Chinese zodiac
| Chinese zodiac | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hanyu Pinyin | shēngxiào | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Chinese | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Hanyu Pinyin | shǔxiàng | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | shēngxiào |
| Wu | |
| Romanization | sen平-siau去 |
| Hakka | |
| Romanization | sensiau |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Jyutping | saang1-ciu3 |
| Southern Min | |
| Hokkien POJ | singsiàu |
| Eastern Min | |
| Fuzhou BUC | săng-ngáu |
| Transcriptions | |
|---|---|
| Standard Mandarin | |
| Hanyu Pinyin | shǔxiàng |
| Wu | |
| Romanization | zoh入-sian平 |
| Yue: Cantonese | |
| Jyutping | suk6-soeng1 |
| Southern Min | |
| Hokkien POJ | sio̍ksiùnn |
The Chinese zodiac is a classification scheme that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle. The 12-year cycle is an approximation to the 11.86-year orbital period of Jupiter, the largest planet of the solar system. It and its variations remain popular in several East Asian countries including China, Vietnam, Burma, Korea, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Bhutan, Sri Lanka, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand as well as the Buddhist calendar.
Identifying this scheme using the term "zodiac" reflects several superficial similarities to the Western zodiac: both have time cycles divided into 12 parts, each labels at least the majority of those parts with names of animals, and each is widely associated with a culture of ascribing a person's personality or events in his or her life to the supposed influence of the person's particular relationship to the cycle. Nevertheless, there are major differences: the Chinese 12-part cycle corresponds to years, rather than months. The Chinese zodiac is represented by 12 animals, whereas some of the signs in the Western zodiac are not animals, despite the implication of the Greek etymology of "zodiac". The animals of the Chinese zodiac are not associated with constellations spanned by the ecliptic plane.
The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the Rat. The following are the twelve zodiac signs (each with its associated Earthly Branch) in order and their characteristics.
In Chinese astrology the animal signs assigned by year represent what others perceive you as being or how you present yourself. It is a common misconception that the animals assigned by year are the only signs and many western descriptions of Chinese astrology draw solely on this system. In fact, there are also animal signs assigned by month (called inner animals), by day (called true animals) and hours (called secret animals).
...
Wikipedia