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The Story...

Long ago, in China, the Jade Emperor decided there should be a way of measuring time. On his birthday he told the animals that there was to be a swimming race. The first twelve animals across the fast flowing river would be the winners and they would each have a year of the zodiac named after them.

All the animals lined up along the river bank, chattering excitedly. The rat and the cat, who were good friends, were worried because they were poor swimmers. Being clever they asked the strong ox if he would carry them across the river.

'Of course' said the kind ox. 'Just climb on my back and I will take you across.'


The rat and the cat quickly jumped up and were very excited when the ox soon took the lead in the race. They had almost reached the other bank when the rat pushed the cat into the river leaving him to struggle in the water. Then just before the ox was about to win the race the rat leapt on his head and on to the bank to finish first.

'Well done,' said the Jade Emperor to the proud rat. 'The first year of the zodiac will be named after you.'

The poor ox had been tricked into second place and the second year of the zodiac was named after him.

Shortly after the exhausted tiger clawed his way to the river bank to claim third place. Swimming across the river had been an enormous struggle for him against the strong currents. The Emperor was so delighted with his efforts that he named the third year after him.


Next to arrive was the rabbit, who hadn't swum across at all. He hopped across on some stepping stones and then found a floating log which carried him to the shore.

'I shall be very happy to call the fourth year after you,' the surprised Jade Emperor explained.

Just then the dragon swooped majestically down to take fifth place.

'Why didn’t you win the race, as you can fly as well as swim?' the Jade Emperor asked.

'I was held up because some people and animals needed water to drink. I needed to make some rain,' the dragon explained. 'Then when I was nearly here I saw a poor little rabbit on a log in the water and I blew a puff of wind so that the log would float to the river bank.'

'Well that was very kind of you, and now you are here you will have the fifth year of the zodiac named after you.'




The next thing the Jade Emperor heard was the sound of the horse’s hooves. Just as he was thinking the horse would be the next animal to arrive, a sneaky snake wriggled out from around one of the horse’s hooves. The horse was so surprised that he jumped backwards giving the snake a chance to take the sixth place in the race. The poor horse had to be satisfied with seventh place.



Not long afterwards a raft arrived carrying the goat, the monkey and the rooster. They explained to the Emperor how they had shared the raft that the rooster had found. The goat and monkey had cleared weeds and pushed the raft to the shore. The Emperor was very pleased that the animals had worked together. He said the goat would be the eighth zodiac animal, the monkey the ninth and the rooster the tenth.

The next animal to finish was the dog.

'Why are you so late when you are one of the best swimmers?' asked the Jade Emperor.

'The water in the river was so clean that I had to have a bath on the way,' explained the dog.

His reward was to have the eleventh year named after him.

Now there was one place left in the zodiac and the Emperor wondered when the last winner would come. He had nearly given up when he heard a grunt from the boar.

'You took a long time to cross the river,' said the Emperor to the boar.

'I was hungry and stopped to eat,' explained the boar. 'After the meal I felt so tired that I fell asleep.'

'You have still done well,' said the Jade Emperor. 'The last year of the zodiac will be named after you.'


As for the cat who had been pushed into the water by the rat, he finally crawled out of the water and looked up at the Jade Emperor hopefully- but the man shook his head sadly....the cat was too late to claim a place. He felt very cross with the rat and since then cats have been enemies with rats.

From that day to this the Chinese Zodiac has followed this cycle of years named after these twelve animals.

And Now....Which Animal Are You? =D

To find the Zodiac Animal you were born under, and the personality traits that those people are said to possess, find your birth year and follow the link.


The Year of the RAT -1900 1912 1924 1936 1948 1960 1972 1984 1996 2008 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/Rat.html

The Year of the OX- 1901 1913 1925 1937 1949 1961 1973 1985 1997 2009 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/Ox.html

The Year of the TIGER-1902 1914 1926 1938 1950 1962 19741986 1998 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/tiger.htm

The Year of the RABBIT - 1903 1915 1927 1939 1951 1963 1975 1987 1999 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/Rabbit.html

The Year of the DRAGON - 1904 1916 1928 1940 1952 1964 1976 1988 2000 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/Dragon.html

The Year of the SNAKE - 1905 1917 1929 1941 1953 1965 1977 1989 2001 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/Snake.html

The Year of the HORSE- 1906 1918 1930 1942 1954 1966 1978 1990 2002 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/Horse.html

The Year of the GOAT- 1907 1919 1931 1943 1955 1967 1979 1991 2003 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/Ram.html

The Year of the MONKEY - 1908 1920 1932 1944 1956 1968 1980 1992 2004 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/Monkey.html

The Year of the ROOSTER - 1909 1921 1933 1945 1957 1969 1981 1993 2005 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/Rooster.html

The Year of the DOG - 1910 1922 1934 1946 1958 1970 1982 1994 2006 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/dog.html

The Year of the BOAR - 1911 1923 1935 1947 1959 1971 1983 1995 2007 http://www.c-c-c.org/chineseculture/zodiac/pig.html

Your missing one of the twelve animals(epic fail). And the one your missing just happens to be my zodiac animal.

And, which one is that?

I see all 12, myself!

Did you mean the Goat? Well, it was a little difficult to see, being creamy white, but you could still see it.

I've changed the colour now, to make it more noticable, but it WAS there before

Now I see goat.

Anyways, it's a nice topic. What zodiac are ya?

Dog! (1994)

Bet that'll make some BS users jealous, eh?

The year of the Snake.(1965)

I can't believe I got stuck with the goat. I wish I had something cooler like the dragon or snake or tiger.



I'm totally jealous.

Naah, Goats rock my socks!

Aloha Aleu (AKA Foxy Aleu ;D): Really? How interesting! I love how things like Astrology and the Chinese Zodiac reveal more about your personality. Would you say it's true to yours, or not?

I'am a tiger. (I won't say which year I was born.) The link you posted really said true about my personality. Like it said, I'am really suspicious about others, A lot of times I'am in conflict with older people, and I'am not good at deciding something. It's just too hard for me.

It's fine if you don't want to put your birth year.

When I was little, and my teacher first told us about the chinese zodiac, she said she was a Tiger.

*UPDATE* Zodiac Animal Symbols, in order of year, printed at the top!

Well,most of it is true,I do have a tendency to overdo things.

I tried the goat link but it didn't work.

I'm ashamed to say that the extent of my knowledge of the Chinese Zodiac is derived from Fruits Basket. Made all the more unfortunate by the fact that the character with my zodiac sign (the rooster, by the way, which is a cause of great embarrassment in and of itself) didn't even appear in the show.

Ah, yes, this has got to be one of my most favorite folklores of all time. XD I always found it intriguing how the Chinese culture was always the best at personification in a lot of their legends. I had almost forgotten how this story goes until I was reminded again, and for that, I thank you. :3

I'm the year of the horse, by the way... meh. x]