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The origin of the zodiac is related to animal worship. According to the Qin bamboo slips unearthed in Yunmeng Shuihudi, Hubei Province and Fangmatan, Tianshui, Gansu Province, there was a relatively complete zodiac system in the pre-Qin period. The earliest handed down document that recorded the same Chinese zodiac as the modern one was Lun Heng written by Wang Chong in the Eastern Han Dynasty.
As an ancient folk cultural phenomenon, scholars have different opinions about the origin of the zodiac. Some people think that the zodiac and earthly branches are homologous and can be traced back to prehistoric legend times. Huangdi's "Building Jiazi to prolong life" and "making every effort to cure Jiazi" in Historical Records are the reflection of this statement.
Scholars believe that Jiazi here refers to the Chinese zodiac. Zhao Yi, a scholar in Qing Dynasty, believed that the zodiac originated from nomadic people in northern China. He said in the book "An Examination of Jade Cong": "At the beginning of the custom of covering the north, there was no such thing as ugly days, but rats, cows, tigers and rabbits were all spread in China in different years, so they didn't waste their ears.
Some scholars even hold the view that the zodiac was introduced to China from Babylon, and Guo Moruo is the representative of this view. He said in "Study on Oracle Characters and Branch Interpretation", "Twelve elephants are found in Babylon, Egypt and India, but they are not very old, and none of them came from the Western Dynasty 100 years ago.
It was originally formulated by western countries in the Han Dynasty, imitating the Babylonian zodiac, and then spread to the surrounding areas. It is believed that the Chinese Zodiac was made for the residents in the Middle East by imitating the Babylonian Zodiac, and was introduced to China when Emperor Wu of the Han Dynasty went to the Western Ocean.
The above viewpoints are different, so I dare not judge right or wrong subjectively. However, it is proved by a large number of documents that the Chinese zodiac really originated in China, and it is the crystallization of animal worship, totem worship and early astronomy of China ancestors.
The Book of Songs is the earliest record of the zodiac in the existing literature. There are eight words in The Book of Songs Xiaoya Jiri: "Jiri Wugeng means poor horse", which means it is a good day to ride a prancing horse and go hunting. This is an example of a horse in the afternoon.