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UPDATED: February-1-2008 NO.6 FEB.7, 2008
The Year of the Rat
In Chinese the identification of one's birth year and sign is known as ben ming nian. Why is it so special to people compared with other years?
By ZAN JIFANG

Red was significant in many areas of Chinese life. In olden days, if an army gained a victory, a special messenger would report the news holding a red flag. If a student gained top marks in a royal examination for selecting officials, they would go home dressed in a red robe and hat. Even in traditional operas, the positive roles showing upright, loyal and brave qualities would find the faces of the actors painted red.

Following traditional custom, on the eve of the Spring Festival, people will wear clothes or decorations in red to meet their ben ming nian, believing that only in this way will they keep bad luck at bay in the coming year.

How to Count Years?

The traditional way of counting years in China is based on a system composed by the combination of 10 tian gan, or Heaven Stems, and 12 di zhi, or Earth Branches.

In traditional Chinese calendar, the 10 Heaven Stems represent a certain "order," and the 12 Earth Branches represent time. The combination of one of the 10 Heaven Stems and one of the 12 Earth Branches will be the name of a certain year. For example, jia, ranks the first in the 10 Heaven Stems, and zi ranks the first among the 12 Earth Branches, and so the name of the year that jia happens to combine with zi will be the year of jia zi.

And if the 10th Heaven Stem has combined with the 10th Earth Branches, then the first stem will be used again to combine with the 11th branch. In this way, these 10 stems and 12 branches rotate to match with each other, and every 60 years, the same year's name will appear.

12 Animal Signs

Besides the system of 10 Heaven Stems and 12 Earth Branches, Chinese people also use 12 animals or creatures, which are rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig, to name years. The difference is that the animal signs are more related to one's personal life.

The 12 animals fixedly correspond to the 12 Earth Branches. In other words, every animal sign has its own fixed Earth Branch. Every 12 years, the same animal sign will be used to name the year again. For example, the year 1996 was a year of rat, followed by rat year again 12 years later in 2008. In the traditional Chinese belief, people who share the same animal sign are said to have a similar character, temperament and fortune in their lives.

Nobody knows how far the system of using animal signs to name years dates back. The archeological discoveries show these signs were used as early as 5,000 years ago. In addition, unearthed documents with a history of almost 2,000 years show evidence of the animal-year system.

It is a system that proves very useful to remember one's year of birth, especially in the past. And even today, some Chinese in their 80s or 90s may not remember the calendar year of their birth, but will easily recall their animal sign. This is especially true in the countryside.

Many cultural aspects and art forms have come into being based on the legends about the 12 animal signs. For example, Chinese fortune-tellers may tell you which animal sign is the most suitable for marriage. Many art forms also use the images of the 12 animals, such as paper-cuts, lanterns, paintings, or sculptures. In some places, locals use the images when preparing food to celebrate traditional festivals. In more modern times people like to wear animal jewelry believing it will bring good luck.

However, no matter ancient or popular the system is, there are still many questions to be asked. Why should there be 12 animal signs? Why were these 12 animals chosen? When did the year-naming system originate? Why were the 12 animal signs arranged according to the current order? Why should dragon, a folktale animal that does not exist in real life, appear in the system? All these questions continue to puzzle the Chinese people.

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