The Rabbit in the Chinese Zodiac
The moon's hare, and Vietnam's cat
- Earliest record
- the 210s BCEThe daybook (rishu) from Shuihudi tomb 11, Yunmeng, deposited about 217 BCE, pairs the branch with the animal in its 'Robbers' section; the Fangmatan Qin daybooks, dated by their readers to the late Warring States or Qin, carry the same pair.
The moon hare pounding medicine survives in a Jin couplet of disputed authorship. The Tang Yiwen leiju of 624 gives the line to Fu Xian (239 to 294). The Song Taiping yulan, compiled 977 to 983, gives a near-identical line to his father, Fu Xuan.
Ouyang Xun et al., Yiwen leiju, juan 1 (624), quoting Fu Xian's Ni Tianwen; Li Fang et al., Taiping yulan, juan 4 (977 to 983), quoting Fu Xuan's Ni Tianwen.
The rabbit, fourth of the twelve animals paired with the earthly branches; it stands for the branch mao.
More context
The rabbit, or hare, belongs to mao, the fourth earthly branch. The Shuihudi daybook, buried about 217 BCE, says "mao is the hare". Its thief of a mao day has a large face and hides in the grass. The hare also lived in the moon. The Heavenly Questions asks what the moon gains by keeping a gu tu, read as a hare, in its belly. Jin poets set a white hare there pounding medicine. In Vietnam the fourth sign is the cat. An AFP report of 2023 gave rival explanations, among them that the branch name mão sounds like mèo, "cat". Recent years began in 1999 (jimao), 2011 (xinmao) and 2023 (guimao), each counted from the lunar New Year.
Light
The hare is the moon's companion, pounding medicine in Jin verse; the Heavenly Questions asks why the moon, which dies and grows again, keeps one in its belly.
Shadow
The Qin almanac's hare-day thief has a large face and hides in the grass; the Fangmatan copies add flatly that he will not be caught.