"Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads is an artwork by Chinese contemporary artist and political commentator, Ai Weiwei. The work comes in a small (gold) and large (bronze) version. Created in 2010, the zodiac heads (a Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig) are inspired by those which once comprised a water clock-fountain at the Old Summer Palace, which is a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing that were constructed by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty. The Old Summer Palace was eventually destroyed by French and British troops in"
"not used; instead the sky is divided into Three Enclosures (三垣 sān yuán), and Twenty-Eight Mansions (二十八宿 èrshíbā xiù) in twelve Ci (). The Chinese zodiac of twelve animal signs is said to represent twelve different types of personality. It is based on cycles of years, lunar months, and two-hour periods of the day (the shichen). The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the Rat, and the cycle proceeds through 11 other animals signs: the Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. Complex systems of predicting fate and destiny based on one's birthday, birth"
"despite the implication of the etymology of the word ""zodiac"". The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the Rat. The following are the twelve zodiac signs (each with its associated Earthly Branch) in order and their characteristics. Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water as five nature elements. In Chinese astrology, the animal signs assigned by year represent how others perceive you or how you present yourself. It is a common misconception that the animals assigned by year are the only signs, and many Western descriptions of Chinese astrology draw solely on this system. In fact, there are also animal"
"of Cancer and so on. So the Chinese 12-year calendar is a solar-lunar-jovian calendar. The following table shows the twelve signs and their attributes. In Chinese astrology, the zodiac of twelve animal sign represents twelve different types of personality. The zodiac traditionally begins with the sign of the Rat, and there are many stories about the Origins of the Chinese Zodiac which explain why this is so. When the twelve zodiac signs are part of the 60-year calendar in combination with the four elements, they are traditionally called the twelve Earthly Branches. The Chinese zodiac follows the lunisolar Chinese calendar"
"known as Huli jing. There are various types, such as the nine-tailed fox. Various dogs appear in the mythology of China, featuring more prominently in some ethnic cultures more than others. The zodiacal dog is featured in the Chinese zodiac. The Bovidae appearing in the mythologies of China include the Ox (including the common cow, buffalo), and the yak), sheep and goats, and perhaps antelopes (some times ""unicorns"" are thought to be types of antelopes). Oxen may includingrefer to the common cow, the buffalo), and the yak. The zodiacal ox is one of the twelve zodiacal signs in the twelve-year"
"to the Chinese zodiac. Twelve (12) animals represent the 12 years in sequential order with the rat/mouse representing the first year. Buddha is believed to have invited animals from all over the world to visit, to which only 12 visited. In return, he honored them by naming the years in the order that they arrived. Koreans believe that specific zodiac animals bring specific resources and qualities. For example, the year 2014 was the year of the horse, and it was considered a good year in the money and career aspect of life. It is said that a person born in"
"Pig (zodiac) The Pig (豬) is the twelfth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. In the continuous sexagenary cycle, every twelfth year corresponds to ""hai"", and is also commonly called the ""Year of the Pig"" 豬. There are also five types of Pigs, named after the Chinese elements. In order, they are: Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth. In the Japanese zodiac and the Tibetan zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the boar. In the Dai zodiac, the Pig is replaced by the elephant. In the Gurung zodiac, the"
"them in the order they had arrived. The twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac were developed in the early stages of Chinese civilization; it is difficult to investigate its real origins. Most historians agree that the cat is not included, as they had not yet been introduced to China from India, with the arrival of Buddhism. Due to confusion with synonyms during translation, some of the animals depicted by the English words did not exist in ancient China. For example, 羊 can mean Goat, ram, and sheep. Similarly, 鼠 Rat can be translated as mouse, as there are no distinctive"
