Wednesday, February 02, 2011

The Year of the Rabbit


Gong Xi Fa Cai .... It's Chinese New Year .... and the start of the Year of the Rabbit. The Rabbit (also translated as Hare) is the fourth animal in the 12-year cycle of the Chinese zodiac. The Year of the Rabbit is associated with the earthly branch symbol.
In the related Vietnamese zodiac, the cat takes the place of the rabbit. The Chinese symbol 卯 for the Rabbit sounds like (mão, mẫu, méo, mẹo, mẻo); the word "mèo" is cat in Vietnamese. Therefore, cat was translated from Chinese to Vietnamese as fourth zodiac sign instead of Rabbit.
These colourful red rabbits were seen in a market in Shanghai which was full of New Year decorations.

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