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.
「你屬什麼?」 以西方天文學來說 是以你的生日來決定你的星座 但是根據東方的「生肖」 你的「屬相」指的是 你的出生年所對應的動物 在眾多動物生肖的傳說中 最廣為流傳的故事 就是「渡河大賽」 傳說中,掌管天庭的領導者「玉帝」 想找出計算時間的方式 於是他舉辦了一場比賽 前 12 名渡過河流的動物 就根據牠們抵達的順序 作為農曆上的紀年 老鼠為此起了個大早 不過,當牠到達河邊時 牠遇見了馬、虎和牛 由於老鼠身形小又不諳水性 牠請求這三隻大動物幫忙 老虎和馬都拒絕了 最後,好心的牛同意載牠渡河 但是,就當牠們快要抵達對岸的時候 老鼠突然從牛頭上跳下來 得到了第一名 牛則成了第二名 身後跟著強壯的老虎 嬌小的兔子 無法游過湍急的河水 牠靈巧地跳過石頭和浮木 得到第四名 下一位抵達的是龍 牠本來可以直接飛過河流 但是牠在途中停下來 幫助其他動物 馬在龍之後飛奔過河,趕了過來 正當馬快抵達時,蛇從牠的腳邊竄出 受驚嚇的馬高高舉起前腳 蛇便得到了第六名 玉帝往河的遠處望去 看見了羊、猴和公雞一起在木筏上 牠們互相合作穿過水草 到達對岸後 牠們三個決定把第八名讓給羊 因為牠一路上不停鼓勵隊友 也最合作 猴子和雞依序排在羊後面 狗隨後爬上了岸 牠的泳技其實不錯 但是牠玩水玩得太久 所以只得到第十一名 最後一名是豬 牠在半路肚子餓,便停下來又吃又睡 最後才搖搖晃晃地通過終點 從此以後,就根據這些動物的名次 依序代表每一年 每 60 年輪替一次 為什麼是 60 年,而不是 12 年呢? 因為傳統的中國曆法 有兩種紀年系統互相搭配 十二生肖所對應的紀年系統 稱為「十二地支」 另一套紀年系統稱為「十天干」 對應五種基本元素: 金 木 水 火 和土 每種元素又可分為 「陰性」和「陽性」 總共 10 年為一個循環 十二地支的動物 對應五種元素 再加上每種元素的陰、陽屬性 總共產生 60 年的組合 每一種的組合稱為一干支 所以 1980 年出生的是「陽金屬猴」 2007 年出生的是「陰火屬豬」 事實上,你還能按照出生月分 算出你的「內在動物」 代表出生日期的「真實動物」 以及代表時辰的「秘密動物」 雖然渡河大賽 定義了十二生肖的動物和順序 但是當這套系統傳遍亞洲時 其他文化也將生肖做了一些改變 以適應其風俗民情 如果你參考越南的十二生肖 你會發現你屬貓,而不是屬兔 如果參考泰國的十二生肖 神秘的蛇神「那伽」取代了龍 所以,不論你採用哪種動物 作為你的象徵 牠們都代表了你家鄉的文化