"acts as the chaperone of these two immortal lovers. Chinese astrology has a close relation with Chinese philosophy which the core values and concepts are originated from Taoism or ""Tao"". The 60-year cycle consists of two separate cycles interacting with each other. The first is the cycle of ten heavenly stems, namely the Five Elements (in order Wood, Fire, Earth, Metal, and Water) in their Yin and Yang forms. The second is the cycle of the twelve zodiac animal signs (生肖 ""shēngxiào"") or Earthly Branches. They are in order as follows: the Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat,"
"(bull), Cancer (crab), Leo (lion), Scorpio (scorpion), and Pisces (fish)—are animals, while two others, Sagittarius (horse/man) and Capricorn (fish/goat) are hybrid animals; the name ""zodiac"" indeed means a circle of animals. All twelve signs of the Chinese zodiac are animals. Plants including trees are important in mythology and religion, where they symbolise themes such as fertility, growth, immortality and rebirth, and may be more or less magical. Thus in Latvian mythology, Austras koks is a tree which grows from the start of the Sun's daily journey across the sky. A different cosmic tree is Yggdrasil, the World tree of Norse"
"Tiger (zodiac) The Tiger (寅) is the third of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Tiger is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 寅. People born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the ""Year of the Tiger"", while also bearing the following elemental sign: Among all the 12 mathematical animal signs, Tigers are also most compatible with the Dog as they are both straightfoward, honest, and free-spirited. Tigers are also most compatible with the energetic and jovial Horse. The Pig,"
"Rooster (zodiac) The Rooster () is the tenth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Rooster is represented by the Earthly Branch symbol 酉. The name is also translated into English as Chicken; the characters 雞/鷄/酉/鸡/丁酉/鳥 also refer to the Chicken in general, both the males and the females. In the Tibetan zodiac and the Gurung zodiac, the bird is in place of the Rooster. Sometimes, the fenghuang will take the place of the Rooster. People born within these date ranges can be said to have"
"Goat (zodiac) The Goat () is the eighth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The sign is referred to as the ram and sheep sign, since the Chinese word ""yáng"" is more accurately translated as Caprinae, a taxonomic subfamily that includes both goats and sheep. The Year of the Goat is associated with the 8th Earthly Branch symbol, 未 (""wèi""). The Chinese word ""yáng"" also refers to both goats and sheep, whereas the terms ""shānyáng"" () and ""miányáng"" () also refer exclusively to both goats and sheep respectively. In"
"of the week, too. The term for them is “True Animals”. If your astrologer wishes to prepare a chart, it is essential he or she knows the animals of your day of birth. Given there are only seven days of the week and 12 animals, there is some repetition or doubling up. The animals for each day are as follows: As the Chinese zodiac is derived according to the ancient Five Elements Theory, every Chinese sign is composed of five elements with relations, among those elements, of interpolation, interaction, over-action, and counter-action—believed to be the common law of motions and"
"is also an equid, generally smaller in stature: they are also typically less-esteemed in general Chinese culture. However, certain holy persons (and some eccentrics) were well known for choosing to ride on donkey, for example Immortal Zhang Guolao had a magic donkey (Eberhard: 82, ""sub"" ""Donkey""). The ""Chinese zodiac"" consists of a twelve-year cycle, each year being associated with a certain creature. The seventh in the cycle is the Horse. One account is that the order of the beings-of-the-year is due to their order in completing a contest of racing across a river, in the so-called Great Race: the race"
"of the ""Ox"", and the fourth animal is the ""Cat"" instead of the ""Rabbit"". The Cham zodiac uses the same animals and order as the Chinese zodiac, but replaces the Monkey with the turtle (known locally as ""kra""). Similarly the Malay zodiac is identical to the Chinese but replaces two of the animals with the turtle (""kura-kura"") and mousedeer (""kancil""). One of the replaced animals is always the Rabbit, the other being either the Pig or Monkey. The Thai zodiac includes a ""nāga"" in place of the ""Dragon"" and begins, not at Chinese New Year, but either on the first"
