The Story of Chinese Zodiac

In ancient times, in order to make people easily remember the years, our ancestors came up with an idea ―― using the animals to represent the years.

A popular folk method which reflected the cyclical method of recording years are the Twelve Animal Signs. Every year is assigned an animal name or "sign" according to a repeating cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. The Chinese animal signs are a 12-year cycle used for dating the years. They represent a cyclical concept of time, rather than the Western linear concept of time.

Long, long time ago, people always forgot in which year they were born and could not figure out exactly how old they were.

The Jade Emperor came up with an idea. It’s too difficult to remember a year. It would be easier to remember an animal. Why don’t we choose twelve animals to represent the years?

福德宮 The Jade Emperor asked the Earth God to tell every animal how to be chosen as one of the animals for the twelve signs of the zodiac.

玉皇大帝公告 The riverriver- crossing race All animals are welcome to competecompete. The first twelve animals across the finish line will be chosen as the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiaczodiac.

After the announcementannouncement, all the animals got very excited and everyone was talking about the race.

At that time, the cat and the rat were very good friends. They met to discuss the race. We can’t swim. How are we gonna cross the river? Let’s join the oxox, We can point the way and he can carry us across the river.

The cat and the rat went to see the ox. The ox said okay at once.

十 二 生 肖 渡 河 比 賽 The day of the race soon came. Early that morning, before the rooster woke up, the ox, the cat and the rat were already at the riversideriverside.

The cat and the rat climbed onto the back of the ox. And then they started swimming across the river.

The cat became sleepy because he got up so early that morning. He fell asleep as soon as he got on top of the ox’s back.

How eager the rat wanted to win first place. When the ox was a few second away from the opposite bank of the river, the rat pushed the cat into the water and went into one of the ox’s ears.

The ox had no idea of what had just happened but heard the rat saying “ Big Brother Ox, Go! We are almost there! We can make it.”

The ox climbed up the shore and ran to the finish line. The rat jumped out of the ox’s ear and rushed to the finish line to win first placeplace.

The ox was very angry. Ever since then, the ox always looked at the rat with his enormous eyes.

Then came the tigertiger. The tiger was roaringroaring,” I am the first, right?”” No, you are the third,” said the Jade Emperor.

A whirlwind came in the sky as the dragon arrived.

But the rabbit sprinted ahead and took the forth place. The rabbit could not swim but jumped across the river on the backs of the other animals.

降 雨 大 典降 雨 大 典 You could fly. Why did you arrive so late? I had gone to the South China Sea to host a rainmaking ceremony and rushed back in a hurry but was too late.

The sky was filled with flying dust. The horse was dashing at full speed, but as he was about to cross the finish line, the snake suddenly shot through to come in sixth. Poor horse.

Originally, the horse was very bold and bravebrave, but after being scared by the snake, he became very shy. Originally, the snake had legs, but he raced so hard, he ran his legs off.

Working together, the goatgoat, the monkey and the rooster rowed on a loglog. As a result, they earned themselves eighth, ninth, and tenth places respectivelyrespectively.

十一 Then came the dogdog. He was a playful fellow. As he crossed the river, he had such a good time in the water that he forgot the time.

Only one opening was left. All the people wanted to see who was in the lead. The pig arrived and said I’m starvingstarving, Is there any food to eat here?

一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 十一十一 十二十二 The race was over. The Jade Emperor at once announced the places of the twelve animals in the zodiac.

At that time, the cat arrived dripping wet. What is my place? You came in thirteenth.

The cat was mad. “ You bad rat!” He said. “ I won’t spare you!” The cat slapped the rat across the face and knocked out all of his teeth except the two in front.

Today when the rat sees the cat’s shadowshadow, he runs like crazy. Even in daytime he hides in a holehole, not daring to show his face.

The End

Jade Emperor 玉皇大帝

福 德 宮福 德 宮 Earth God 土地公

鼠 Rat

ox 牛

tiger 老虎

Rabbit 兔子

dragon 龍

snake 蛇

horse 馬

goat 羊

monke y 猴子

rooster 雞

狗 dog

豬 Pig

Animal 動物

一 二 三 四 五 六 七 八 九 十 十一十一 十二十二 Chinese zodiac 中國生肖

finish line 終點

river 河川

玉皇大帝公告 announcement 公 告

riverside 河 邊

whirlwind 旋 風

shadow 影 子

hole 洞

Difficult 困 難

across 越 過

excited 興奮的

eager 渴望的

enormous 巨大的

starving 飢 餓

Remember 記 得記 得

represent 表示 ; 象徵

競爭 ; 比賽 compete

討 論 discuss

吼叫 ; 怒吼 roar

饒恕 spare

掌擊 ; 摑 slap

藏 ; 躲 hide

log 原木

分別地 respectively

Knock out 壓倒 ; 使屈服

Rush 匆促

back 返回

dare 敢 ; 膽敢

sprint 全力衝刺

ceremony 典禮

bold 大膽的

勇敢的 brave

playful 喜遊玩的

opening 空缺

place 次序

suddenly 突然地