The Rat or Mouse (鼠) is the first of the repeating 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac, constituting part of the Chinese calendar system (with similar systems in use elsewhere). The Year of the Rat in standard Chinese is . The rat is associated with the first branch of the Earthly Branch symbol 子 (zǐ), which starts a repeating cycle of twelve years. The Chinese word shǔ (鼠) refers to various small rodents (Muroidea), such as rats and mice. The term "zodiac" ultimately derives from an Ancient Greek term referring to a "circle of little animals". There are also a yearly month of the rat and a daily hour of the rat (Chinese double hour, midnight, 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.). Years of the rat are cyclically differentiated by correlation to the Heavenly Stems cycle, resulting in a repeating cycle of five years of the rat (over a sixty-year period), each rat year also being associated with one of the Chinese wu xing, also known as the "five elements", or "phases": the "Five Phases" being Fire ( huǒ), Water ( shuǐ), Wood ( mù), Metal ( jīn), and Earth ( tǔ). First Year of the Rat In Chinese tradition, the first year was the equivalent of 2637 BCE (although others give other dates). The Prime Minister of the first emperor, Huangdi (also known as the Yellow Emperor), is said in this year to have worked out the sixty-year zodiacal cycle. Part of this achievement was the discovery and incorporation of the nineteen-year so-called Metonic cycle which correlates lunar and solar dates, as part of the system (using leap months). Years and the Five Elements

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

Notable quotes

“[city laws were] designed to penalize homeowners for failing to take steps to prevent and control rodents”
— Mayor Eric Adams, Fined For Rats on His Property, Takes on City Hall (William K. Rashbaum and Dana Rubinstein Dec. 6, 2022)
“Rats and mice are not generally regarded as pets, but as pests; they have few defenders. Yet the pain a rat or a mouse feels is every bit as real as that of any pet. In laboratories, they suffer, as anybody who has heard them moan, cry, whimper and even scream knows. The experimenters dissimulate about this by insisting that they are merely vocalising.”
— Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy, When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals (London: Vintage, 1996. , Conclusion, p. 217.
“If a rat is a good model for your emotional life, you're in big trouble.”
— Robert Sapolsky, "Stress, Neurodegeneration and Individual Differences", a lecture at Washington State University (10 October 2001)
“How now? a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!”
— William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, 4

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

Notable quotes

“[city laws were] designed to penalize homeowners for failing to take steps to prevent and control rodents”
— Mayor Eric Adams, Fined For Rats on His Property, Takes on City Hall (William K. Rashbaum and Dana Rubinstein Dec. 6, 2022)
“Rats and mice are not generally regarded as pets, but as pests; they have few defenders. Yet the pain a rat or a mouse feels is every bit as real as that of any pet. In laboratories, they suffer, as anybody who has heard them moan, cry, whimper and even scream knows. The experimenters dissimulate about this by insisting that they are merely vocalising.”
— Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson and Susan McCarthy, When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals (London: Vintage, 1996. , Conclusion, p. 217.
“If a rat is a good model for your emotional life, you're in big trouble.”
— Robert Sapolsky, "Stress, Neurodegeneration and Individual Differences", a lecture at Washington State University (10 October 2001)
“How now? a rat? Dead, for a ducat, dead!”
— William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act III, 4

Quotes via Wikiquote (CC BY-SA), each with its original source.

The Rat or Mouse (鼠) is the first of the repeating 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac, constituting part of the Chinese calendar system (with similar systems in use elsewhere). The Year of the Rat in standard Chinese is . The rat is associated with the first branch of the Earthly Branch symbol 子 (zǐ), which starts a repeating cycle of twelve years. The Chinese word shǔ (鼠) refers to various small rodents (Muroidea), such as rats and mice. The term "zodiac" ultimately derives from an Ancient Greek term referring to a "circle of little animals". There are also a yearly month of the rat and a daily hour of the rat (Chinese double hour, midnight, 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.). Years of the rat are cyclically differentiated by correlation to the Heavenly Stems cycle, resulting in a repeating cycle of five years of the rat (over a sixty-year period), each rat year also being associated with one of the Chinese wu xing, also known as the "five elements", or "phases": the "Five Phases" being Fire ( huǒ), Water ( shuǐ), Wood ( mù), Metal ( jīn), and Earth ( tǔ).

Overview

The Rat or Mouse (鼠) is the first of the repeating 12-year cycle of animals which appear in the Chinese zodiac, constituting part of the Chinese calendar system (with similar systems in use elsewhere). The Year of the Rat in standard Chinese is . The rat is associated with the first branch of the Earthly Branch symbol 子 (zǐ), which starts a repeating cycle of twelve years. The Chinese word shǔ (鼠) refers to various small rodents (Muroidea), such as rats and mice. The term "zodiac" ultimately derives from an Ancient Greek term referring to a "circle of little animals". There are also a yearly month of the rat and a daily hour of the rat (Chinese double hour, midnight, 11:00 p.m. to 1:00 a.m.). Years of the rat are cyclically differentiated by correlation to the Heavenly Stems cycle, resulting in a repeating cycle of five years of the rat (over a sixty-year period), each rat year also being associated with one of the Chinese wu xing, also known as the "five elements", or "phases": the "Five Phases" being Fire ( huǒ), Water ( shuǐ), Wood ( mù), Metal ( jīn), and Earth ( tǔ). First Year of the Rat In Chinese tradition, the first year was the equivalent of 2637 BCE (although others give other dates). The Prime Minister of the first emperor, Huangdi (also known as the Yellow Emperor), is said in this year to have worked out the sixty-year zodiacal cycle. Part of this achievement was the discovery and incorporation of the nineteen-year so-called Metonic cycle which correlates lunar and solar dates, as part of the system (using leap months). Years and the Five Elements

From Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0).

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