The Rat in the Chinese zodiac

The Rat comes first in the twelve-year cycle and is matched with the earthly branch Zi (子), the two-hour stretch from 11 pm to 1 am. That makes it the animal of the very start: the hinge between one day and the next. A Rat year begins at Chinese New Year, which falls in late January or February, so early-year birthdays can belong to the Pig before it.

A Han dynasty book, Wang Chong's Lunheng, already lists Zi alongside the rat (鼠, shǔ) when it works through which animal goes with which branch. The popular story of why the Rat leads, a race across a river judged by the Jade Emperor in which the Rat rides on the Ox's back and hops off at the finish, is a folk tale, told in many versions rather than documented.

In folk imagery the rat is less pest than provider. Rats gather where grain is stored, so they came to signal plenty, and New Year prints show a mouse wedding with a tiny sedan chair. Modern writers lean on that: Rat people are described as clever, social and unusually good at spotting what is useful in a messy situation.

As a prompt for reflection, ask where you tend to find a way in when the front door is shut, and whether you ever forget to share what you found.