Why is the rat ahead of the ox in the Chinese zodiac?

Because the rat, which is the most numerous animal, represents the common people who create wealth,

After the rat represents the people, the cat, which is specialized in eating rats, cannot be included in the 12 zodiac signs.

Why is the rat ranked first, the people are the first element of the country, they work hard and save money to create wealth for the country, they are the foundation of the country, so they are the first.

There is also a folk legend:

There is a legend:

The Jade Emperor wanted to elect 12 kinds of animals to be the representative of the Jade Emperor, and then he sent the gods and goddesses down to the earth to talk to the animals about this matter, and also set a time in the year of the year, the month of the year, the day of the year, the time of the day, the time of the election to the Palace of Heaven, and come the earlier the more the row in front of the back of the row can not be and the time the cat and the mouse or friends, the cat loves to sleep, but he also wanted to be elected to the election, and the people are the first element of the country. The cat loved to sleep, but he also wanted to be elected, so he asked the mouse to call him, but the mouse forgot about it, and the mouse went to the ox and said that he was an early riser and a fast runner, and asked the ox to bring him along, and the old ox promised to do so

And at that time, the dragon didn't have any horns, while the chicken did have horns. The dragon then said that the chicken was very pretty, and that it didn't need horns, and asked the chicken to lend it to him.

At the hour of dawn on the day of the month in the year d, all the animals rushed to the heavenly palace, but the cat was still sleeping

The mouse sat on the back of an ox, and arrived at the heavenly palace The mouse jumped, and the Jade Emperor said that he was the earliest to arrive, so he put him in the first place, and the old steak in the second place, and the tiger in the third place, and the rabbit in the fourth place, but the dragon was very late, but he did not need his horns. The dragon arrives late, but he's big, and the Jade Emperor sees him and calls him over, and because he's so pretty, he puts him in fifth place, and says he'll put his son in sixth place, but the dragon's disappointed, because his son didn't show up today, and then the snake in the back comes running up and says, "He's my godfather, and I'm in sixth place, and I'm in sixth place. I'm sixth! So the snake came sixth, and the horse and the goat arrived, and they gave way to each other: horse, you first, goat, you first, and they pushed and pushed, and the Jade Emperor, seeing how courteous they were, gave them seventh and eighth. The monkey, who was originally in the thirtieth percentile, but who knew how to jump, jumped ahead of the clouds in the sky, and came ninth, and then the chicken, the dog, and the pig were also chosen. The cat chased him all over the world.

After the race was over, the dragon came to the sea and saw that with his horns he was much prettier than before, so he wasn't going to give it back to the chicken, so he disappeared into thin air to avoid the chicken. The chicken was furious, so he got up early in the morning every day and shouted out to the sea: "Give it back! Give it back! The hen shouted, "Give it back! Give it back! And the chickens shouted back, "Give it back! Give it back!

1, the origin of the Chinese zodiac

As an ancient folk cultural phenomenon, the origin of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, scholars through the ages have different opinions. Some people believe that the origin of the Chinese zodiac and the Earth's branches can be traced back to the prehistoric era of legends, the "Records of the Grand Historian" contained in the Yellow Emperor, "built the Azi to order the year", "the big scratch for the Azi" is a reflection of this type of statement, scholars believe that the Azi referred to here refers to the twelve Chinese zodiac signs. Qing Dynasty scholar Zhao Yi that the Chinese zodiac originated from the nomadic people in the north of China, he said in the "new Yu Jungkao", "cover the northern custom of the twelve epochs of the beginning of no matter Zi U Cin, but the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit and so on subdivided into chronological age, soak searching flow in China, and so along the ear is not abolished." (See the Qing Dynasty - Zhao Yi, the nomadic people in the north of China, he said in "the new Yu Jungkao".) (see qing - zhao yi "new yu jung kao"). Some scholars even hold the view that the zodiac outside, that the twelve signs of the zodiac is from ancient Babylon into China, hold this view on behalf of Guo Moruo, who in the "oracle bone character study - interpretation of the branch of the stem," said "twelve signs of the zodiac in Babylon, Egypt, India have, but are not very ancient, no out of the Western Era after the hundred years above the person. The meaning of this is the beginning of the Han Dynasty, the Western countries, imitating the Babylonian twelve and the development of the Palace, and then spread to the surrounding also ." That the Chinese zodiac for the Middle East residents imitated the Babylonian zodiac and the development of its introduction to China when the time, when the Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty through the Western Regions. The above views are all opinionated, the author does not dare to judge right and wrong subjectively, but through a large number of documents to prove that the Chinese zodiac did originate in China, is the Chinese ancestors animal worship, totem worship and the crystallization of the early astronomy.

