What is Chinese astrology?
Kungfucius says: In ancient time, astrology was a root of Chinese culture. In fact, scientists believe that some of the oldest Chinese characters were written on turtle bones and used to predict the future.
Kungfucius doesn’t know if these turtlebone astrologers came to know that thousands of years later people would learn about astrology on the internet. But Kungfucius generously provides you with an overview of Chinese astrology and let’s you find your destination!
Why listen to Kungfucius?
Why not?! It is completely free! Next question!
What shall I learn about Chinese astrology?
In this article, you will learn some of these things:
- What is the ancient root of Chinese Astrology
- Does Chinese astrology work?
- Which Chinese zodiac signs exist?
- How do I know my zodiac sign?
- What does my Chinese zodiac sign mean?
- Is there more to Chinese astrology than the zodiac signs?
- …
What is the ancient root of Chinese Astrology
The root is likely the oracle bone characters that date back 4000 years. Not much remains from these ancient times other than characters that are often quite different from those in use 3 millenia later. Characters were carved into tortoise bones and cast into fire. Or at least this is what researches say while looking at the fragment of a bone.
The more well known parts of Chinese astrology can be traced back 2000 years. During the Zhou and Han dynasties, astrology was wide spread.
Does Chinese astrology work?
Compared to these university researchers that create whole books about oracle bone fragments from 4000 years ago, modern astrologists are much more believable. They create ideas and concepts that more are helpful more often and not. Potentially as they focus on a thing called common sense and disguise it into the abstracts of philosophy and astrology.
Which Chinese zodiac signs exist?
Chinese zodiac signs and corresponding characters are much younger than the oracle bones. Mostly during the Han dynasty the characters found there current traditional forms only to be changed in mainland China in the 1950s.
The main signs are:
Rat – 鼠
Ox – 牛
Tiger – 虎
Rabbit – 兔
Dragon – 龙
Snake – 蛇
Horse – 马
Goat – 羊
Monkey – 猴
Rooster – 鸡
Dog – 狗
Pig – 猪
Interestingly, there is no lion in Chinese signs. Clearly, historically there have been much more dragons living in China than lions, so please understand this. Still, lions exist not just as animals, but in monuments and language, the lion, 狮子，is widely known. The point here is that the lion is mostly a Buddhist symbol while the other animals date to pre-buddhist times in China.
The dragon is the most famous sign abroad, but not necessarily the most important in China.
There are several signs that have the radical for animal or dog, the quan radical 犭.
This is used in 狗，猴， 猪。
The characters for dragon and others have a traditional form and a simplified character. In astrology, traditional characters are sometimes still used in mainland China as well.