Saturday, February 16, 2008

Rats!

The Chinese Year of the Rat began last week. In our society, we think they could have chosen something better; in their culture, it’s a bit different.

In Chinese, the Rat is respected and considered a courageous, enterprising person. People born in the Year of Rat are clever and bright, sociable and family-minded. They have broad interests and strong ability in adapting to the environment and able to react adequately to any changes.

Rat ranks number 1 in the 12 calendar animals. There is a related story for children: Once the God of Heaven wanted to choose 12 animal names as the sequence of the calendar. He announced a race to determine the order. When the racing date was close, Cat forgot the time and asked Rat the schedule. The alert Rat gave Cat the wrong time on purpose. Smart Rat stayed on the horn of Ox while crossing the river, then jumped over the bank to reach the final line to be the champion. Cat missed the racing time and swore to kill Rat for generations. That's why Cat always chases Rat forever.

Who was born in various years of the Rat? Write Charlotte Bronte; actresses Gwyneth Paltrow and Lauren Bacall; everyone’s favorite villain Lucrezia Borgia; gone with the wind Margaret Mitchell; sultry spy Mata Hari; and sultry singer Olivia Newton-John.

I’m a Year of the Horse person, myself.
Information for this post came from various Internet sites and was inspired by some Chinese friends of mine.

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