On the record of the Chinese zodiac, the existing literature to the "Classic of Poetry" for the earliest. "Poetry - Xiaoya - auspicious day" in: "auspicious day gengwu, that is, poor my horse" eight words, meaning gengwu auspicious day and hour is good, is a good day to jump out of the horse hunting, this is the noon and the horse corresponds to the example. Can be seen in the Spring and Autumn period, the Earth's branches and the twelve kinds of animal correspondence has been established and circulated. In 1975, the bamboo slips unearthed in No. 11 Tomb of Sleeping Tiger Land in Yunmeng County, Hubei Province, further proved that the twelve Chinese zodiac signs existed before and after the Spring and Autumn Period. Unearthed bamboo slips of the "Day Book" A kind of a chapter entitled "thieves", the content of which for the divination of the thief's appearance, which recorded: "Zi, the rat is also, the thief against the mouth of the Xisu, ...... ugly, the cow is also, the thief big nose and long neck, ...... C, the tiger also, the thief like, Xisu , face with black. D, the rabbit, the thief's big face head. E, [original omission] thief man, green and red color ...... has been, the worm is also , the thief long and black snake eyes. Wu, deer also , the thief long neck small ?Q, its body is not complete. ...... not, the horse also, the thief long beard ear. Shen, the ring is also, the thief round face ......"

"Day book" in the twelve signs of the zodiac is largely similar to the current popular saying. According to evidence, Sleeping Tiger Land Tomb No. 11 was buried in the 30th year of Emperor Qin Shi Huang (217 BC), so the creation of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs can be traced back to at least the Spring and Autumn period before Qin. Scholars believe that this is the earliest and more systematic record of the twelve signs of the zodiac found in China to date.

and today's popular zodiac statement is completely consistent with the records of the Eastern Han Dynasty, Wang Chong, Wang Chong, "on the balance of things" contained:

"Yin, wood, its bird, the tiger. The 11th, the earth, its birds, dogs. ...... afternoon, the horse also. Zi, the rat, too. You, the chicken, too. D, rabbit. ...... Oh, the boar. Un, sheep also. Ugly, oxen. ...... has, the snake also. Shen, the monkey also."

In the above text, eleven of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac are talked about, only the cinnabar dragon is missing. The book, "Words of Poison," says:

"Chen is the dragon, and has been the snake. The position of chen and already is in the southeast."

So, the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac will be all together, and with today's popular twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac is identical, which is indeed considered to be an ancient document on the Chinese zodiac of the earlier most complete records.

To the North and South Dynasties, the Chinese Zodiac has been commonly used, the South Dynasty "South Qi Book - five elements of the Zhi" in the specific according to the year of birth of a person called belong to a certain animal records. The poet Shen Jiong, a member of the Chen Dynasty, wrote a poem on the twelve phases of the Chinese zodiac, which reads:

"The rat's footprints are born in dusty cases, and oxen and sheep come down in the twilight of the year.

The tiger feeds on the empty valley, and the rabbit moon opens to the window.

The dragon is far away from the green hills, and the snake is near the willow.

The horse's orchid is far away, and the sheep's negative is planted in spring.

The monkey's chestnut is a shame, and the chicken's anvil leads to a clear cup.

The dog's heart is in the right place, and the pig is in the right place, so I'm not sure if it's the right place. I'm not going to be able to do that."

