All About the Chinese Zodiac

The 12 zodiac signs, which are composed of eleven animals originating from nature, namely rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig and the legendary dragon, are used to mark the year in the order of Zi Mouse, Ugly Ox, Yin Tiger, Mao Rabbit, Cinnabar Dragon, Si Snake, Noon Horse, Weiyang Sheep, Shen Monkey, You Rooster, Xugou Dog, and Ohio Pig.

Origin of the Chinese Zodiac

With 12 zodiac signs chronology, in China at least in the North and South Dynasties began. The Northern History - Yuwenguo biography ", recorded Yuwenguo's mother wrote him a letter, the letter said: "In the past in the town of Wuchuan born your brothers, the eldest is a rat, the second belongs to the rabbit, your body belongs to the snake". Indicates that at that time the folk have 12 zodiac usage.　However, the origin of the 12 zodiac how? China's ancient records, China's ancient Central Plains, the initial use of the "Stem and Branch Chronology", that is, with 10 heavenly symbols (A, B, C, D, E, F, G, C, N, D) and 12 Earthly Branches Symbol (Zi, ugly, Yin, D, E, F, Si, N, W, Y, Shen, You, H, Xu, Hai) with the chronology. In the northwest of China, a few nomadic people to animals to the year. The book of Tang" recorded: "Crafts country to twelve things chronicle, such as the year in the c, is said to be the year of the tiger". In addition, "Song Shi - Tubo biography" also recorded that the Tubo chiefs in the narrative, to the object chronicle, the so-called "Road to the old things are dozens of two eons belonging to the day, the rabbit year so, the year of the horse so". Later, in the interaction between the central plains and the ethnic minorities, the two chronology method of mutual contact with the formation of the present 12 zodiac signs. As Zhao Yi in the Qing Dynasty in the "new Yu Jungkao" pointed out that, "cover the northern custom of the first no matter Zi Uyin Mao of the twelve hours, but the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit and so on sub-division of chronological age, soak search circulated in China, and then not abolished ear". This explanation of the origin of the 12 Chinese zodiac, has been recognized by many people.　In addition, about the 12 zodiac origin of the saying there: Hong Xun's "Yang Gu Man Records" said, the 12 Earthly Branches in the odd-numbered, to the animal's fingers or hooves are also an odd number of matches, such as the son of the first place, and it is compatible with the rat for the 5 finger, the Earthly Branches in the even-numbered place, it is to take the even belonging to the name, such as cattle and ugly match for the 4 claws. Ye Shijie in the "grass and wood", the origin of the 12 Chinese zodiac explained as follows: the art of 12 Xiao with 12 stars, each Xiao has a lack of shape, such as the rat has no teeth, cattle have no teeth, the tiger has no spleen, rabbit has no lips, the dragon has no ears, the snake has no feet, the horse has no guts, the sheep has no pupils, the monkey has no buttocks, the chicken has no kidneys, the dog has no stomach, the pig has no sinews, the people are not enough".　There are various other sayings. Such as: the yellow emperor to select 12 kinds of animals in the sky on duty ...... through the competition and selected the rat, cattle, tigers and other 12 kinds of animals; 12 zodiac signs from the primitive society, some clans of totem worship, according to the strength of the tribes of a certain rally divided into; 12 zodiac signs may be introduced from the dziuhu; or 28 star distribution of the circumference of the heavens, to the value of the 12 hours. Each star is named after an animal. From the animals on duty at each hour, a common one is chosen as a substitute for a certain year, and so on, to name a few.　Although people can not determine the exact origin of the 12 Chinese zodiac, but because it's popular, convenient and interesting, so has been used to this day, the ancients left us a still have practical value of the valuable heritage.

Myths and legends

The origin of the twelve Chinese zodiac signs is a myth and legend: when Emperor Xuanyuan wanted to choose twelve animals as the palace guards, the cat to the mouse to enroll, the mouse to forget, the cat was not selected, and from then on, and the rat made enemies. Elephants also came to participate in the race, was a mouse into the nose, to drive away, the rest of the animals, originally pushed the cow as the first, but the mouse scurried to the cow's back, the pig also followed the coaxing, so the mouse ranked the first, the pig ranked last. The tiger and the dragon did not obey, was named king of the mountain and the king of the sea, ranked behind the rat and the ox. The rabbit, again not satisfied, raced with the dragon and ended up in front of the dragon. The dog, again not satisfied, bit the rabbit in a fit of pique, and was penalized for this by being placed in the penultimate position. Snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken also after a fight, one by one to line up the position, and finally formed a mouse, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, chicken, dog, pig order.

