What's your sign? In Western astrology, it's a constellation determined by when your birthday falls in the calendar. But according to the Chinese zodiac, or shēngxiào, it's your shǔxiàng, meaning the animal assigned to your birth year. And of the many myths explaining these animal signs and their arrangement, the most enduring one is that of the Great Race. As the story goes, Yù Dì, or Jade Emperor, Ruler of the Heavens, wanted to devise a way to measure time, so he organized a race. The first twelve animals to make it across the river would earn a spot on the zodiac calendar in the order they arrived. The rat rose with the sun to get an early start, but on the way to the river, he met the horse, the tiger, and the ox. Because the rat was small and couldn't swim very well, he asked the bigger animals for help. While the tiger and horse refused, the kind-hearted ox agreed to carry the rat across. Yet, just as they were about to reach the other side, the rat jumped off the ox's head and secured first place. The ox came in second, with the powerful tiger right behind him. The rabbit, too small to battle the current, nimbly hopped across stones and logs to come in fourth. Next came the dragon, who could have flown directly across, but stopped to help some creatures she had encountered on the way. After her came the horse, galloping across the river. But just as she got across, the snake slithered by. The startled horse reared back, letting the snake sneak into sixth place. The Jade Emperor looked out at the river and spotted the sheep, the monkey, and the rooster all atop a raft, working together to push it through the weeds. When they made it across, the trio agreed to give eighth place to the sheep, who had been the most comforting and harmonious of them, followed by the monkey and the rooster. Next came the dog, scrambling onto the shore. He was a great swimmer, but frolicked in the water for so long that he only managed to come in eleventh. The final spot was claimed by the pig, who had gotten hungry and stopped to eat and nap before finally waddling across the finish line. And so, each year is associated with one of the animals in this order, with the cycle starting over every 60 years. Why 60 and not twelve? Well, the traditional Chinese calendar is made up of two overlapping systems. The animals of the zodiac are associated with what's called the Twelve Earthly Branches, or shí'èrzhī. Another system, the Ten Heavenly Stems, or tiāngān, is linked with the five classical elements of metal, xīn, wood, mù, water, shuǐ, fire, huǒ, and earth, tǔ. Each element is assigned yīn or yáng, creating a ten-year cycle. When the twelve animals of the Earthly Branches are matched with the five elements plus the yīn or the yáng of the Heavenly Stems, it creates 60 years of different combinations, known as a sexagenary cycle, or gānzhī. So someone born in 1980 would have the sign of yáng metal monkey, while someone born in 2007 would be yīn fire pig. In fact, you can also have an inner animal based on your birth month, a true animal based on your birth date, and a secret animal based on your birth hour. It was the great race that supposedly determined which animals were enshrined in the Chinese zodiac, but as the system spread through Asia, other cultures made changes to reflect their communities. So if you consult the Vietnamese zodiac, you may discover that you're a cat, not a rabbit, and if you're in Thailand, a mythical snake called a Naga replaces the dragon. So whether or not you place stock in what the zodiac says about you as an individual, it certainly reveals much about the culture it comes from.
你的属相是什么? 依据西方的星座学, 星座是由出生日期来决定的。 但根据中国的黄道十二宫, 或者说“生肖,” 即你的属相, 指的是代表你出生年份的动物。 在众多解释属相的由来 和排序的传说中, “渡河大赛”的故事流传最广。 传说中, 天庭的统治者—玉帝 想要发明一种计量时间的方式, 因此他组织了一场比赛 最先过河的12个动物 可以根据他们到达的顺序 成为农历的纪年。 老鼠为此起了个大早, 但在过河时 他遇到了马,虎和牛 因为老鼠很小也不太会游泳, 他向体型更大的动物求助。 但是老虎和马都拒绝了他, 好心的牛同意背老鼠过河。 但当他们将要抵达岸边时, 老鼠从牛头上蹦到岸上, 拿到了第一名。 牛则成了第二名, 紧随其后的是强壮的老虎。 兔子体型太小, 无法游过湍急的河水 但它敏捷地跳过石头和浮木, 成为了第四名。 接下来是龙, 她本来可以直接飞过去, 但她在途中停下来, 帮助那些她在路上遇到的动物们过河。 接着是马,在河中飞奔而来。 但正当马快抵达对岸时, 蛇滑到了她的脚边, 把马吓得抬起了前蹄, 让蛇拿到了第六名。 这时玉帝往河边望去, 发现了羊,猴子和鸡 坐在同一个木筏上, 一起在水草中划动木筏。 当他们一起抵达时, 大家同意把第八名给羊, 因为他一路上不停鼓舞队友, 使团队配合默契, 之后是猴子和鸡。 随后是狗爬上了岸。 狗本来就很会游泳, 但因为在水里嬉戏太久, 他最后只得到了第十一名。 最后一名是猪, 他在途中肚子饿, 就停下吃东西还打盹。 最后才摇摇晃晃地走过终点。 由此,这些动物按顺序 分别对应不同的年份, 每60年一个循环。 为什么是60不是12呢? 因为传统的中国历法 由两个计时系统相互搭配。 十二生肖对应的纪年系统 与被称为十二地支的系统相互关联。 另外一套纪年体系,十天干, 是由五个传统的元素组成: 金、 木、 水、 火、 土。 每个元素又分阴阳两种, 创造出一个十年的循环。 当地支的十二生肖 和五个元素相匹配, 加上天干的阴或阳, 创造了60年的不同组合, 称为一干支。 所以,1980年出生的人是 阳金属猴, 而2007年出生的人则是 阴火属猪。 事实上,你能按照出生月 算出你的”内在动物,“ 按照出生日算出”真实动物,“ 按照你的出生时算出”隐秘动物。“ 渡河大赛 确定了哪些动物 作为中国的十二生肖。 但随着生肖系统在亚洲传开, 其他国家为适应其民族文化 对生肖系统做了调整。 因此,在越南的生肖中, 你可能会发现你属猫, 而不是兔。 如果你在泰国, 神话中的海蛇那伽取代了龙。 无论你信不信属相那回事儿 与你个人的关联, 它显然能反映很多有关其起源的文化。