This poem of the twelve phases of the Chinese zodiac was obviously written in the order of the animals associated with the twelve earthly branches, indicating that the twelve zodiac signs were already very familiar to the people at that time.

From the above documents, it is clear that the origin of Chinese zodiac culture is in China. According to the viewpoint of Zodiac, Zodiac was introduced into China from the Middle East in Han Dynasty, about the same time as the introduction of Buddhism, and we have proved from the above documents that as early as in Spring and Autumn Period, there were records about Zodiac in China ("Rishu", "Poetry"), which indicates that the generation of Zodiac and the matching of Zodiac and Earthly Branches were generated as early as before Han Dynasty, and therefore it can be affirmed that the Zodiac is a kind of ancient culture which was generated from our country's native land. So what is the origin of the Chinese zodiac? Why did the ancients choose these twelve animals? This issue has always been the concern of scholars, made a variety of explanations.

Part of the scholars believe that the origin of the Chinese zodiac in the primitive era of animal worship, the University of Science and Technology of China, Mr. Zhang Binglun held this view. He believes that in primitive society, low productivity, knowledge of nature is extremely limited, and their own lives are closely related to the animals produce a sense of dependence (such as horses, goats, cows, chickens, dogs, etc.), to endanger their own safety of the animals to produce a sense of fear (such as tigers, snakes), more than some of the human organs of the animal function to produce a sense of veneration (such as the dog's sense of smell, etc.), resulting in the production of the cult of the animals. Twelve animal zodiac is the people in the animal worship of the primitive beliefs produced under the influence of the animal calendar used to chronicle the year, the month of the animal calendar.

Primitive people's animal worship is also manifested in the Nuo dance and other primitive dance, Nuo around the Zhou Dynasty, Nuo ceremony in the protagonist is the square phase of the twelve beasts. Drive Nuo dance selected twelve beasts, is the performance of primitive people on the animal reverence psychology. Nuo ceremony selected twelve beasts (or twelve gods) is to illuminate the twelve months of the year, in order to seek peace and security, to drive out the four sides of the epidemic ghosts, according to the twelve directions. The twelve directions of course involved in the care of the twelve branches, and then linked to the twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac, in the exorcism ceremony in the twelve phases of the genus was sent to meet the bad luck of the field. From this we can see the twelve beasts, twelve zodiac signs is a lineage, they *** with the same source is the primitive animal worship.

Mr. Liu Yao Han, an ethnographer, believes that the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac are related to the "Twelve Beasts" and the "October Calendar" of the Yi people. The Yi ethnic group living in the Daliang Mountain area of Sichuan Province, there are twelve beasts of the calendar, they are twelve animals, today is the day of the rat, tomorrow is the day of the ox, and so on three rounds of a month, counting thirty-six days, thirty-six days a month, a year will be ten months, which is later the "October Calendar" method. Mr. Liu Yaohan believes that the October calendar, with its twelve phases, was created in the Xia Yu era (see Liu Yaohan's collection of research on the social history of the Yi ethnic group), and was related to primitive totem worship, and that the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac were affected by the October calendar, and that the twelve animal calendars of the Yi ethnic group were developed into the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac later on.

