How to understand Chinese Zodiac placemats

If you go to a Chinese restaurant, you will find placemat like this. And if you follow my blog and read my book, you should understand why it says what it says, better than the person who wrote this. Because he made lots of mistakes.

Let’s ignore the personality descriptions. There’s no way all the people born in the same year have the same personality. It is pretty funny to read though: If your born in a rat year, your personality description is basically like a rat; if you born in a snake year, you will be like a snake… “you are wise and intense with a tendency towards physical beauty…”? That’s obviously our impression about real snakes.

Let’s move to the question that has meaning. Where do they get the compatibility between the animals?

RAT 1936,1948,1960,1972,1984,1996,2008 

You are ambitious yet honest. Prone to spend freely. Seldom make lasting friendships. Most compatible with Dragons. Most compatible with Dragons and Monkeys. Least compatible with Dragons and Monkeys. Least compatible with Horse.

OX

1937,1949,1961,1973,1985,1997,2009

Bright, patient and inspiring to others. You can be happy by yourself, yet make an outstanding parent. Marry a Snake or Cock. The Sheep will bring trouble.

TIGER

1938,1950,1962,1974,1986,1998,2010

Tiger people are aggressive, courageous, candid and sensitive. Look to the Horse and Dog for happiness. Beware of the Monkey.

RABBIT

1939,1951,1963,1975,1987,1999,2011

Luckiest to all signs,you are also talented and articulate. Affectionate yet shy, you seek peace throughout your life. Marry a Sheep or Boar. You opposite is the Cock.

DRAGON

1940,1952,1964,1976,1988,2000,2012

You are eccentric and your life complex. You have a very passionate nature and abundant health. Marry a Monkey or Rat late in life. Avoid the dog.

SNAKE

1941,1953,1965,1977,1989,2001,2013

Wise and intense with a tendency towards physical beauty. Vain and enemy. The Cock or Ox are your best signs.

HOURSE

1930,1942,1954,1966,1978,1990,2002

Popular and attractive to the opposite sex. You are often ostentations and impatient. You need people. Marry a Tiger or a Dog early, but never a Rat.

SHEEP

1931,1943,1955,1967,1979,1991,2003

Elegant and creative, you are timid and prefer anonymity. You are most compatible with Bars and Rabbits, but never the Ox.

MONKEY

1932,1944,1956,1968,1980,1992,2004

You are very intelligent and are able to influence people. An enthusiastic achiever, you are easily discouraged and confused. Avoid tigers. Seek a Dragon or a Rat.

COOK

1933,1945,1957,1969,1981,1993,2005

A pioneer in spirit, you are devoted to work and quest after knowledge. You are selfish and eccentric. Rabbits are trouble. Snake and Oxen are fine.

DOG

1934,1946,1958,1970,1982,1994,2006

Loyal and honest you work well with others. Generous yet stubborn and often selfish. Look to the Horse or Tiger. Watch out for Dragons.

BOAR

1935,1947,1959,1971,1983,1995,2007

Nobel and chivalrous. Your friends will be lifelong, yet you are prone to marieal strife. Avoid other Boars. Marry a Rabbit or a Sheep.

In the Discovery Channel show, race to escape, season 1 episode 2, the theme is Chinese restaurant. One of the riddle is: today’s special is the biggest enemy of its own. The answer is Boar. Because in the zodiac placemat, Boar is the only animal that needs to “Avoid other Boars.” Why is Boar so different?

The answer is: Boar is not different at all. Boar’s enemy is Boar because (12) and (12) forms a self punish. In fact, four codes have self punishment: (5), (7), (10) and (12). So you can say all Dragon, Horse, Cock and Boar have themselves as the biggest enemy.

In another word, Boar is different because the author used different standard. In most cases, when talking about someone is someone’s enemy, he used the “Crush” relation. For example: Rat is “Least compatible with Horse” because (1) crushes (7); for Ox “The Sheep will bring trouble” because (2) crushes (8)... In fact, this placemat actually makes less mistake than the one I saw in the restaurant I go. Sometimes you can see “Rat is least compatible with Sheep and Ox is least compatible with Horse. That is because they are using “Harm” instead of “Crush” to decide the least compatible sign. The problem is, they often mix their standard.

The other side of compatibility is the “best match” relations. Of course it is based on the “Merge” relations. For example: Rat is “most compatible with Dragons and Monkeys”, because (9)(1)(5) form a merge. However, sometime you can see Rat is most compatible with Ox, ect… That is because there are two sets of merges between zodiac codes, the two code merges and the three codes merge, check the previous blog for the rule. So there should be three best matches for every zodiac animal.