"the reserved and contemplative Snake. Some Chinese Muslims will say that they were born in the year of the hai 亥 to avoid saying the Pig. Pig (zodiac) The Pig (豬) is the twelfth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. In the continuous sexagenary cycle, every twelfth year corresponds to ""hai"", and is also commonly called the ""Year of the Pig"" 豬. There are also five types of Pigs, named after the Chinese elements. In order, they are: Metal, Water, Wood, Fire, and Earth. In the Japanese zodiac and"
"majority of Chinese people. Some cultures assign different animals: Vietnam replaces the Ox and Rabbit with the water buffalo and cat, respectively; Japan replaces the Pig () with the boar () as the character 猪 means Pig in Chinese but ""boar"" in Japanese; Tibet replaces the Rooster with the bird. In the traditional Kazakh version of the 12-year animal cycle (, ""müşel""), the Dragon is substituted by a snail (, ""ulw""), and the Tiger appears as a leopard (, ""barıs""). Though Chinese has words for the four cardinal directions, Chinese mariners and astronomers/astrologers preferred using the 12 directions of the"
"Dog (zodiac) The Dog (狗) is eleventh of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Dog is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 戌. The character 狗, also refers to the actual animal while 戌, also refers to the zodiac animal. People born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the ""Year of the Dog"", while also bearing the following elemental sign: In the sexagenary cycle, 2018 (16 February 2018–4 February 2019, and every 60-year multiple before and after), is the Celestial"
"with autumn, when it comes down from the mountains into villages, and is personified by the constellation Orion, which is prominent in autumn. In Chinese astrology, the star Alpha of the Great Bear constellation gave birth to the first tiger. The tiger represents the masculine principle in nature and is king of all the animals, as shown by the four stripes on his forehead, which form the character Wang (王), or King. The tiger is regarded as one of the four super-intelligent creatures, along with the dragon, phoenix and tortoise; for centuries, the four have been a major design motif"
"Rabbit, Goat, Snake, Rooster, Ox, Dragon, and Rat are likely compatible with the Tiger, and they can build a harmonious relationship. Also, two Tigers can get along well with each other. Tigers are least compatible with the Monkey. Tiger (zodiac) The Tiger (寅) is the third of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. The Year of the Tiger is associated with the Earthly Branch symbol 寅. People born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the ""Year of the Tiger"", while also bearing the following"
"season, and birth hours, such as ""ziping"" and Zi Wei Dou Shu () are still used regularly in modern-day Chinese astrology. They do not rely on direct observations of the stars. The Korean zodiac is identical to the Chinese one. The Vietnamese zodiac is almost identical to Chinese zodiac except the second animal is the ""Water Buffalo"" instead of the ""Ox"", and the fourth animal is the ""Cat"" instead of the ""Rabbit"". The Japanese have since 1873 celebrated the beginning of the new year on 1 January as per the Gregorian calendar. The Thai zodiac begins, not at Chinese New"
"Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig. In Vietnam the Rabbit is replaced by the cat. This combination creates the 60-year cycle due to the fewest number of years (least common multiple) it would take to get from ""Yang Wood Rat"" to its next iteration, which always starts with ""Yang Wood Rat"" and ends with ""Yin Water Pig"". Since the zodiac animal cycle of 12 is divisible by two, every zodiac sign can occur only as either Yin or Yang: the Dragon is always yang, the Snake is always yin, etc. The current cycle began in 1984 (as shown in ""Table of"
"Chinese zodiac The Chinese zodiac is a classification scheme that assigns an animal and its reputed attributes to each year in a repeating 12-year cycle. The 12-year cycle is an approximation to the 11.85-year orbital period of Jupiter, the largest planet of the Solar System. It and its variations remain popular in many Asian countries including China, Japan, South Korea, Vietnam, Mongolia, Cambodia, Laos, Nepal, Bhutan, and Thailand. The Chinese zodiac is called ""Shēngxiào"" () in Mandarin. Identifying this scheme using the generic term """"zodiac"""" reflects several superficial similarities to the Western zodiac: both have time cycles divided into 12"
"normally refers specifically to a sheep in the Korean language (where a native Korean word 염소 ""yeomso"" is used to mean ""Goat""), although the Chinese source of the loanword ""yang"" may refer to any goat-antelope. The Japanese zodiac includes the ""Sheep"" (""hitsuji"") instead of the ""Goat"" (which would be ""yagi""), and the ""Wild boar"" (""inoshishi"", ""i"") instead of the ""Pig"" (""buta""). The Japanese have, since 1873, celebrated the beginning of the new year on January 1 as per the Gregorian calendar. The Vietnamese zodiac is almost identical to the Chinese zodiac except the second animal is the ""Water Buffalo"" instead"
