2015 - Year Of The Sheep

'The Year of the Goat is meant to represent people that are wise, gentle, compassionate, charming, elegant, slightly materialistic, quick to complain, shy and pessimistic, should you believe in such things. Some call it the Year of the Sheep instead of the Year of the Goat and both titles are equally valid as, despite general western opinion, the lunar calendar is a Far-east Asian phenomena, not just a Chinese one. In Japan, it's clearly known as the Year of the Sheep, in Vietnam equally clearly as the Year of the Goat, and in China, either translation is equally valid for the following reason. Wèi is identified with the yáng, which in Chinese means "A ruminant mammal, generally with horns on its head. Divided into a number of types, including shānyáng, miányáng, língyáng, etc. ". The latter three types translate as ‘mountain yang' (goat), ‘cotton yang' (sheep) and gazelle. The goat is the animal most popularly chosen to depict the Lunar year, but either is correct. Ironically in Korea, it's more generally called the Year of the Ram. Whoever said translation was easy!!'

HH

bpoc, it's not a nasty slur at all. I just finished living in China for three years and people I know actually didn't know the difference between sheep and goat, and I didn't understand why this was the case, now I do.

Yes, there's a difference, but yang in Chinese can be translated as either, and many Chinese people live in the cities where they really don't get to see animals that much.

I am glad the sheep and goats are now sorted out. :)