What is the zodiac? What's the difference between the Chinese zodiac and the western zodiac?

The zodiac refers to: rat, ugly cow, silver tiger, hairy rabbit, dragon, snake, afternoon horse, sheep, monkey, pheasant, dog and porcupine.

The Chinese Zodiac, also known as the Chinese Zodiac, is a group of 12 animals used to indicate the year and the year of a person's birth, collectively referred to as the Chinese Zodiac or the Chinese Zodiac. The cycle of the zodiac is 12 years. Everyone's animal year has a zodiac sign. Zodiac animals, namely rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs, are distributed in the zodiac in turn, forming rats, ugly cows, silver tigers, hairy rabbits, Chen Long, four books, five horses, sheep, monkey gods, You You chickens, dogs and porcupines. It is a folk method to calculate age in China, and it is also an ancient chronology. The zodiac (animal calendar) is very popular in Asian countries and some countries in Eastern Europe and North Africa.

The traditional Chinese zodiac in China and the western Chinese zodiac are completely different concepts, which have nothing to do with each other. The twelve constellations in the west are based on the date of birth, and each person corresponds to a constellation. The time of each constellation is one month in the Gregorian calendar, and the twelve constellations are a cycle, which is exactly one year. Although China also has the zodiac, the zodiac is used to record the year, and each year corresponds to a zodiac, so the zodiac cycle is twelve years, that is, twelve years is a round. A flower lasts for sixty years, which is exactly five rounds.

Month, day and hour also have corresponding earthly branches, so there will also be corresponding zodiac signs, but when you ask someone's zodiac sign, you mean the zodiac sign of the person's birth year.