00:08-00:10 What's your sign?

00:11-00:15 In western astrology,It's a constellation determined by when you birthday falls in the Calendar.

00:17-00:20 But according to the Chinese Zodiac,or shengxiao, It's your shuxiang,Meaning the animal assigned to your birth year.

00:25-00:31 And of the many myths these animal signs and their arrangement,the most enduring one is that of the Great Race.

00:33-00:41 As the story goes，Yu Di or Jade Emperor, Ruler of the heavens,wanted to device a way to measure time，so he organized a rice.

00:42-00:48 The first twelve animals to make it across the river would earn a spot on the zodiac calendar in the order they arrived.

00:49-00:55 The rat rose with the sun to get an early start, But on the way to river,he met the horse,the tiger,and the ox.

00:56-01:00 Because the rat was small and couldn't swim very well.he asked the bigger animals for help.

01:01-01:06 While the tiger and the house refused,the kind-hearted ox agreed to carry the rat across.

01:07-01:15 Yet, just as they were about to reach the other side,The rat jumped off the ox hand and secured first place.

01:15-01:18 The ox came in second,With the powerful tiger right behind hi

01:19-01:22 The rabbit too small to the current. nimbly hopped across stones and logs to come in fourth.

01:23-01:28 Next came the gragon,who chould have flown directly across,But stopped to help some creatures she had encountered on the way.

01:29-01:33 After her came the house galloping across the river.

01:34-01:39 But just as she gone across the snack slithered by. The startled hou

rse reared back，letting the snake sneak into xisth place.

01:41-01:49 The Jade Emperor Looked out at a riverand spotted the sheep,the monkey,and the rooster all arop a raft, working together to push it through the weeds.

01:51-01:59 When they made across,The trio agree to give eighth place to the sheep,Who had been the most comforting harmonious of them, followed by the monkey and rooster.

02:00-02:04 Next came the dog scrambling onto the shore.He was a great summer,but frolicked in the water for so long That he only managed to come in eleventh.

02:05-02:15 The final spot was claimed by the pig,Who had gotten hungry and stopped to eat and nap before finally wadding across the finish line.

02:16-02:23 And so, each year is associated with one of the animals in the order,With the cycle starring over every 60 years.

02:24-02:34 Why 60 and not twelve? The traditional chinese calendar is made up of two overlapping systems. The animals of the zodiac are associated with what's called The Twelve Earthly Branches, or shiertianzhi.

02:35-02:59Another system, the Ten Heavenly Stems,or, shitiangan,is linked with the five classical elements.Of metal,jin,wood,mu,water,shui,fire,huo,and earth,tu.