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In ancient China, the twenty eight stars near the ecliptic were called "the twenty eight mansions", which were used to mark the traveling positions of the sun and the moon as wells as to detect the time and seasons. In order to make it easy for memorizing, people divided the sky ecliptic into four regions, each assigned with an animal to stand for it. They are Azure Dragon on the east, White Tiger on the west, Vermilion Bird on the south and Black Tortoise on the north. Each region contains seven mansions. The four creatures are collectively called "the Four Symbols".