The signs that make up the Chinese Zodiac calendar are images of different animals. The Chinese have been using this 12 year cycle for dating the years since ancient times. Unlike the western linear idea of time the Chinese lunar calendar represents a cyclical concept of time.

You will discover that the functioning of Chinese calendar is absolutely opposite to that of western calendar. Western calendar is called solar calendar because it follows the sun whereas Chinese follow the moon’s movement and is called lunar calendar. The Chinese New Year too starts around end of January and beginning of February.

Although China formally adopted the Western calendar in’11 the lunar calendar is still used to mark traditional events and festive occasions. The Chinese New Year is one of the most prominent examples of the use of the lunar calendar in modern day China. This is the reason we find the majority of the calendars printed in China showing both the solar as well as the Chinese lunar dates.

According to popular folk lore in China each year of the cyclic lunar calendar should be represented by a particular animal. For the entire year that animal will be the official sign marked for that year. There are twelve animals for twelve years with their unique personalities. As the lunar years are cyclical the same animal is repeated every twelve years.

The animals that represented the years took on the connotation that is similar to the concept of monthly or daily horoscopes in the west. The only difference was that the Chinese zodiac symbols determined were for the whole year. Hence people born in the year of a particular animal were believed to have the characteristics associated with that animal.

The Chinese zodiac symbols have another important meaning apart from the qualities of the person that they depict which at times may not be taken seriously.

The other role which the Chinese calendar performs is to show the age of a person. By knowing the animal sign of an individual you can calculate the age applying basic math and common sense.

As the Chinese legend goes once there was a fight between twelve animals to impose some control over the cycle of years. Finally it was decided that there would be a race of the animals in which the animal to reach the opposite bank of the river would lead and the rest would follow as they finish. Thus the practice of representing each year with one animal sign came into being.

In the race the Ox took the lead and the rat rode on the Ox’s back. As the Ox almost reached the opposite bank, the rat being crafty jumped off the Ox’s back on the bank and got the first place. So the rat leads the cycle of year till today with the ox being the second. The last is the pig to depict the last month.

Recent years have seen a resurgence in interest when it comes to zodiac symbols from China . If you would like to read more on name symbols from China click on the hyperlinks here.