In China, there are various ways to ask about a person’s age. Such as “How old are you?” (to children), “What’s your age?” (to the young people), “Can I ask how old you are?” (to quinquagenarians), “May I know your age?” (to the elderly), and so on. In addition, you may ask “What sign were you born under?”
The latter refers to the Chinese zodiac signs comprising 12 animals, which represent the 12 Earthly Branches and are used to symbolize the year in which a person is born. A person will resemble a certain animal corresponding to the year he or she is born.
Before talking about Chinese zodiac signs, let’s talk about Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches first. Heavenly Stems refer to Jia (the first), Yi (the second), Bing (the third), Ding (the fourth), Wu (the fifth), Ji (the sixth), Geng (the seventh), Xin (the eighth), Ren (the ninth) and Gui (the last), while Earthly Branches refer to Zi (the first of the 12 Earthly Branches), Chou (the second), Yin (the third), Mao (the fourth), Chen (the fifth), Si (the sixth), Wu (the seventh), Wei (the eighth), Shen (the ninth), You (the tenth), Xu (the eleventh) and Hai (the last), both of which have been traditionally used as symbols to indicate order. Each of the ten Heavenly Stems is paired with an Earthly Branch, forming Jiazi, Yichou, Bingyin, Dingmao... until Guihai, a cycle of sixty pairs. This cycle is called one Jiazi, meaning a cycle of sixty years, so that age is also called “the year of Huajia”. After that, the cycle starts from Jiazi again. Repeating in endless cycles in this way, they can be used to represent the sequence of year, month, day and time. In ancient times, Stems and Branches were mainly used to count days, but also to count years, months and even hours. Even now, the traditional Chinese calendar still uses Stems and Branches to count years.
The method to designate the years by the Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches came into being in the 3rd century BC during the period of the legendary Yellow Emperor, and was first used in the Central Plains, while the Northwest Minority regions designated the years by animals. Later in the ethnic exchanges that occurred, these two dating methods integrated to form the current twelfth Chinese zodiac signs. Archaeological excavations have confirmed the zodiac signs came into being as early as the Spring and Autumn period (770 BC-476 BC).
Under the system, one Earthly Branch strictly corresponds to one animal, that is, Zi Rat, Chou Ox, Yin Tiger, Mao Rabbit, Chen Dragon, Si Snake, Wu Horse, Wei Sheep, Shen Monkey, You Rooster, Xu Dog and Hai Pig.
One might ask: why were these 12 animals chosen and how are they ranked? Scholars have their own explanations, and then there are folk legends as well Scholars have explained that the 12 Chinese zodiac signs originated from people’s worship of animals in primitive times, and their ranking is associated with animal living habits, for example, Zi Shi runs from 23:00 to 01:00, when rats are the most active and so they come first. The same applies with the ranking of the other animals. In addition, there are other explanations in terms of yin-yang and the five elements or the odd and even number of the animals’ toes, and so forth.