2024年3月14日发(作者：)

The Chinese zodiac sign

Have you ever been asked by your Chinese friend, “What is your zodiac sign?”

Don’t think they are making small talk. If you say, “I’m a monkey,” they

immediately know you are either 24, 36, 48 or 60 years old. Asking a zodiac sign is

a polite way of asking your age.

你的中国朋友有没有问过你，“您属什么的？”别以为他们就是随便聊聊而已。如果你

说：“我属猴。“他们就会马上知道你的年龄，是24还是36亦或者48、60岁。其实问你

属相只不过是礼貌性地问你年龄。

By revealing your zodiac sign, you are also being evaluated. Judgments are

being made about your fortune or misfortune, your personality, career prospects,

and how you will do in given year. If you share you and your partner’s animal sign,

they will paint a picture in their mind about your private life. Maybe you don’t

believe in the Chinese zodiac. As a quarter of the world population is influenced

by it. You’d be wise to do something about that.

你一旦告诉人家你的属相，他们就会下意识的评估你，或评估的运气或不幸，或评估

你的性格、事业前景，也或是你接下来的一年内会过得怎样。如果你把你的你爱人的属相

都告诉了他们，他们脑海中就会自动浮现你和你爱人生活的场景。或许你们并不相信中国

的属相，但这个世界上至少有四分之一的人口受属相的影响，所以建议大家还是至少要了

解一点吧。

So what is the Chinese zodiac, exactly? Most westerners think of Greco-Roman

zodiac, the signs divided into 12 month. The Chinese zodiac is different. It’s a 12-

year cycle labeled with animals, starting with a Rat and ending with a Pig, and has

no association with constellations. For example, if you were born in 1975, you are

a Rabbit. Our Chinese ancestors constructed a very complicated theoretical

framework based on inner yang, the five elements and the 12 zodiac animals.

那么，究竟中国的属相是个什么样的概念呢？可能很多西方人会首先想到希腊罗马星

座，以12个月分别划分，而中国属相则是不同的。以12年为一轮，每一年以一种动物为

代表，以鼠开始，以猪结束，跟星座没有半毛钱的关系。举个例子，如果你出生于1975年，

你就是属兔的，大家在图书可以看到自己的属相吗？中国人的祖先发明了一套十分复杂的

理论体系。在这套理论体系中，有阴阳，有五行，也有十二生肖。

Over thousands of years, this popular culture has affected people’s major

decisions, such as naming, marriage, giving birth and attitude towards each other.

And some of the implications are quite amazing. The Chinese believe certain

animals get on better than the others. So parents choose specific years to give birth

to babies, because they believe the team effort by the right combination of animals

can give prosperity to families.

在几千年的历史长河中，这种主流文化影响了很多人做重大决定，比如取名字、结婚、

生孩子以及对待他人的方式。而这当中，有一些由于这些文化而来的含义非常让人惊讶。

中国人相信有一些属相就是比另外的一些属相要好相处。所以有的人会刻意选择一些特定

的年份生孩子，因为他们相信一家人当中的属相不能相冲，好的属相组合可以产生合力，

让家庭昌盛。

We even refer to the zodiac when entering into romantic relations. I’m a pig,

I should have perfect romance with Tigers, Goats and Rabbits. Chinese people

believe some animals are natural enemies. As a pig, I need to be careful with a

Snake.

甚至在找对象的时候我们也会考虑属相的问题。如果我是属猪的，那么我的理想的对

象应该是老虎、羊和兔子。中国人认为这些属相的人天生就是敌人，如果是属猪的，那么

久要当心属蛇的。

We believe some animals are luckier than the others, such as the Dragon.

Unlike the Western tradition, the Chinese dragon is a symbol for power, strength

and wealth. It’s everyone’s dream to have a Dragon baby. Jack Ma’s parents

must have been very proud. And they are not the only ones. In 2012, the Year of

the Dragon, the birthrate in China, Hongkong and Taiwan increased by five percent.

That means another one million more babies. With the traditional preference to

baby boys, the boy-girl ratio that year was 120 to 100. When those Dragon boys

grow up, they will face much more severe competition in love and job markets.

我们认为有一些属相相比别的属相会更幸运，比如说龙。跟西方的文化不同，在中国

人眼里，龙象征着权利、力量以及财富。所以人人都想生龙宝宝。马云也是属龙的，他的

父母应该非常骄傲吧。还有很多人也这么想。2012年是龙年，在这一年，中国大陆、香港

和台湾的出生率都上升了5个百分点，也就意味着多了100万个龙宝宝。中国人传统意义

上都喜欢生男孩，那一年的新生儿男女比例是120比100。而当这些龙宝宝长大后，他们

在婚恋市场和就业市场上的竞争想必肯定要激烈的多。

According to the BBC and the Chinese government’s press release, January

2015 saw a peak of Cesarean sections. Why? That was the last month for the Year

of the Horse. It’s not because they like horse so much, it’s because they try to

avoid having unlucky Goat babies.

根据BBC和中国官方媒体，在2015年1月，剖腹产数量达到一个高峰。为什么？因

为那个月是有机会生马宝宝的最后一年，倒也不是因为中国人有多爱生马宝宝，而是以为

他们尽量避免生羊宝宝。

Tigers is another undesirable animals, due to its volatile temperament. Many

Chinese regions saw a sharp decline of birthrate during those years. Perhaps one

should consider zodiac in reverse, as those Tiger and Goat babies will face much

less competition. Maybe they are the lucky ones. I went through the Forbes top

300 richest people in the world, and it’s interesting to see, the most undesirable

two animals, the Goat and Tiger, are at the top of the chart, even higher than the

Dragon. So maybe we should consider, maybe it’s much better to have less

competition.

老虎也不是很受欢迎，因为老虎性情多变。在中国很多地方，出生率在虎年都有急剧

的下降。或许，人们应该反过来想，虎宝宝和羊宝宝以后长大可能面临的竞争要小呢。我

查阅了福布斯财富榜全球最富有的300个人的名单，发现一个有趣的事实，最不受欢迎的

两个属相，羊和虎，富有的人树拍到了前两名，比龙还要高，所以，或许我们应该这么想，

竞争少一点是好事。

One last interesting point: many Chinese people make their investment

decisions based on the zodiac sign index. Although the belief and tradition of the

zodiac sign has been over thousands of years, the trend of using it in making major

decisions did not really happen until the past few decades. Our ancestors were very

busy surviving poverty, drought, famine, riot, disease and civil war. And finally,

Chinese people have the time, wealth and technology to create an ideal life

they’ve always wanted. The collective decision made by 1.3 billion people has

caused the fluctuation in economics and demand on everything, from health care

and education to property and consumer goods. As China plays such an important

role in the global economy and geopolitics, the decisions made based on the

zodiac and other Chinese traditions end up impacting everyone around the world.

最后还有一点很有意思：很多中国人在做投资决定的时候，通常要看看他们的属相幸

运指数。虽然，中国人相信属相的这种传统文化，已经被传承了几千年，但把属相和投资

决定挂钩起来，也只是近几十年才发生的事情。我们的祖先都在忙着吃饱饭、对抗干旱、

饥荒、暴乱、疾病和终止内战，哪有时间管属相？最后，中国人才终于有时间、也有钱、有

那个技术创造他们一直想要的生活。13亿中国人民的共同决定，决定了经济波动和供需关

系，影响了医疗、教育、房地产和消费品。随着中国在全球经济和地缘政治中扮演着愈来

愈重要的角色，中国人基于属相和另外一些中国文化所做的决定，就会影响到世界上每一

个人。