This legend explains how the Chinese calendar was created. It is a lunar calendar, so each month corresponds to an entire lunar cycle. The calendar is composed of 12 cycles that last one year, each of which is named after an animal.
Unlike the western zodiac however the Chinese one is not based on stars but on a legend that is thought to have its origin in Taoism, ancient Chinese thought.
The story has several variations but sees the 12 animals of the zodiac (rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog and pig) involved in a race.
According to Chinese tradition, our personality resembles that of the animal corresponding to our year of birth.
There are several versions of the zodiac legend, but in the one we’re talking about today, the Jade Emperor, a Chinese deity, realized that without a calendar, people had trouble measuring the passage of time. He therefore decided to create a calendar dedicating each year to an animal. In order to choose which animal it would be, he organized a race: the fastest to cross a wide river would win.
The Yangtze River is one of the two main rivers in China and perhaps this is where the Chinese imagine the animals of the legend held their race. It is the third longest river in the world and the longest within a single country. Until the 1950s there were few bridges crossing it and usually ferries were used to do so This is the bridge over the Blue River in Nanjing.
