What are the zodiac signs?

The China Zodiac consists of 12 kinds of animals from nature, namely rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs, pigs and legendary dragons.

The zodiac is an intuitive representation of the twelve earthly branches, namely, Zi (mouse), Ugly (ox), Yin (tiger), Mao (rabbit), Chen (dragon), Si (snake), Wu (horse), Wei (sheep), Shen (monkey), You (chicken) and Xu (chicken).

Extended data:

Many historical documents in China have not officially explained the reasons for the ranking of the zodiac, but there are different opinions among the people.

The most influential thing is that the selection and arrangement of the zodiac is based on the corresponding relationship between animal habits and time. In ancient times, the twelve hours of a day were recorded by the twelve branches, that is, the ugly son Yin Mao Tatsumi didn't confess at noon. At night 1 1 in the morning 1 is midnight, when people find that mice are the most active; 65438+ 0 am to 3 am, ugly, cows are ruminating; From 3: 00 to 5: 00, as soon as Yin Shi called, the tiger began to wander around for food, which was the fiercest ... At the same time, the earthly branches matched the heavenly stems, which were used to indicate the order of the years.

Therefore, the rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, dragons, snakes, horses, sheep, monkeys, chickens, dogs and pigs corresponding to the twelve earthly branches naturally became the zodiac of that year.

References:

People's Daily Online-How is the order of the ancient Chinese zodiac in China arranged?