Choosing the arrangement

The choice of the twelve animals in the Han Chinese Zodiac is not complicated, it is close to the daily life and social life of the Han people can be guessed. The twelve animals in the Chinese Zodiac can be roughly divided into three categories: one is the domesticated "six animals", i.e. cattle, sheep, horses, pigs, dogs and chickens, which are domesticated by human beings for economic or other purposes, and account for half of the twelve animals. The "six animals" is an important concept in Chinese agricultural culture with a long history, and in the traditional concept of the Chinese people, "six animals prosper" represents a prosperous and lucky family. During the Spring Festival, people usually mention "prosperity of the six animals", so it is inevitable that these six animals become the Chinese zodiac. The second category is the wildlife in the people are familiar with, and people's daily, social life has a close relationship with the animals, they are tiger, rabbit, monkey, rat, snake, which are feared by the people to intervene in human life, such as tigers, snakes; there are also for the people are disgusted by, taboo, but dependent on human survival of the rodents; and there are people love, such as rabbits, monkeys. The third category is the Chinese traditional symbolic mascot - the dragon, the dragon is the symbol of the Chinese nation, is a set of many animal characteristics in one of the "man-made objects", is the people's imagination, "spirit! "The dragon is a symbol of the Chinese nation. The dragon represents the wealth and auspiciousness, is the most symbolic color of the auspicious animals, so the Chinese Zodiac in the position of the dragon is even less.

Why is there no cat in the Chinese zodiac?

Chen Shuai-Fo believes that since ancient times, people on the twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac why there is no cat, including the above story and the story of "cat and mouse", and so on and so forth, but they are not enough to believe.　Why can't cats be on the list? The real reason is that there was no cat in ancient China. Cats are native to Egypt, and it is not known when they were introduced to China. Folklore is the Tang Sanzang brought back from India. Now when it comes to why the twelve phases of the cat, folk tales to explain. In fact, before the cat was introduced to China, China had twelve zodiac signs. Therefore, it is not surprising that there is no cat in the Chinese zodiac. According to the classification of zoology, the tiger belongs to the mammal, carnivore, cat family. Tigers and cats are actually "family" relatives. With the tiger on behalf of the cat in the twelve zodiac "General Assembly", has not worried about no "right to speak", but also barely comforted.　From the above we can see that the choice of animals in the Chinese Zodiac is not arbitrary, but has a certain meaning, people choose the animals are out of a different perspective, and with a certain meaning.　So what is the order of these twelve animals? As I said earlier, the Chinese Zodiac produced in ancient animal worship, totem worship atmosphere, people only use animals to borrow the ordinal number of symbols to match the Earth's branches, why choose the twelve animals, who first and who later, in accordance with what kind of order and there is no conclusive evidence, because the Chinese Zodiac is produced in the ancient ancient culture, due to the passage of time, people have been arranged for the original purpose of the loss of the present-day legends and stories are just attached to it! The legends and stories of today's people are just an adaptation of it, which can only be relied on legends and imagination. On the issue of the arrangement of the Chinese Zodiac, there are three aspects of the following explanation.

One is the arrangement of the Chinese zodiac in folklore stories

Han folk tales say: when Emperor Xuanyuan wanted to choose twelve animals as palace guards, the cat to the mouse enrollment, the mouse to forget, the result is that the cat was not selected, and from then on with the mouse to make enemies. Elephants also came to participate in the race, was a mouse into the nose, to drive away, the rest of the animals, originally pushed the cow as the first, but the mouse scurried to the back of the cow, the pig also followed the coaxing, so the mouse row first, the pig row last. The tiger and the dragon did not obey, was named king of the mountain and the king of the sea, ranked behind the rat and the ox. The rabbit, again not satisfied, raced with the dragon and ended up in front of the dragon. The dog, again not satisfied, bit the rabbit in a fit of pique, and was penalized for this by being placed in the penultimate position. Snake, horse, goat, monkey, chicken also after a fight, one by one, the position of the ranking, and finally formed the order of the rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, chicken, dog, pig. Although the legend is not a scientific explanation of the problem , but it reflects the desire to explain the choice of the twelve signs of the zodiac.

