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Twelve Zodiac

As an important part of Chinese traditional culture, the twelve zodiac signs are made up
of the mouse, the ox, the tiger, the rabbit, the dragon, the snake, the horse, the sheep, the
monkey, the rooster, the dog and the pig, among which the dragon is an imaginary one.
The twelve zodiac signs correspond to the Chinese traditional Twelve Earthly Branches,
forming the order of zishu (mouse), chouniu (ox), yinhu (tiger), maotu (rabbit), chenlong
(dragon), sishe (snake), wuma (horse), weiyang (sheep), shenhou (monkey), youji
(rooster), xugou (dog) and haizhu (pig).

It is said that the selection and the order of the twelve zodiac signs are based on the time
table of the animals and the order cannot be changed randomly. Chinese people used the
Twelve Earthly Branches no later than the Han Dynasty to record the 12 shichen every day
(each shichen equals to two hours). The period of the day from 11 pm to 1 am is zishi
when the mouse is the most active. One to three in the morning is choushi when the ox
is ruminating. Three to five in the morning is yinshi when the fiercest tiger is looking around
for food. Five to seven in the morning is maoshi when the jade hare is busy with making
medicine with the moon still in the sky. Seven to nine in the morning is chenshi, good time
for the dragon king to bring rain to the world. Nine to eleven in the morning is sishi when the
snake becomes active. 11am to 1pm is wushi when Yang is at its highest and the heavenly
steed soars across the skies. One to three in the afternoon is weishi when the sheep eats
grass to grow stronger. Three to five in the afternoon is shenshi when the monkey is the
most active. Five to seven in the afternoon is youshi when the night falls and the rooster
returns to its shelter. Seven to nine in the evening is xushi when the dog keeps watch at
night. Nine to eleven in the evening is haishi when the pig is sleeping soundly in prevailing
silence.

If you grasp the order of those twelve animals, you can know the zodiac animal of a certain
year. For instance, 2005 is the year of the rooster, and then you can figure out that 2004
is the year of the monkey and 2006 is the year of the dog. If you know the zodiac sign of
the year, you can add or subtract twelve to find the years of the same zodiac sign in the
future and in the past. For example, 2005 is the year of the rooster, and years of 2005
plus or minus 12 as well as multiples of 12 such as 2017 and 1993 are also years of
the rooster.

Among the twelve zodiac signs, the dragon is the only imaginary animal. Due to its
representation of good luck in Chinese culture, many young people at present prefer to
give birth to their babies in the year of the dragon because those born at that time are
“the sons of the dragon”.

There are a variety of good-looking cultural products concerning the twelve zodiac signs
such as paper-cuts, New Year pictures and stamps with delicate design and bright color.

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