What Is The Twelve Zodiac？ Where Do They Come From？

Experts speculated that Heavenly stems and Earthly Branches Jinian act appeared in China as early as in the era of the legendary Yao and Shun. Twelve animals corresponded with Earthly Branches： Rat charm， Ox patient， Tiger sensitive， Rabbit articulate， Dragon healthy， Snake deep， Horse popular， Goat elegant， Monkey clever， Rooster deep thinkers， Dog loyalty and Pig chivalrous. The recorded twelve zodiac was first found "On Balance" in the Eastern Han Dynasty， over two thousand years ago. Generally， three versions of its origin exist： one says that the Chinese nation was influenced by the totem worship in the primitive society hence creating the zodiac with animal name and twelve Earthly Branches； another goes that before the Han Dynasty， people in the Central Plains only use the twelve Earthly Branches chronology， while the minorities living on nomadic herding in Northwest only have animal chronology. In the Han Dynasty， due to the integration of national cultures， twelve zodiac was created. The third version believes that the twelve zodiac comes from India. There are only two differences in the zodiac of China and India – in India， the third sign is Lion， while in China， is Tiger； the tenth sign in India is Garuda， while China has Rooster. The rest of them are the same in the same sort.

（Respondents： Yin Chuan Hung）