The second is from the ancient perspective of the twelve hours of the day and night to explain

Black sky and the earth, chaos, the rat, nearly half of the night when out of the activities of heaven and earth between the twelve zodiac snakes

The state of chaos between the bite out of the cracks, "the rat bites the sky to open up", so the son of the rat. After the opening of the sky, then to open up the ground, "the ground opened up in the ugly", the ox plowed the field, it is the thing to open up the ground, so the ugly belongs to the ox. C is the time of birth, there must be life and death, put people to death than a tiger, c, and the meaning of fear, so c is a tiger. D time, for the sunrise, the sun should be away from the trigrams, away from the trigrams like fire, contained within the yin lines, for the Yin that is the moon's essence of the Jade Rabbit, so that the d belongs to the rabbit. Tatsu, the trigrams of March, this time is at the time of the group of dragons in the rain. Chen naturally belongs to the dragon. Si, April's trigrams, the value of this time, spring grass, is a good day for snakes, such as fish in the water. In addition, Si time for the morning, this time the snake is returning to the hole, therefore, Si is a snake. Afternoon, when the afternoon, Yang Qi reached the extreme, Yin Qi is sprouting. Horse this animal, galloping, four hooves in the air, but from time to time on the ground. Prancing for the Yang, step on the ground for the Yin, the horse in the yin and yang leaping between, so became the afternoon of the genus. Sheep, after the afternoon to eat grass for the best time, easy to fat, this time is not time, so not belong to sheep. After not Shen time, is the sun near the west mountain apes and monkeys cry of the hour, and monkeys like to stretch their arms at this time to jump, so the monkey with the Shen. You for the moon appeared at the time, the moon is water, should be Kan Gua. Kan Gua, its upper and lower yin lines, and the center of the yang lines on behalf of the sun, the essence of the Golden Crow. Therefore, You is the Rooster. When night falls, it is the eleventh hour. The dog is the domestic animal that keeps watch at night, and it is also associated with the Hundred Days of the Dog. Then came the Hai Shi, and heaven and earth were again immersed in a state of chaos, like a fruit wrapped in a kernel, the Hai Shi night covered all things in the world. Pigs are chaotic creatures that only know how to eat, so pigs became the genus of Ohio. Zhu Xi, a famous rationalist of the Song Dynasty, held this view.

Three is the twelve animals are divided into yin and yang two categories

Animal before and after the number of toes is generally the same, and the rat alone is the front foot four, after the foot of five, the odd-even the same body , things are rare, of course, in the first place, followed by the cow, four toes (even); tiger, five toes (odd); rabbit, four toes (even); dragon, five toes (odd); snake, no toes (the same even); horse, a toe (odd); sheep, four toes (even); sheep, four toes (even); the dragon, five toes (odd); snake, no toes (the same even); horses, a toe (odd); sheep, four toes (even); monkey, five toes (odd); chicken, four toes (even); dog, five toes (odd); pig, four toes (even). Holding this view is the Song Hong Xun, the Ming dynasty scholar Lang Ying on the basis of its categorization, in his "seven repair class draft - twelve zodiac" in the "Earth Branch in the next", so don't yin and yang when to look at the number of toes. Mouse is four paws in front, even number for Yin, back foot five paws, odd number for Yang. The first half of the first half of last night's yin, the second half of today's yang, just use the rat to symbolize the son. Cow, sheep, pig's hooves, chicken four paws, plus the rabbit lack of lips and four paws, snake tongue points, six of them should be even, Yin, accounting for the six branches of the earth. Tiger five-clawed, monkey, dog also five-clawed, horse hooves round and not divided, six are odd, belonging to the Yang, together with the Yang rat, accounting for the other six branches of the earth. Lang Ying's categorization method is borrowed from Hong Xun's classification method, and the two are similar.　The above three explanations are from different perspectives to explain the arrangement of the Chinese Zodiac, folk legends about the arrangement of the Chinese Zodiac animals are very rich, the circulation of these legends on the one hand enriches the content of the Chinese Zodiac, and on the other hand promotes the inheritance and development of the culture of the Chinese Zodiac. The purpose of categorizing the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac into yin and yang and incorporating them into the concept of Chinese belief in the five elements is to link the phases of the genus with the rituals of life, and to correspond yin and yang and the five elements with the Chinese zodiac, so as to explain other related cultural phenomena of life.

