A fanciful presentation of the Chinese Zodiac from this years Vegetable Fair:
An ancient system which is based, somehow, on yin and yang, not the stars. You see the animals everywhere.
A procession on Qing Ming spring festival at Fengdu, Ghost City:
The 12 animals were chosen deliberately, after many revisions. The zodiac animals are either closely related to ancient Chinese people’s daily lives, or have lucky meanings.
The ox, horse, goat, rooster, pig, and dog are six of the main domestic animals raised by Chinese people. The other six animals: rat, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, and monkey are all loved by the Chinese people.
I don’t understand the Chinese Zodiac, but the symbols show up a lot. They are part of an ancient, indigenous Chinese faith or mythology (depending on your point of view) and there are a lot of stories about the animals in lore.