Why didn't the dragon in 12 come first?

1. It is said that Yellow Emperor Xuanyuan wanted to choose twelve kinds of animals as court guards. The cat asked the mouse to sign up, but the mouse forgot. As a result, the cat was not chosen, and since then, the cat and mouse have become enemies. At that time, the elephant also came to participate in the competition and was driven away by the mouse. The rest of the animals were originally pushed by cows, but the mice jumped on the cows' backs and the pigs also booed. Therefore, the mouse was mistakenly ranked first and the pork chop was ranked last. The tiger and the dragon refused to accept it, and were named king of the mountain and king of the sea, ranking behind the mouse and the cow. The rabbit refused to accept it again, raced with the dragon and finally reached the dragon. The dog was so angry that it bit the rabbit in a rage and was punished for it, ranking second from the bottom. Snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys and chickens have also gone through some contests and arranged their positions one by one. Finally, the order of rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs was formed. This is the reason why the legendary zodiac is ranked. Although the legendary story lacks scientific basis, it reflects the early people's desire to explain the ranking of the zodiac.

2. Chinese ancient scholars explained the relationship between earthly branches and Xiao beasts from the perspective of twelve o'clock in ancient times. Before the beginning of the world, heaven and earth were chaotic. The mouse came out near midnight, biting the chaos between heaven and earth out of the gap. This is the so-called "rats bite the sky", and later they formed subordinate rats. When the sky opens, the land will be reclaimed. "This land will be saved from ugliness." Cows have to plow fields, so ugliness belongs to cows. Yin Shi is the time when a person is born. If he lives, he must die. Nothing can kill people more than a tiger. Yin has awe, so Yin belongs to a tiger. Shi Mao is the image of sunrise, and the sun should belong to Oracle, which is like fire, and the yin contained in it is the moon's fine jade rabbit, so Shi Mao is a rabbit. March is the rainy season. Chen Ziran belongs to the dragon. The divinatory symbols in April, at this moment, spring grass is flourishing, which is a good day for snakes, like a duck to water. Besides, it's morning, and the snake is returning to the cave, so it belongs to the snake. At noon and afternoon, the sun's spirit reaches its peak, and the yin is budding. The horse ran at a gallop, its hooves flying, but it stepped on the ground from time to time. The sky is yang, the earth is yin, and the horse jumps between yin and yang, so it becomes the zodiac at noon. Sheep, grazing in the afternoon is the best time, and it is easy to gain weight. This time is not the right time, so it is not a sheep. Not after dressing, but when the monkey is crying near the western hills, and the monkey likes to stretch his arms and jump at this time, so the monkey is worth dressing. When the moon appears, it belongs to water, so it should be divination. The hexagrams have upper and lower yin, and the middle yang represents the essence of the sun. So, you are a chicken. When night falls, it's time. Dogs are vigil animals, and when they are with them, they become dogs. Then when the sea comes, heaven and earth are immersed in a state of chaos, just like a fruit wrapped in stones, and everything in the world is covered at night. Pigs are chaotic creatures that only know how to eat, so pigs have become the zodiac of Hai. The zodiac is always related to branches, which sounds reasonable.

3. According to China people's belief in Yin and Yang, twelve kinds of animals are divided into Yin and Yang, and the Yin and Yang of animals are arranged according to the odd-even difference of toes. Animals generally have the same number of toes, while mice have the first four feet and the last five feet, even and odd. Things are rare, of course, ranking first, followed by cattle and four-toed (even); Tiger, five toes (odd number); Rabbit, four toes (even number); Dragon, five toes (odd number); Snakes, no toes (occasionally); Horse, one toe (odd number); Sheep, four toes (even number); Monkey, five toes (odd number); Chicken, four toes (even number); Dog, five toes (odd number); Pig, four toes (even number). Hong Xun, a scholar in Song Dynasty, and Lang Ying, a scholar, classified according to this statement, and put forward that "the ground is at the bottom" in their "Seven Collations of the Zodiac", so we should treat the number of toes differently. The mouse has four claws in front, even number is yin, hind foot is five claws, and odd number is yang. The first half of the child is the yin of last night, and the second half is the yang of today, just using mice to symbolize the child. Cattle, sheep and pig's trotters have four claws, and chickens have four claws. Besides, rabbits have no lips and four claws, and snakes have forked tongues. Six should be even, belonging to Yin, accounting for six branches. Tigers have five claws, monkeys and dogs also have five claws. horseshoes are round and have no toes. All six are odd numbers, belonging to Yang, and together with the mice belonging to Yang, they account for the other six branches. Lang Ying's classification is borrowed from Hong Xun's classification and then interpreted in detail. In fact, the two statements are similar, both of which are divided into yin and yang.