Algorithm of the Lunar Calendar

The Chinese Yellow Calendar uses the Lunar New Year to determine the sign of the zodiac. The "Lunar Calendar" is the "Taiyin Calendar" used since the Han Dynasty, and the New Year is bounded by the Lichun, which is the first of the twenty-four solar terms, and the Chinese Zodiac is based on the Lichun.　Six A record of the year in the celestial stem for: a b c d e has g xin nong dec 10, the earth's branches for: zi ugly c d e s si wu wei shen yu xu xu hei 12. From the a son, b ugly, c c, d d d ...... Arrangement, just 60 row after a cycle. This is a little complicated and not good to remember, so the ancients thought of using animals to express the complexity of the earth's branches, which is the Chinese zodiac. Zi rat, ugly cattle, c tiger, rabbit, chen dragon, six snakes, afternoon horse, ungoat, Shen monkey, You chicken, Huxu dog, Ohio pig. The Chinese zodiac is unique to our country's six A calendar years, which should be counted from the day of spring.　Traditional numerology, divination and other folklore, are to "spring" as the basis for the calculation of the Chinese zodiac! Including the current folk astrology diviners have been using the traditional method of determining the Chinese zodiac. Because the Chinese Zodiac and the Earth's branches of the same origin, can not be determined by the current Spring Festival.　Traditional Chinese New Year is the spring, the first day of the first month for the New Year's Day, the Republic of first year (1911) stipulates that the solar calendar January 1 for the Spring Festival, due to civil opposition, Yuan Shikai to take a compromise approach, the solar calendar January 1 named New Year's Day, the first day of the first month for the Spring Festival.

Disputes about the algorithm of Chinese zodiac

Some people also for convenience, directly according to the Spring Festival to determine the phases of the genus, so the tradition has gradually been forgotten by many people, so about the definition of the Chinese zodiac has generated a lot of controversy, and even some scholars of folklore claimed that the Chinese zodiac should be defined according to the Spring Festival, but can not find the basis, but only speculation that "should be defined according to the Spring Festival! However, some folklore scholars also claimed that the Chinese zodiac should be determined according to the Spring Festival, but they could not find the basis, and they only speculated that "it should be determined according to the Spring Festival" or "for the sake of convenience"; while many folklore scholars in favor of determining the Chinese zodiac by the beginning of the Spring Festival were able to find out the basis of the tradition.　The questionnaire survey shows that the tradition of determining the Chinese zodiac sign by the spring is used and forgotten by half of the people in the folklore.　Of course, if you happen to be born on the "controversial" date, you can go by your personal preference.

Moral

(1) Our country's twelve signs of the Chinese Zodiac, two by two, six paths of reincarnation, reflecting the expectations of our ancestors on all of our Chinese people and requirements.　The first group: Rat and Ox. The Rat represents wisdom and the Ox represents hard work. The two must be closely combined together, if only wisdom without hard work, it becomes a small smart, just hard work without brains, it becomes stupid. Therefore, the two must be combined. This is the first and most important group of expectations and requirements that our ancestors have for Chinese people.　The second group: the tiger and the rabbit. The tiger represents bravery and the rabbit represents caution. The two must be closely combined in order to achieve the so-called boldness and caution. If boldness leaves caution, it becomes recklessness, and one-sided caution becomes timidity. This group is also important, so it is placed second.　The third group is the dragon and the snake. The dragon represents rigidity and the snake represents flexibility. As the saying goes, the stiff is easy to break, too stiff is easy to break; too soft is easy to be weak, too soft is easy to lose the main opinion, so the combination of rigidity and flexibility is our ancestor's training through the ages.　The fourth group is the Horse and the Sheep. Horse stands for moving forward and striving towards the goal, while sheep stands for unity and harmony. As the Chinese nation is a big family, we need an internal environment of unity and harmony. Only with collective harmony can we free our hands to pursue our own ideals. If a person only cares about his own interests and pays no attention to unity and harmony, he is bound to fall behind. Therefore, individual endeavor and collective harmony must be tightly integrated.　The fifth group is the monkey and the chicken. The monkey represents flexibility, and the chicken beats at regular intervals, representing constancy. Flexibility and constancy must be tightly combined. If you are only flexible and not constant, even the best policy will not be rewarded in the end. But if you are only constant, a pool of stagnant water, a piece of iron plate, then there will be no reform and opening up for us today. Only a very rounded combination between them, on the one hand, has stability and maintains overall harmony and order, and on the other hand, is able to move forward with constant adaptability.　Lastly, there is the dog and the pig. The dog stands for loyalty and the pig for easy-going. A person who is too loyal and does not know how to be easy-going will reject others. And conversely, a person who is too easy-going and has no loyalty, that person loses his principles. So whether it is loyalty to a nation-state, loyalty to a team, or loyalty to one's own ideals, it must be tightly combined with easy-going, so that it is easy to truly maintain the deepest loyalty in one's heart. This is what we Chinese have always insisted on, the outer circle and the inner square, the gentleman's harmony and differences.　What is the significance of the fact that everyone in China has his or her own Chinese zodiac sign, some are pigs and some are dogs? In fact, our ancestors expect us to be rounded, not biased, and require us to know how to cut to the corresponding side. For example, the Pig can pursue loyalty in his easy-going nature, while the Dog can be easy-going in his loyal nature.

