中国十二生肖与趣闻

Twelve Chinese Zodiac

生肖是中华民族悠久的民俗文化符号，从古至今，留下了大量描绘生肖形象和象征意义的民间工艺作品。生指“出生年”，肖意为“肖似”。生肖又称属相，相是面相，属相意思是“面相何属”。

Chinese zodiac is a time-honored folk cultural symbol of the Chinese nation. From ancient times until now, a large number of folk art works depicting the image and symbolic significance of Chinese zodiac have been left. Chinese character “Sheng” means “Year of birth” and “Xiao” means “similar”. Zodiac is also known as the animal sign. “Xiang” means physiognomy. The Chinese zodiac means “where the physiognomy belongs”.

所肖或所属的十二种动物，包括人们生活中常见的“六畜”：牛、马、羊、鸡、狗、猪；也包括五种野生动物：鼠、虎、兔、蛇、猴；还包括一种代表吉庆福喜、威力无边的虚构动物：龙。选择这十二种充满灵性的动物做生肖，体现了人类生命活动与自然事物的天人合一，与动物生长和谐相处的自然观。十二种动物的顺序依次为：鼠、牛、虎、兔、龙、蛇、马、羊、猴、鸡、狗、猪，与十二地支相对应，即为：子鼠、丑牛、寅虎、卯兔、辰龙、巳蛇、午马、未羊、申猴、酉鸡、戌狗、亥猪。每个人都可以按自己的出生年月找到自己的生肖或属相，确定为自己的动物守护神，形成独特的具有文化内涵的生肖文化。

Twelve zodiac animals include six domestic animals in people’s daily life, that is, the ox, the horse, the sheep, the cock, the dog, the boar and also five wild animals that is, the rat, the tiger, the rabbit, the snake, the monkey as well as the dragon, an imaginary animal representing fortune, fortune and boundless power. The choice of these 12 animals full of spirituality as zodiac animals reflects the unity of human life activities and natural things, and the view of nature of living in harmony with animals. The order of the twelve animals is: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon，Snake，Horse, Sheep，Monkey，Cock, Dog, Pig. The order of the twelve animals corresponds to the twelve Earthly Branches
每一种生肖都有丰富的传说而成为民间文化中的形象哲学，并以此形成一种民间信仰观念。世界有20多个国家存在生肖文化，如今在世界各地，只要是有华人聚居的地区，都会把生肖作为中国春节的吉祥物，祈福纳吉，以此来表达对中国传统新年的祝福。

Each zodiac has a rich legend and becomes the image philosophy in the folk culture, which forms a kind of folk belief concept. More than 20 countries in the world have zodiac cultures. Nowadays, all over the world, as long as there are areas with Chinese communities, the Chinese zodiac is used as the mascot of the Chinese New Year, praying for the good luck, to express the traditional Chinese New Year blessing.

网上关于生肖的趣闻
Interesting news about Chinese zodiac on the Internet

1.日本
日本的十二生肖与中国相同，但是日本的十二生肖中亥猪并不是家猪，而是野猪。其实，中国最古老的十二生肖中，“豕”字指的就是野猪。后来中国人将野猪驯化为家猪，十二生肖中的形象逐步变成了家猪。唐朝初期，十二生肖文化传入日本时，日本还不存在家猪，因此十二生肖中就使用了常见的野猪形象。另外，日语中的“猪”指的就是野猪，饲养的猪一般用“豚”字。

1. In Japan
The Japanese zodiac is the same as the Chinese. However, the pig in the Japanese zodiac is not a domestic pig, but a wild boar. In fact, the Chinese character “shi” refers to a wild boar, one of China’s oldest zodiac animals. Later, the Chinese domesticated the wild boar as a domestic pig, gradually transforming the image of the zodiac into a domestic pig. At the beginning of the Tang dynasty, when the zodiac culture was introduced into Japan, there was no domestic pig in Japan, so the common image of wild boar was used in the zodiac. In addition, the Japanese word for “pig” refers to a wild boar, and domestic pigs are generally the word “porpoise”(“豚”).

2.韩国
韩国的十二生肖与中国也相同，韩国在其国家旅游发展局的网页上，标明了十二生肖是韩国传统文化。

2. In Korea
The Korean zodiac is also the same as the Chinese. South Korea, on the web site of its national tourism board, lists the zodiac as part of its traditional culture.

