Chinese Zodiac is called Shuxiang or known as Shengxiao in China. It refers to the rotating 12-year cycle , in which each year relates to a animal sign. The 12 animal signes in Chinese Zodiac include rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig. They match wwith the twelve Earthly Branches (Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu and Hai). Everyone in China is born in the year of an animal sign of zodiac, so Chinese often calculate age through zodiac. The Zodiac culture has become a symbol of traditional Chinese culture.
Why Rate is the first animal sign in Chinese Zodiac? The Sign animals' appearance in Chinese Zodiac and their sorting order combine countless legends and deeply embedded in Chinese mythology. The most well-known legend about the sorting order tells that the Heavenly Emperor selected 12 types of animals to number years and invited the animals to a feast. The rat was the 1st one attending the feast, so it rank at the 1st, followed by ox, tiger rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, roster, dog and pig in sequence.
Another saying about the origin of Chinese Zodiac is based on the twelve Earthly Branches. Zi (Midnight) refers to 23:00-01:00 in a day, when the rat is most active. Chou refers to the period of a day from 01：00 to 03：00 when ox ruminates. Yin refers to the period of a day from 03：00 to 05：00 when tiger looks for food. And so on, every animal has its own habbit at a certain period of the day.
Regardless of what origin of Chinese Zodiac, the Chinese Zodiac culture has already amazed the people in China for thousands of years. With the development of history, Chinese Zodiac has gradually been integrated into most Chinese's concept. Each animal sign has a rich legend and thus form a conceptual explanation system, showing in the daily activities and fold cultures in China, such as marriage, praying, year of fate, lunar new year mascot.
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