Which is the earliest document to record the Chinese zodiac?

For a long time, many people regard "On Heng" as the earliest document to record the 12 zodiac signs. "On Balance" is a famous work by Wang Chong (27-97), a materialist thinker of the Eastern Han Dynasty. "On Balance and Potential" contains:

Yin, wood also, its fowl, tiger also. 戌, soil also, its fowl, dogs also. ......Noon, Ma also.

Child, rat also. Unitary, chicken too. Mao, rabbit also.

Hai, pig also. No, sheep too. Ugly, cow too.

Si, snakes too. Shen, monkey also. In the above quotation, there are only eleven zodiac signs, and the one missing is the dragon.

The book "Words and Poisons" also said: "Chen is a dragon, Si is a snake, and the position of Chen and Si is in the southeast." In this way, the twelve zodiac signs are complete, and the twelve earthly branches and the twelve zodiac signs are so complete and the same as today, which is indeed the earliest and most complete record of the zodiac in ancient literature.

Son, rat also, thief sharp mouth, rare ,......Ugly, cow also, thieves with big noses and long necks ,......Yin, the tiger also, the thief-like, the hope beard, the face is black. Mao, rabbit also, thief big face. Chen, a thief man, blue and red ......Si, insects also, thieves are long and black snakes.

At noon, the deer is also, the thief has a long neck, and his body is incomplete. ......No, the horse is also, the thief has long bearded ears. Shen, Huan also, the thief round face ......Unitary, water is also ......Huh, the old sheep also ......Hai, pig also.

The above is basically the same as today's zodiac, however, Chen, the zodiac is not written; At noon, the horse became a deer; No, the sheep became horses; The dog became an old sheep, and so on.

This should be the earliest.

The Book of Days, which appeared in the Qin Dynasty

The origin of the zodiac is an ancient folk culture, and scholars have different views on the origin of the zodiac. Some people believe that the zodiac is homologous to the earthly branch, which can be traced back to the era of prehistoric legends. The Yellow Emperor in the Historical Records"Build a Jiao to live", while"Jiao"It is a reflection of this statement.

Scholars believe that the jiazi here refers to the 12 zodiac signs.

<> Qing Dynasty scholar Zhao Yi believes that the 12 zodiac signs first originated from the nomadic people of northern China, and he wrote in "All Things are Yellow":"At the beginning of the Gaibei customs, there was nothing to do in the twelve heavenly sons of Zhou Yin, and the age of rats, cows, tigers, rabbits, etc., was passed on in China, and they were not wasted along the way. "See Qing - Zhao Yi "Yu Cong Kao").

For a long time, many people regarded the Treatise on Balance as the earliest document that recorded the 12 zodiac signs. "On Balance" is a famous work by Wang Chong, a materialist thinker in the Eastern Han Dynasty. "On Balance - Nature"Carry.

Yin, wood, its bird, tiger, 戌, earth also, its bird, dog also.

Wu, Ma Ye, Zi, Rat Dao, You, Ji Ye, Mao, Tu Yehai, Pig Ye, Wei, Sheep Ye, Chou, Niu. 巳, snake, shen, monkey"。In the above quotation, there are only eleven zodiac signs, and what is missing is the dragon.

And it says in the book:"Tatsu is the dragon, and the third is in the southeast. In this way, the zodiac signs are complete, and the twelve earthly branches and the twelve zodiac signs are thus complete, which is exactly the same as the current zodiac signs.

Some scholars even believe that the zodiac signs were introduced to China from ancient Babylon, and the representative of this view is Guo Moruo. He said in "Oracle Bone Script Research". Zhigan said:

Zodiac images have been found in Babylon, Egypt, and India, but none are very old and did not originate more than a hundred years later. Its meaning was formulated in the countries of the Western Regions beginning in the Han Dynasty, modeled after the twelve signs of Babylon, and later spread to people everywhere as well. It is believed that the zodiac signs were formulated by the Middle Easterners after the Babylonian signs, and that Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty introduced them to China when he was in the Western Regions.

The author does not dare to make a subjective judgment, but through a large number of documents, it has been proved that the 12 zodiac signs did originate in China, and are the crystallization of animal worship, totem worship and early astronomy of the Chinese ancestors.

In the existing literature, the earliest records of the 12 zodiac signs appeared in Wang Chong's "On Balance" in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

The earliest record of the 12 zodiac signs appeared in the Classic of Mountains and Seas, which tells that there are 12 zodiac signs, which also represent different stars in the sky.

It first appeared in the Eastern Han Dynasty Wang Chong's Argument and Balance, which recorded the content of the 12 zodiac signs, and recorded the plot about the 12 zodiac signs.

In December 1975, two batches of Qin Dynasty bamboo slips were excavated in Yunmeng Sleeping Tiger Land in Hubei Province, which contained the content of "thieves".

Son, rat also, thief sharp mouth, rare ,......Ugly, cow also, thieves with big noses and long necks ,......Yin, the tiger also, the thief-like, the hope beard, the face is black. Mao, rabbit also, thief big face. Chen, a thief man, blue and red ......Si, insects also, thieves are long and black snakes.

At noon, the deer is also, the thief has a long neck, and his body is incomplete. ......No, the horse is also, the thief has long bearded ears. Shen, Huan also, the thief round face ......Unitary, water is also ......Huh, the old sheep also ......Hai, pig also.

The above is basically the same as today's zodiac, but Chen did not write the zodiac; noon pair of deer; Not Tsushima; To the old sheep.

In April 1986, the Qin Dynasty tomb in Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu Province unearthed two kinds of "Book of Days" bamboo slips, A and B, which are similar in age to the Qin slips of Sleeping Tiger. A kind of bamboo slips also have a record of thieves:

Son, rat. Ugly,. Yin, tiger. Mao, rabbit. Chen, worm. Si, chicken. Noon, horses. No, sheep. Shen, monkey. Unitary, chicken. 戌, dogs. Hey, pig.

The correspondence between the zodiac and the earthly branch is exactly the same as that of modern times, except for the "Tatsumi Worm Chicken".

The Book of Poetry, Xiaoya" contains "auspicious day Gengwu, that is, send my horse", reflecting the relative noon horse. However, scholars point out that Qin Jian's noon corresponds to a deer rather than a horse, and that the noon horse is nothing more than a coincidence.

The earliest complete record of the 12 zodiac signs and the same as today is the "Treatise on Balance" by Wang Chong of the Eastern Han Dynasty. "On Balance", Volume 3, "Material Potential":

Yin, wood also, its fowl, tiger also. 戌, soil also, its fowl, dogs also. ......Ugly is not the soil, ugly birds and cows, and not poultry and sheep. Wood wins soil, so dogs and cattle and sheep are served by tigers. Hai water also, its fowl and pigs; The fire is also, and its birds and snakes are also; The son is also water, and its birds and rats are also; The noon is also hot, and its birds and horses are also ......Afternoon horses, rats, chickens, rabbits.

Water is better than fire, why don't rats chase horses? Jin Shengmu, why don't chickens peck rabbits? Hai pig also, not sheep also, ugly cow also.

The soil is better than the water, why don't the cattle and sheep kill the pigs? The snake is also, and the monkey is also. Fire is better than gold, why don't snakes eat macaques?

In the same book, Volume 23 "Words and Poisons" is cloud:

Tatsu is a dragon, Si is a snake, and Tatsumi's position is in the southeast. Dragons are poisonous, snakes have stings, so pit pits have fangs, and dragons have reverse scales. Wood makes fire, and fire is poisonous, so the beast of the dragon contains sparks. “

It can be seen that the 12 zodiac signs in the Eastern Han Dynasty have all been finalized at the latest. Liang Zhanggang of the Qing Dynasty also relayed the record of "On Balance" in "Wandering Cong Talk: Continued Talk".

After the biography of Northern History Yuwen Hu", Zhou Yuwenhu's mother sent a letter in Qi and said: "In the past, you brothers were born in Wuchuan Town, the eldest one was a rat, the second was a rabbit, and your body was a snake. This is an earlier record of the zodiac sign in relation to the year of birth in the official history.

Although the Chinese zodiac originated in China, its influence is not limited to China. In the long history, the 12 zodiac signs have also moved from China to other countries, such as Japan, Vietnam and other countries that are deeply influenced by Han culture. However, the 12 zodiac signs have remained the same and changed when they are transmitted abroad.

Among them, the countries that have remained unchanged are Japan, South Korea, etc., while the countries that have changed are Vietnam, Myanmar and other countries. After the introduction of the zodiac culture, these countries adjusted it according to their own culture and animal factors, so as to give birth to the zodiac culture that suits their national conditions.

Originated from the totemic belief of the ancients in ancient times, the awe of the animals seen at that time, and later with the development, the totem belief was gradually eliminated and developed into the zodiac culture.

There are many theories about the origin of the zodiac, the most scientific of which is that the zodiac is determined by ancient scholars according to the twelve hours of the day and the habits and characteristics of the corresponding animals.

Accounts vary, with some believing that it originated as an animal totem. Some people think that it is the constellation, it is said that in ancient times, people divided the stars near the yellow and equator into "28 constellations", representing 28 kinds of animals, dividing the day into 12 parts, representing them with 12 branches and corresponding to the zodiac, and the zodiac and the 28 constellations corresponding.

The 12 zodiac signs were first found in the world's first collection of poetry, the Book of Songs. "The Book of Poetry, Xiaoya, Che Attack" said: "On an auspicious day, I am sent to a horse."

It is also seen in "The Book of Rites, Month, and Winter": "Unearthed cattle to send cold air." "When did the theory of the zodiac come about?

There is a historical cloud: it should be formed in the Han Dynasty at the latest. For a long time, many people regarded the "Treatise on Balance" as the earliest document to record the 12 zodiac signs.

On Balance is a famous work by Wang Chong, a materialist thinker of the Eastern Han Dynasty. "On Balance and Potential" contains: "Yin, wood, its birds, tigers."

戌, soil also, its fowl, dogs also. ......Noon, Ma also. Sub, rat knife.

Unitary, chicken too. Mao, rabbit also. Hai, pig also.

No, sheep too. Ugly, cow too. Si, snakes too.

Shen, monkey also. In the above quotation, there are only eleven zodiac signs, and the one missing is the dragon. The book "Words and Poisons" also says:

Tatsu is a dragon, Si is a snake, and Tatsumi's position is in the southeast. In this way, the 12 zodiac signs are complete, and the 12 earthly branches and the 12 zodiac signs are so complete and the same as they are today.

The zodiac is almost something that we Chinese women and children know, many of us like to study their own zodiac, which year is their own good luck, to see what their fortune is this year, including sometimes before marriage also depends on the zodiac of both parties, the zodiac is also an important culture of our Chinese nation, we have always known their ranking through animal races, but we also know that this is inaccurate. In the beginning, the zodiac was also a little different from now.

1. How the 12 animals were chosen In ancient times, people were still very ignorant, they didn't know what scientific phenomena were, but people always had to believe in something as their own support, and gradually myths and stories appeared, and animals were also an important part of mythological stories, and gradually there was a worship of animals, some tribes worshipped pigs, and some tribes worshipped mice. It is mainly due to the development of their tribe itself. From the existing cultural relics, it is recorded that a complete zodiac system appeared during the Qin Dynasty, but it is slightly different from ours.

Second, the original zodiac phase now we have discovered, from our earliest zodiac phase, that is a batch of bamboo slips, different zodiac signs also correspond to different genera, such as the rat ugly cow, Yin tiger rabbit. But in the first batch of bamboo slips unearthed, the dragon did not have a corresponding genus, and what we often say now is the noon horse, and the noon at that time corresponded to the deer not the horse. The current sheep did not correspond to the horse, and the current dog originally corresponded to the sheep.

Everything else is pretty much the same.

Third, the continuous development, to the present gradually stabilized, and then gradually unearthed several batches of bamboo slips, and some subtle changes have occurred. Until the Eastern Han Dynasty, unearthed a batch of bamboo slips, that period and we now know that has been exactly the same, India also has 12 zodiac signs in the beginning, the zodiac is 12 mythical beasts, almost exactly the same as China, the setting of the Chinese zodiac because people have found different years suitable for the survival of different animals, and even involves some astrobiology, in order to study the zodiac, China has also determined a special cultural industry.

Regarding the origin of the 12 zodiac signs, the historical record is: since the time of Emperor Shun, China has begun to use the "Ganzhi Chronology" with the ten symbols of the heavenly stem and the twelve symbols of the earthly branch. The method of animal dating originated from the nomadic ethnic minorities in the western and northern parts of China in ancient times.

The 12 zodiac signs were first found in the world's first collection of poetry, the Book of Songs. "The Book of Poetry, Xiaoya, Che Attack" said: "On an auspicious day, I am sent to a horse." It is also seen in "The Book of Rites, Month, and Winter": "Unearthed cattle to send cold air."

"When did the theory of the zodiac come about? There is a historical cloud: it should be formed in the Han Dynasty at the latest.

It is based on the Eastern Han Dynasty Wang Chong's "On Balance and Materiality": "Yin, wood, its birds, tigers." 戌, soil also, its fowl, dogs also. ......

Youyun: "Noon, Ma Ye." Child, rat also.

Unitary, chicken too. Shen, monkey also. A total of 11 zodiac names have been proposed.

In addition, Zhao Ye of the Eastern Han Dynasty has "Wu Zaichen, his position as a dragon" in Zhao Ye's "Wu Yue Spring and Autumn". happened to make up for the "Chen Dragon" and fulfilled the 12 zodiac signs. It can be seen that the 12 zodiac signs have been formed in the Eastern Han Dynasty.

As for the use of the zodiac, it has appeared at least since the time of the Northern and Southern Dynasties.