why it was born into record heat of 25 degrees Celsius, when previous reincarnations had always begun with chilly weather.
But its confusion will be brief. It will quickly realise that the seasons haven't changed, but that humans have foolishly altered the way nature works. They even have a term for this time bomb they have switched on: global warming.
If the Pig could fly, it would have a bird's-eye view of startling images such as melting polar ice, dying forests, expanding deserts, fierce storms and other phenomena that have altered the very nature of the planet it once knew.
So what else will the Pig find that's new after its 12-year absence? Well, that Chris Patten - who loves wolfing down food the way the Pig does - is no longer governor. In his place there is a chief executive, a more fitting title since the city is run more like a corporation than a community.
Barely five weeks into its rule, the Pig will find itself overseeing a divisive yet defining event - the first contested election for chief executive in more than a decade. And it will have the honour of presiding over a memorable occasion that could divide some but unify most others - the 10th anniversary of sovereignty changing hands.