"yin, and thus only the negative aspects of the elements can be attached to them, thus only 5 kinds of Pigs are found in the zodiac. They are the following: People born within these date ranges can be said to have been born in the ""Year of the Pig"", while also bearing the following elemental sign: Since the Chinese zodiac follows the Lunar calendar, it also does not coincide with the Gregorian calendar years or months. Thus, a person born on 9 February 1899 still belongs to the preceding zodiac (i.e. the Dog) while those born on 31 January 1900"
"were dragon boats, too. Of the twelve animals which make up the traditional Chinese zodiac, only the Dragon is a mythical creature. All the rest are non-mythical animals, yet all twelve of the zodiac creatures were well known to members of ancient Chinese agrarian communities. Dragons were traditionally believed to be the rulers of water on earth: rivers, lakes, and seas; they were also thought to dominate the waters of the heavens: clouds, mists, and rains. There are earth dragons, mountain dragons, and sky or celestial dragons (Tian Long) in Chinese tradition. Mythical dragons and serpents are also found widely"
"spirits, especially those who torment the dead, tigers are carved on tombs and monuments. The Chinese system of feng shui (geomancy) requires that a burial site be higher on the right side, the stronger side of the body, so that the White Tiger can guard it; the Azure Dragon guards the left side, the body's weaker side. The Tiger is the third animal in the 12-year animal Zodiac. People born in the Year of the Tiger are thought to be brave, strong, stubborn and sympathetic. The tiger represents the greatest earthly power, as well as protection over human life. It"
"in China called ""Nine Dragons"", the most famous being Kowloon (in Cantonese) in Hong Kong. The part of the Mekong in Vietnam is known as ""Cửu Long"", with the same meaning. The Dragon is one of the 12 animals in the Chinese zodiac which is used to designate years in the Chinese calendar. It is thought that each animal is associated with certain personality traits. Dragon years are usually the most popular to have children. There are more people born in Dragon years than in any other animal years of the zodiac. The Azure Dragon (Qing Long, 青龍) is considered"
"parts, each labels at least the majority of those parts with names of animals, and each is widely associated with a culture of ascribing a person's personality or events in his or her life to the supposed influence of the person's particular relationship to the cycle. Nevertheless, there are major differences between the two: the animals of the Chinese zodiac are not associated with constellations spanned by the ecliptic plane. The Chinese 12-part cycle corresponds to years, rather than months. The Chinese zodiac is represented by 12 animals, whereas some of the signs in the Western zodiac are not animals,"
"The rat (sometimes referred to as a mouse) is the first of the twelve animals of the Chinese zodiac. People born in this year are expected to possess qualities associated with rats, including creativity, intelligence, honesty, generosity, ambition, a quick temper and wastefulness. People born in a year of the rat are said to get along well with ""monkeys"" and ""dragons"", and to get along poorly with ""horses"". In Indian tradition, rats are seen as the vehicle of Ganesha, and a rat's statue is always found in a temple of Ganesh. In the northwestern Indian city of Deshnoke, the rats"
"be friends with the Dragon, as they admire the Dragon's beautiful bearing and strength. Also, two Dragons can get along well with each other. However, the relationship between the Dragon and the Ox people is usually tense, because both of them are very majestic. The people whom the Dragon feels headaches with the most are the Dog people. They feel uncomfortable due to the Dog's close guard. Dragon (zodiac) The Dragon () is the fifth of the 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar. It is also the only zodiac sign represented"
"Cat (zodiac) The Cat is the fourth animal symbol in the 12-year cycle of the Vietnamese zodiac and Gurung zodiac, taking place of the Rabbit in the Chinese zodiac. As such, the traits associated with the Rabbit are attributed to the cat. Cats are in conflict with the Rat. Legends relating to the order of the Chinese zodiac often include stories as to why the cat was not included among the twelve. Because the Rat tricked the cat into missing the banquet with the Jade Emperor, the cat was not included and was not aware that the banquet was going"