The Twelve Animal Signs

In traditional China, dating methods were cyclical means something that is repeated time after time according to a pattern. A popular folk method which reflected this cyclical method of recording years are the Twelve Animal Signs. Every year is assigned an animal name or “sign” according to a repeating cycle: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Boar. Therefore, every twelve years the same animal name or “sign” would reappear.

A cultural sidelight of the animal signs in Chinese folklore is that horoscopes have developed around the animal signs. For example, a Chinese horoscope may predict that a person born in the Year of the Horse would be, “cheerful, popular, and loves to compliment others."

The animal signs also serve a useful social function for finding out people's ages. Instead of asking directly how old a person is, people often ask what is his or her animal sign. This would place that person's age within a cycle of 12 years, and with a bit of common sense, we can deduce the exact age. More often, people ask for animal signs not to compute a person's exact numerical age, but to simply know who is older among friends and acquaintances.

十二生肖

根据中国传统文化，日期是循环的，也就是说，日期的循环是周而复始的。记录这周而复始日期的最流行的民间方法就是十二生肖，即：每一年由一个动物代表，每隔十二年进行一个循环。这十二个动物分别是：鼠、牛、虎、兔、龙、蛇、马、羊、猴、鸡、狗、猪。

十二生肖在中国民间传说中有其文化内涵，占星术就是由其发展而来的。例如，中国的属相认为马年出生的人“快乐、受欢迎、爱恭维他人”。

属相还有助于在社交活动中获悉别人的年龄。为了避免直接问及一个人的年龄，人们通常问他的属相，这就可以确定他在十二生肖的排位，从而通过常识，计算出他的确切年龄。然而，人们通常问属相并不是要计算一个人的年龄，更多的是在朋友和熟人之间弄明白谁的年龄更大一些。