The Chinese calendar has a entirely different way of dating as compared to the west. They follow a lunar calendar which shows a cycle of 12 years unlike the west where we use a linear calendar to show the time concept. As far as Zodiac chart is concerned the Chinese use animal images to stand for each Zodiac sign.

Since the Chinese calendar is based on the cycles of the moon it is known as a lunar calendar and functions absolutely opposite to that of the western solar calendar. On comparing the Chinese New Year to the western one we find that it begins somewhere close to the end of January and beginning of February.

Although China officially adopted the Western calendar in 1911 the lunar calendar is still used to mark traditional events and festive occasions. The Chinese New Year is one of the most prominent examples of the use of the lunar calendar in modern day China. This is the reason we find the majority of the calendars printed in China showing both the solar as well as the Chinese lunar dates.

The Chinese followed the idea of popular folk custom of representing every year physically with some animal. A particular animal will represent a particular year. Thus twelve years show twelve different animals with their own qualities. As the calendar is cyclic the same animals keep coming back once in every twelve years.

You will observe that the Chinese animal symbols representing character traits are not different from western monthly or daily horoscope. The dissimilarity lies in the yearly representation. It is understood that a person born in a particular year will take on the qualities of that animal which represents that year.

The Chinese zodiac symbols have another important meaning apart from the qualities of the individual that they depict which at times may not be taken seriously.

Chinese lunar calendar is very useful in calculating the age of a person. Once you know the type of the animal to which the person belongs with a bit of intelligence and little mathematics this can be done.

The cunning rat rode upon the ox’s back and just as the ox was about to reach to the finish line the rat jumped off his back and took the lead. The last to arrive at the finish line was the pig. Hence we find the rat to be the first with the tricked ox second and the pig coming in last.

In the race the Ox took the lead and the rat rode on the Ox’s back. As the Ox almost reached the opposite bank, the rat being crafty jumped off the Ox’s back on the bank and got the first place. So the rat leads the cycle of year till today with the ox being the second. The last is the pig to depict the last month.

Chinese dragon symbols are becoming increasingly popular in the US and Europe as a tattoo choice. If you have an interest in ancient Chinese symbols follow the links herein for more info.

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