{"id":5221,"date":"2019-10-21T22:48:23","date_gmt":"2019-10-21T22:48:23","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/business-chinese\/twelve-chinese-zodiac-signs\/"},"modified":"2019-10-21T22:48:23","modified_gmt":"2019-10-21T22:48:23","slug":"twelve-chinese-zodiac-signs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/chinesemoment.com\/de\/twelve-chinese-zodiac-signs\/","title":{"rendered":"Twelve Chinese Zodiac Signs"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Every Chinese people has a zodiac animal sign that represents the year in which he or she was born. If you are in China, you might be asked “\u4f60\u5c5e\u4ec0\u4e48(n\u01d0 sh\u01d4 shén me)\uff1f” What are they asking and how should you answer? Before we release the answer, let’s first learn the meaning of the Chinese character “\u5c5e(sh\u01d4)”. In Chinese, \u5c5e means “to belong to”, so literally the question means “What do you belong to?” But actually the person is asking “In which Chinese year were you born?” When somebody asks you “\u4f60\u5c5e\u4ec0\u4e48(n\u01d0 sh\u01d4 shén me)\uff1f”, you answer with “\u6211\u5c5e…” which means “ I was born in the year of ….”<\/div>\n
Chinese Zodiac System<\/div>\n
China has a zodiac system ba<\/em>sed on twelve different animals which are called \u5341\u4e8c\u751f\u8096(shí èr sh\u0113n\u0261 xi\u0101o). These twelve animals sequentially mark twelve years, which form a cycle. For instance, according to the zodiac signs, 2014 is the year of the horse, then in anther twelve years (2026) we’ll have another year of the horse. The twelve animals in the cycle are in a set order, so if you know the order of the twelve animals and the current zodiac year, then you can actually predicate a person’s age without asking “\u4f60\u4eca\u5e74\u591a\u5927 (How old are you)\uff1f” which may be rude in some occasions.<\/div>\n
Twelve Chinese Zodiac Animals in Order<\/div>\n
So what are the twelve zodiac animals and the order? The twelve animals in a sequential order are: “\u9f20sh\u01d4" (mouse), “\u725bniú" (ox), “\u864eh\u01d4" (tiger), “\u5154tù" (rabbit), “\u9f99lóng" (dragon), “\u86c7shé" (snake), “\u9a6cm\u01ce" (horse), “\u7f8ayáng" (sheep), “\u7334hóu" (monkey), “\u9e21j\u012b" (rooster), “\u72d7g\u01d2u" (dog), “\u732azh\u016b" (pig). Among the twelve animals, eleven of them are real animals. o<\/em>nly dragon is fantastical. Dragon in Chinese culture is never seen as a raging, murdering beast like how western dragons are often portrayed. In China, it is a symbol of power, a force for good.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n