What is the order of the Chinese zodiac?

The order of the 12 zodiac signs is Zi Rat, Ugly Ox, Yin Tiger, Mao Rabbit, Cinnabar Dragon, Si Snake, Afternoon Horse, Weiyang Sheep, Shen Monkey, You Rooster, Hundred Days Dog, and Hai Pig.

"The rat bites the sky open" at midnight, so the son of the rat.

"The earth is opened up in the ugly", the ox is the thing that opens up the earth, so the ugly is the ox. People born in the c time, there is life that is killed, the tiger, kill people also, so the c belongs to the tiger.

Mao, when the sun rises, Yang Ben away from the body, and contains the essence of the Jade Rabbit, so Mao is a rabbit. Chen, at the time of the group of dragons line rain, so Chen belongs to the dragon. Si, the value of this time grass, and the snake to get its place, and Si time snake is returning to the hole, so Si belongs to the snake.

Noon, the extreme yang and yin qi bud. The horse, running not on the ground, Yin class, so the afternoon of the horse. Sheep ate grass and thrive, so not a sheep. Shen when the sunset apes cry, and at this time stretching arms jump, so Shen is a monkey.

You, the moon out of the time, the moon this Kan body, containing the essence of the Golden Crow, so you are chicken. Nightfall for the 11th hour, the dog is on guard, so the 11th belongs to the dog. At the time of the eleventh hour, the pig has no knowledge of anything other than what it is eating, so it belongs to the pig.

Expanded:

The origin of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, there are many different opinions. Some believe that the Yellow Emperor in the historical record, "construction of A Zi to order the year" and "big scratch as A Zi" in the "A Zi", refers to the twelve Chinese zodiac signs.

The Qing Dynasty scholar Zhao Yi believes that the Chinese zodiac originated from the nomadic people of northern China, "New Yu Congkao" in: "Cover the northern custom of the twelve hours of the first no matter Zi U Cin, but the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit and so on the sub-division of the year, soak seeking to spread in China, and then not abolished ear."

Guo Moruo that the twelve signs of the zodiac from the West. Ancient Babylon and Egypt had similar zodiac signs, which Guo Moruo regarded as the source of the Chinese zodiac.

The Chinese zodiac, also known as the phases of the genus or the twelve years of the beast, is the twelve animals used by some ethnic groups in China and East Asia to represent the year, collectively known as the twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac, i.e., the rat, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the goat, the monkey, the rooster, the dog, and the pig.

They match the twelve Earthly Branches (Zi, U, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Hundred Days, Ohio) in order to form the Zi Rat, U Ox, Yin Tiger, Mao Rabbit, Cinnabar Dragon, Si Snake, Wu Horse, Wei Sheep, Shen Monkey, You Chicken, Hundred Days Dog, and Ohio Pig. Each person takes the symbolic animal of his/her birth year as his/her zodiac sign, so Chinese folk often use the zodiac sign to calculate his/her age. One cycle is one round.