Chinese Zodiac
Chinese Zodiac is a cyclical concept of time consists of 12 animal signs (Zodiac Signs). It is precisely calculated based on the Chinese Lunar Calendar. Every twelve years is a new cycle. Each animal sign represents a particular year in the cycle. Thus you start with the year of Rat, then year of Ox, year of Tiger, year of Rabbit, year of Dragon, year of Snake, year of Hores, year of Lamb, year of Monkey, year of Rooster, year of Dog and end with the year of Pig.
There is an interesting legend behind the Chinese Zodiac ordering system. The story goes as one day God decided to have a race among the twelve animals in order to place them accordingly into a zodiac system. The Rat begged everybody to give him a ride due to his tininess, but everyone declined except the Ox. The hard working Ox dashed ahead without any hestation, and approached to the finishing line ahead of the other animals. However, just as the Ox was about to cross the line, the Rat jumped off the Ox's back and won the race. Thus Rat is the first animal sign in the Chinese Zodiac system. The Chinese horoscope therefore indicates: people born in the year of Ox are very honest and consistent. The people born in the year of Rat is extremely smart and flexible.
The Chinese date for the new year varies from year to year, but it always falls into January or February in the western calendar. There are some insteresting horoscopes around the Chinese zodiac. Knowing the accurate zodiac sign and reference it to the coordinated horoscope may reveal some amazing truth about yourself.
Asking for the other person's Zodiac sign is a great way to find out one's age. Chinese people are confortable to discuss about each other's zodiac signs (men and women). This would place the person's age within a cycle of 12 years. one can come up with the correct age based on some common sense. For example, a girl has a similar age as you are tells you she is a "monkey", then, based on your own zodiac sign and your own age, you can easily calculate her age without asking her directly about the it.
Zodiac Chart: