12 Animals as Year Designations

Story of the 12 Animals as Year Designations
http://www.chineseparade.com/history/stories/12_animals_story.asp

Whenever Chinese New Year is mentioned, the first thing that comes to the minds of most people is, "What year is this?" This is in reference to the animal representation for that year. The designation is usually explained with a simple story that a long time ago......