Speaking of the origins of the Chinese zodiac, it is necessary to link the Chinese zodiac with the heavenly stems and earthly branches. In recent times, the oldest surviving stem and branch table in China unearthed in Yinxu, Anyang, shows that in the Yinshang era, the stem and branch of the solar calendar has been skillful and comfortable. After that, the function of the stem and branch gradually diversified with the passage of time, and it acted as the mark of the time unit, which was enlarged on the one hand to be used for dating, and narrowed on the other hand to be used for dating (the twelve hours of the day). According to historical records and research to prove that the Chinese Zodiac is following the "dry branch chronology" was created after the emergence of the twelve animals is the twelve Earthly Branches of the one-to-one correspondence to the animals for the Earth's branch symbols. People born in which year will have which year's Earthly Branches are matched with the animals, and thus the twelve animals are used for the chronology of the year, the date, and the calculation of each person's phases. It can be seen that the twelve Chinese zodiac signs are inseparable from the twelve Earthly Branches. For a long time, some scholars found that the ancient characters of the twelve branches implied the information of the Chinese zodiac, and they compared the twelve branches with the twelve ancient characters of the Chinese zodiac, and found that the twelve ancient glyphs of the twelve branches had some connections with the twelve animals. A closer look reveals that there are indeed similarities and differences. Xu Shen of the Eastern Han Dynasty, "Shuowen Jiezi", that is to say, "has" for the snake's hieroglyphic character, the same has "Ohio", "boar". Recent people have also proved that the oracle bone inscriptions, gold inscriptions in the Chinese character and the Chinese zodiac characters have similarities, one would guess that the twelve branches is the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac hieroglyphic characters, due to the twelve branches of the Zi-Ug-Yin-Mao easy to remember mixed up, the folk will be used in place of the twelve kinds of animals to animals to borrow the symbols of the ordinal number, and the Earth's branches to match the symbols of the system of the chronicle. Although the above conjecture has a certain degree of credibility, but think about it can be judged, twelve branches can not be twelve animal pictograms, because it has already been said that twelve branches in the Yin and Shang Dynasty has been skillfully used, and the Chinese zodiac is the Spring and Autumn period before the production of the two are not the same source. If the earthly branches were related to the Chinese zodiac at the time of the creation of the characters, wouldn't the Chinese zodiac have been created at the same time as the earthly branches?

Summary of the above I believe that the birth of the Chinese zodiac later than the twelve Earthly Branches, but with the twelve Earthly Branches has an inseparable relationship, the Chinese zodiac is the twelve Earthly Branches attached to the twelve animals as a replacement for the twelve Earthly Branches of the symbols, but also originated from the animal worship psychology of the ancients.

China's ancient according to the animal infestation time and life characteristics, will be twelve kinds of animals as the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac, that is, each kind of animal zodiac for an hour. Our country from the Han Dynasty at the latest, will be used to record the twelve branches of the twelve hours of the day, each hour is equivalent to two sides of the three knife hours, and the rat ranked first, the following order: cattle, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig.

Twelve zodiac originated from when, today has been difficult to examine in detail. For a long time, many people regarded "Lun Heng" as the earliest document recording the twelve signs of the zodiac. The Lun Heng is a famous work by Wang Chong, a materialist thinker of the Eastern Han Dynasty. On the balance of things" contained: "Yin, wood, its birds, the tiger. Hundred and eleventh, the earth, its birds, dogs. ...... afternoon, the horse also. Zi, rat knife. You, chicken. D, rabbit. ...... Oh, the boar. Un, sheep also. Ugly, oxen. ...... Si, snake. Shen, the monkey." The above quote, there are only eleven zodiac signs, the missing one is the dragon. The book "speech poison chapter" and said: "the dragon for the dragon, Si for the snake, the position of Chen, Si in the southeast. In this way, the twelve signs of the zodiac will be complete, the twelve earthly branches and the twelve signs of the zodiac with so complete, and with the same today.

The creation of the twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac has an astronomical background. In the primitive era, the ancestors experienced the cycle of summer and cold. The heavenly stem needs the earth's branch as a companion, the sun and the moon are relative to each other, heaven and earth are relative to each other, so it is not "twelve", and there are also various interpretations of the Chinese zodiac and the constellations.

Zi Mouse Ugly Ox ...... Hundred Dogs Oh Pig. There are many animals in the world, why did the ancients choose these twelve animals for the zodiac sign? One theory, the selection and arrangement of the twelve zodiac signs is based on the animal's daily activity time to determine.

The rat: 11 p.m. to 1 p.m. the next day (i.e., "Zi Shi"). At this time, the rat is the most courageous and active, so the Zi Hour is paired with the rat to form the Chinese Zodiac.

The Ox: 1-3 a.m. (the "ugly hour"). This is the time when the ox eats enough grass and "chews" the finest, slowest, and most comfortable, so the ox is paired with the ox at ugly time.