Characteristics of the Zodiac Signs

The Characteristics and Weaknesses of the Zodiac Signs

Rat: Attractiveness, sociability, influence, intellectuality, thrift, charm, nervousness, power-hunger, redundancy , craftiness, covetousness, intervention.　

The Ox: integrity, innovation, purposefulness, diligence, stability, good words, stubbornness, indifference, prejudice, slowness, revenge.　

Tiger: zeal, good luck, courage, charity, charm, authority, impulsiveness, boasting, irritability, indulgence, disobedience, drifting.　Rabbit: wit, cleanliness, caution, skill, longevity, virtue, secrecy, amateurism, overly formal, melancholy, self-aggrandizement, kindness, hopefulness.　

Dragon: strength, zeal, success, boldness, health, amorousness, rigidity, bewilderment, distrust, boastfulness, dissatisfaction with talkativeness.　

Snake: intuition, wisdom, attraction, resourcefulness, caution, sympathy, concealment, greed, extravagance, arrogance, laziness, loneliness.　

The Horse: persuasive, stylish, autonomous, sensitive, popular, accomplished, selfish, hasty, arrogant, impetuous, defiant, conceited.　

Sheep: inventive, whimsical, sensitive, courteous, persevering, tasteful, dependent, pessimistic, lack of vision, impractical, sluggish, worried.　

Monkey: improvisation, leadership, resourcefulness, intelligence, stability, loyalty, cunning, self-confidence, scheming, stupidity, rapacity, speculation.　Rooster: resilience, conservatism, enthusiasm, beauty, frankness, humor, arrogance, self-aggrandizement, boasting, blind worship, debauchery.　

Dog: persistent, responsible, heroic, intelligent, honorable, moralistic, restless, mocking, critical, unsociable, self-righteous, smooth.　

Pig: prudence, escapism, bravery, culture, truthfulness, honesty, gullibility, materialism, anger, hesitation, foolishness.

Chinese Zodiac Pairings

Rat: Great luck with Dragon, Monkey, Ox, not compatible with Goat, Horse, Rabbit, Rooster, other genera are second best.　

The ox is lucky to meet the rat, snake and chicken, but not compatible with the dragon, horse, sheep, dog and rabbit, while other signs are less lucky.　

Tiger: good luck with Horse and Dog, not compatible with Snake and Monkey, other phases are less lucky.　

Rabbits: good luck with sheep, dogs and pigs, not compatible with rats, cows, dragons, chickens and horses, and less lucky with other phases.　

Dragon: it is lucky to meet rat, monkey and chicken, but it is not compatible with dog, ox, dragon and rabbit, while other genera are less lucky.　

Snake: in the case of ox, chicken, horse auspicious, can not be compatible with tiger, monkey, pig, other phases of the second auspicious.　

The horse is lucky to meet snake, goat and dog, but it is not compatible with rat, ox, rabbit and horse, while other phases are less lucky.　

Sheep: good luck with Rabbit, Horse and Pig, not compatible with Rat, Ox and Dog, other phases are less lucky.　

Monkey: lucky to meet Rat, Dragon, not compatible with Tiger, Snake, Pig, other phases are less lucky.　

Rooster: lucky to meet Ox, Dragon, Snake, not compatible with Rabbit, Rooster, Dog, other phases are less lucky.　

Dog: Tiger, Rabbit, Horse, not compatible with Ox, Dragon, Goat, Chicken, other phases are less auspicious.　

The Pig: lucky to meet sheep, rabbit, not compatible with snake, pig, monkey, other phases of the second lucky.