Brain Game: Which animal would you remove from the Chinese zodiac, and why? (Round 10)

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The Chinese zodiac is said to follow Jupiter’s orbit around the sun, which is 12 years per cycle. Twelve different animals mark each year, with every creature representing different traits. Chinese fortune-tellers use this concept to provide advice and make predictions.

I would like to remove the snake from the Chinese zodiac.

Snakes appear in many ancient Chinese tales, such as The Legend of the White Snake and Journey to the West. People normally associate its despicable behaviour with its physical appearance. Thus, someone born in the Year of Snake is usually considered evil, tricky and materialistic.

Similar traits for snakes also appear in Western culture – for example, the dangerous snake-haired Medusa in Greek mythology and the deceitful serpent in the Bible’s Garden of Eden. Clearly, the snake as a symbol is not widely accepted around the world.

Furthermore, I cannot tell the difference between the characteristics of the snake and the rat in the Chinese zodiac. It would be reasonable to keep only one of them.

My choice for a new member of the zodiac would be the Chinese white dolphin.

Among all 12 animals of the current zodiac, none of them are aquatic animals. This is perhaps because of the limitation of marine technology in the past.

Dolphins represent wisdom, benevolence and energy, so people born in the Year of Dolphin are likely to be confident, talkative and sociable. They would enjoy taking on new challenges but might also be terribly arrogant. In general, people with the dolphin as their zodiac sign would be popular wherever they went.

Removing the snake from the Chinese zodiac and adding the dolphin are appropriate changes that will enhance our rich cultural heritage.

“Oh, rats! You awful rat! Why did you betray me by ratting me out?”

Every time someone uses the word “rat” in a sentence, it always has a negative connotation. This animal is generally associated with dirt and illness, as it has long been blamed for spreading disease in the past.

As a term, it is used as an insult to describe dishonest and disloyal people or to accuse someone of the despicable act of snitching.

Whenever we think of rats, the image of a nasty, foul pest comes into our minds. Why should it be the first animal of the Chinese zodiac?

According to the traditional story, the Jade Emperor held a race to determine the order of the zodiac animals. The rat had to cheat – not once, but twice – to get to first place.

First, the rat purposefully eliminated a competitor when it did not wake up the cat as it had promised, causing the cat to miss the competition.

Then, during the race, the tiny animal was stumped when it could not cross a huge river. However, the rat eventually used its cunning to persuade the ox to let it sit on its head and successfully crossed the river without drowning. Instead of letting the ox win, the rat dashed from its head and clinched victory.

Allowing the sly rodent to stay in the zodiac will only encourage people to cheat their way to the top, instead of working hard, like the ox, whose effort came second to the rat’s trickery.

When people are born in the Year of the Rat, others may assume they are sly and will take advantage of others. Moreover, in the past, the Year of the Rat brought disasters and diseases, such as the Covid-19 pandemic and the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

Because of all its unlucky and negative associations, the rat should just be removed from the Chinese zodiac.