The Twelve Years Circle of Chinese Calendar

When I say “I was born in the monkey year”, you may wonder what the monkey yearis. It comes from the old Chinese calendar which was also used in KOREA andJAPAN. Look at the table below and find the year you were born in to identifyyour year of the animals.

1	MOUSE	1948	1960	1972	7	HORSE	1954	1966	1978
2	COW	1949	1961	1973	8	SHEEP	1955	1967	1979
3	TIGER	1950	1962	1974	9	MONKEY	1956	1968	1980
4	RABBIT	1951	1963	1975	10	CHICKEN	1957	1969	1981
5	DRAGON	1952	1964	1976	11	DOG	1958	1970	1982
6	SNAKE	1953	1965	1977	12	BOAR	1959	1971	1983

In ancient China, these animal characters are used as zodiacsigns. I once met an American man who studies Chinese and Japanese. He can speakChinese very well and he also knows about these animal symbols. He said he wasborn in the MONKEY year and so was I. He said that is coincidence. However,his wife was born in DOG year. He believes that is the reason why they don’tget along very well. Do you think it is funny?
Try to talk about these animal symbols when you meet a Japanese lady and youmight find that you may share many interests.