The Origin of Tiger in the Zodiac

In ancient times, there were no tigers, only lions. The jade emperor in charge of the seal thinks that the lion is fierce, strong-willed and unruly. After the notoriety of the lion spread to the Heavenly Palace, the Jade Emperor decided to remove the title of the lion's zodiac and add the Beastmaster Tiger.

So the lion was moved out of the zodiac, and the samurai guards in front of the temple were ordered to manage the forest. Seal the tiger guardian as an animal symbol. Since then, the tiger has become an animal symbol, while the lion has been exiled to the far south. Of course, the tiger was also descended by the guards in front of the Jade Emperor Temple to keep the lower world peaceful forever.

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The Origin and Legend of the Chinese Zodiac

According to the literature, there were twelve earthly branches in the era of the Yellow Emperor, which were related to the twelve constellations such as Aries, Taurus, Gemini and Cancer. The earliest twelve earthly branches and twelve constellations represented twelve different months and festivals every year.

Ten characters, such as A, B, C and D, were invented in the Shang Dynasty. Later, people who studied numerology called it heavenly stem, which was used in combination with earthly branches, such as Jia Zi and E Yuan, to calculate the year, month, day and time.

According to legend, it is a masterpiece of Dong Fangshuo in Han Dynasty that twelve kinds of animals are used instead of twelve earthly branches to represent the twelve-month season. In Lun Heng written by Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty, there is a clear record in Yan Dou. He mentioned the names of twelve animals. According to the zodiac, the year also began in the Eastern Han Dynasty. Zhao Yi's Textual Research on Yu Yu in Qing Dynasty also pointed out this historical fact.

As for why twelve animals are chosen as symbols, it may be related to totems at the earliest. In ancient times, all tribes would choose an animal that they were particularly afraid of or loved, and take its pattern as the symbol of their tribe. Yang Gu Man Quan written by Hong Xun in the Song Dynasty and Seven Manuscripts written by Lang Ying in the Ming Dynasty all explain this.

In addition, the Buddhist scripture "Dajijing" records the story of the 12 zodiac animals marching in turn, but there are lions without tigers. Therefore, some people think that the Chinese zodiac was introduced to China from ancient India, and the replacement of lions by tigers may be related to the fact that lions are not produced in the Central Plains.

Baidu encyclopedia-Zodiac Tiger