Tiger: 3-5 am (i.e. "Yin"). According to ancient books, this is the time when the tiger is the most active, the most ferocious, and the most injurious, so the Tiger is paired with the Yin time.

Rabbit: 5-7 in the morning (i.e., "Mao time"). At this time, the sun has yet to show its face, and the moon's light has not yet faded completely. The Jade Rabbit is the name of the moon, the only animal in the myth of the Moon Palace, which makes Dao Hour and the Rabbit zodiac signs.

Dragon: 7-9 a.m. (the "hour of the hour"). Legend has it that this is the time when dragons make rain, and dragons are mythical creatures, so the epoch is paired with the dragon.

Snake: 9-11 a.m. (i.e., "sixth hour"). It is said that snakes at this time will not hurt people, and do not roam on the road where people walk, more hidden in the bushes, so the 巳时 belongs to the Chinese zodiac sign of the snake.

Horse: 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. (i.e., "noon"). According to the Taoist saying, the sun at noon when the top of the Yang Qi reached the extreme point, the Yin Qi gradually increased in the yin and yang change column, the general animals are lying down to rest, only the horse is still accustomed to stand, and even sleep also stood, never lying down. In this way, the hour of noon belongs to the horse zodiac.

Sheep: 1-3 p.m. (i.e., the "ungodly hour"). Sheep are said to urinate the most at this time, and the urine they spill can cure themselves of a kind of madness, thus, the ungodly hour belongs to the sheep zodiac sign.

Monkey: 3-5pm (Shen Hour). This is the time when monkeys love to crow, and their voices are the longest and loudest. Therefore, Shen Hour belongs to the Monkey zodiac sign.

Chicken: 5-7 p.m. (i.e. "You time"). At this time, the sun sets over the mountains, and chickens begin to return to their cages and nests and sleep for the night, so You Shi belongs to the Rooster zodiac sign.

Dog: 7-9 p.m. (i.e., "11th hour"). When the night comes, the dog is the most vigilant watchman, and produces a special kind of eyesight and hearing, which can see the furthest and hear the most clearly. Therefore, the 11th hour belongs to the Dog zodiac sign.

Pig: 9-11 pm (i.e. "Ohio time"). At this time, the pig sleeps the soundest, snores the loudest, and the muscles of the whole body shake the most and grow meat the fastest, so it is a pig at Ohio time.

Why is there no cat in the zodiac?

Originally, when the twelve Chinese zodiac signs were created, the cat (i.e., today's domestic cat) has not yet joined the "Chinese nationality".

China's dry-branch chronology, the legend was born in the summer. Whether this legend is correct or not, there is no history to prove, but it is not later than the Shang, because the oracle bone inscriptions have been recorded.

From the point of view of the history of biological evolution, the history of cats is longer than that of mankind, but before the Han, our country has only wild cats, that is, the "Book of Rites" in the mountain cat, perhaps the "Book of Songs", "there are bears and fighters, there are cats and tigers," of the leopard cat and so on. China's domestic cats today, according to the test, from the Indian desert cat.

Indian cats into China began after the Han Dynasty, because at that time, China and India only through Buddhism and frequent interactions. This was thousands of years before the creation of the stem-and-branch chronology.

So the cat was not included in the Chinese Zodiac at that time.

About the arrangement of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs, there are also a variety of Chinese zodiac legends, these stories, or like a happy relief of the joke, or like a fable of the evil and the good, the literary component is thicker. However, the ranking of the Chinese zodiac, not overnight, nor a generation can be accomplished.

References:

Responders: Old Demon - Chief Executive Officer Level 14 4-7 10:47

Because the night before the zodiac order was arranged the cat was drunk!

The next day it didn't get up early enough to be late and miss it!

And the mouse played a trick! Arrived with the help of the old cow!

And because the old ox wanted to be first himself, he dropped the mouse from his back to the rear, not wanting the mouse to be bounced back by the bamboo and run in front of the old ox, and the fluke of the first!

This is what the story of the twelve zodiac signs in the tangram says!