Happy Chinese New Year!

[Cossack25A1]

So this year is what Chinese Zodiac animal? Is it sheep, goat or ram as there seem to be a confusion over this.

 

[TaiShang]

So this year is what Chinese Zodiac animal? Is it sheep, goat or ram as there seem to be a confusion over this.

There is no confusion. The confusion is only when you try to translate it into another language.

According to CCTV:

Is it the Year of Sheep? Goat? Or Ram?

It has been quite a stir on social media about whether the year of 2015 in Chinese lunar calendar is the year of ‪‎sheep‬, ‪‎goat‬, or ‎ram‬.

As a tradition, ‪‎China‬ attaches different animal signs to each lunar year in a cycle of 12 years. The zodiac symbol for the lunar year of 2015, starting from February 19, is “Yang” (羊) in Chinese, which can refer to most members in the subfamily of Caprinae.

While even a majority of Chinese cannot answer whether they are welcoming the year of sheep or goat, folklorists say it does not matter which one it refers to, since each zodiac sign was chosen for the “auspicious” connotation of the corresponding Chinese character, rather than any specific animal.

There are also explanations saying that the zodiac signs originate from worshipping events in ancient times, and in old texts, the ancestors did not specify whether it was a sheep, a goat or other animals.

As a matter of fact, goats and sheep both appear in Chinese New Year paintings, paper-cuts and other festival decorations.

Well, as the question of which kind of “Yang” Chinese are celebrating may be too complicated, here is a simpler one.

Take a look at the following cute horned animals. Can you identify which one is a sheep, ram, goat, or even…an antelope?

 

[Yizhi]

So this year is what Chinese Zodiac animal? Is it sheep, goat or ram as there seem to be a confusion over this.

Western media sheepish on translating Chinese New Year animal
Western media sheepish on translating Chinese New Year animal｜Society｜News｜WantChinaTimes.com

• 2015-02-17

African exchange students in China write the character "yang" in calligraphy on Feb. 9 to usher in the Year of the Goat...or is that Sheep, or Ram? (Photo/CNS)

Just what animal is representing the upcoming Chinese New Year has proven to be quite a conumdrum for Western media, reports our Chinese-language sister paper Want Daily.

The symbol of the Chinese zodiac for the new year starting Feb. 19 is "yang," which is a generic term that may refer to any member of the caprinae subfamily — or beyond — depending on what other characters it is paired with.

As a result, Western media are struggling to determine whether the "yang" in this case is a mianyang (sheep), shanyang (goat), gongyan (ram), muyang (ewe), gaoyang (lamb) or even a lingyang (antelope).

Some outlets have been decisive — such as the Wall Street Journal, which opted for goat, or USA Today, which went with sheep — others have been admittedly stumped. Major newspapers and media such as the UK's Daily Telegraph and America's CNN have openly questioned whether the appropriate definition is goat, sheep or ram, going as far as speaking to Chinese experts in an effort to get to the bottom of the quandary.

The New York Daily News, on the other hand, took a broader approach, simply calling the lunar new year the year of "any ruminant horned animal."

The most common result via searches on Google is apparently Year of the Sheep, though it is not a decisive victory as other translations are also very common. On Wikipedia, the top choice is goat, but sheep and ram are also recognized in the main article.

In other Asian countries, the translation is not as difficult. In Vietnam, for instance, the sign is "mui," which is unambiguously translated as goat. In Japan, the sign is "hitsuji," which means sheep, while in South Korea the choice is ram.

Chinese experts tend to lean towards goat as the correct animal based on philology and history.

Wang Tao, an academic at the Nanjing Municipal Museum, confidently states that it should be the Year of the Goat and not sheep or ram. Ancient Chinese characters for "yang" found on oracle bones resemble goats the most, including the representation of the horns on the animal's head, Wang said, adding that goats are also one of the earliest domesticated animals in Chinese history.

Chinese netizens have found it amusing that foreigners have been so troubled by the translation because most Chinese people don't actually care what specific kind of animal it represents. Some have even suggested simply using the transliteration and calling it the Year of the Yang to avoid the hassle.





References:

Yang　　羊

Sheep　　綿羊

Goat　　山羊

Ram　　公羊

Ewe　　母羊

Lamb　　羔羊

Antelope　　羚羊
----------------------------------------------------
i was driving when i heard "any ruminant horned animal" (有角反刍动物) in radio......

 

[TaiShang]

A big family with four generations altogether in South China's Chongqing municipality are making dumplings on the first day of 2015 in the Lunar Calendar. While people in the northern part of China usually enjoy dumplings on the Lunar New Year Eve, in the south, dumplings are still not the main course for people.