3.越南
越南的十二个生肖与中国有1处不同：中国有卯兔，越南以猫取代了兔。据说，越南之所以把“兔”换成了“猫”，是由于当时翻译的失误，因为“卯”和“猫”同音，翻译听错了，以讹传讹，结果一直错到今天，因此猫成为了越南的一种生肖。

3. In Vietnam
The Vietnamese zodiac differs from the Chinese in one animal. Vietnam replaced Rabbit articulate with cat. It is said that it is a translation error. Because the “Mao” and “cat” sound the same in Chinese, the translator heard wrong, incorrectly, the results have been wrong to this day. So the cat became a part of the Vietnamese zodiac.

4.泰国
泰国的十二生肖与中国基本相同，唯独是没有龙，因为龙是中华文化的图腾，是虚构的动物，背后蕴藏着丰富的文化，泰国人理解不了，于是泰国人在十二生肖中就把龙改用了他们崇拜的图腾——纳加 (Naga)，代替十二生肖的龙。

4. In Thailand
The Thai zodiac is basically the same as the Chinese, except that there is no dragon. Because the dragon is a fictional animal as a totem of Chinese culture. It contains so rich culture that Thai people can’t understand. Then the Thai people have replaced the dragon with a totem they worship, the Naga.

5. 印度
印度的十二生肖来源于12位神的12种神兽坐骑。印度的十二生肖与中国的十二生肖非常相似，但有狮子无老虎。

5. In India
The Indian zodiac is derived from 12 animal mounts of 12 gods. The Indian zodiac is very similar to the Chinese zodiac, but there is the lion instead of the tiger.

6.墨西哥
南美洲的墨西哥也有十二生肖，其中虎、兔、龙、猴、狗和猪等生肖与中国相同，另外6种生肖则采用了南美本土的代表性动物。其实，墨西哥的生肖文化也是来源于中国。在明朝时期，墨西哥人已经与中国有过贸易往来，辣椒在此时传入我国，一些中华传统文化也流传到墨西哥。有很多人据此误认为墨西哥人和中国人有血缘关系，实际上这只是文化交流的结果。

6. In Mexico
Mexico in South America also has zodiac culture. The tiger, rabbit, dragon, monkey, dog and pig are the same as the Chinese zodiac, while the other six animals are the representative animals from South America. In fact, the Mexican zodiac culture also comes from China. In the Ming dynasty, the Mexican people have had trade with China. Pepper was introduced to China at this time. Some traditional Chinese culture also spread to Mexico. Many people mistakenly believe that Mexicans and Chinese have blood relationship, but this is actually a result of cultural exchange.

7.中国的生肖都各有一缺憾
中国十二生肖中，子鼠无胆，丑牛无上齿，寅虎无颈，卯兔无唇，辰龙无耳，巳蛇无足，午马无下齿，未羊无瞳，申猴无脾，酉鸡无外肾，戌狗无胃，亥猪无筋。例如常言道：“鼠无脑”，是说它没记性，俗话说：“你属耗子的呀！撂爪就忘”。“龙无耳”，咱们看无论是画的还是刻的龙，都没有耳朵，您看一个龙字加上一个耳字就是“聋”字，就是说龙是听不见声音的。蛇是没有足的，要不然就没有画蛇添足了。狗无味。狗的嗅觉灵敏，但没有味觉，俗话说“狗改不了吃屎”就是这个道理，因为它无法分辨香臭。十二生肖的缺憾也包含着朴素的道理，世界上本来就没有完美的事物，人用属相的缺憾来提醒自己包容和自省的道理。

7. Each of the Chinese zodiac animals has a flaw
Rat charm without gallbladder, Ox patient without upper teeth, Tiger sensitive without neck, Rabbit articulate without lip, Dragon healthy without ear, Snake deep without feet, Horse popular without lower teeth, Goat elegant without pupil, Monkey clever without spleen, Rooster deep thinkers without ectonephridium, Dog loyalty without stomach, Pig chivalrous without veins. For example, as the saying goes, “a mouse has no brain”, which means it has no memory. As the saying goes, “You forgot things quickly. Are you in the year of Rat?” “Dragon without ear”, you will find that neither the painted nor the carved dragon has ears. In Chinese character, “dragon（龙）” and “ear(耳)” comes the character “聋” which means deaf. That is to say the dragon can’t hear anything. Snake without feet, Otherwise there is no the Chinese idiom “gilding the lily” (literal meaning: drawing feet for a snake). Dogs have a good sense of smell but no sense of taste. As the saying goes, “The leopard cannot change his spots”( literal meaning: dogs will always eat shit and it’s hard to change.) It is because dogs can’t tell smell. The defects of the zodiac also contain the simple truth. There is no perfect thing in the world. People use the defects of the zodiac to remind themselves of the truth of tolerance and introspection.