Simrit Singh
Hanover, NH
May 2019

Informant Data:
Simrit Singh, “Sim,” is a Dartmouth ’19 majoring in Economics and Asian & Middle Eastern Studies. She attended the Beijing Language Study Abroad at Beijing Normal University in the fall of 2016. Sim is from Utica, New York. Her family is of Sikh heritage.

Contextual Data:
The informant has an interest in East Asian studies from an academic and cultural perspective. She is fluent in Chinese and familiar with Zodiacs

Cultural Context:
I interviewed Sim as a subject of our Folklore Collection Project as I knew she had visited China for an extended amount of time and had learned about Chinese Zodiac Folklore there for the first time. We met in person for the interview.

Item:
Sim was at a weekend market in Beijing, where many of the vendors were selling various items, including small trinkets and clothing with Zodiac themes. Sim inquired as to the meaning of the various Zodiac symbols, and the woman selling the items explained Zodiac superstitions and a few personality traits associated with some of the animals. She asked Sim what year she was born in, and Sim replied that she was born in 1997. The woman told Sim that she was an ox, and gave her some insights on her compatibility, and recommended she marry a man born in the year of the snake or the dragon. Sim purchased a small wood-carved, painted ox from her stand.

Collector’s Comments:
I found this story very interesting. Sim was learning about the Zodiacs for the first time, and she commented that the lady seemed very happy to explain the context behind the Zodiacs in casual conversation even to someone who is not Chinese. This suggests that Chinese natives apply the Zodiacs to everyone, regardless of heritage, and believe that all should adhere to the beliefs of the Zodiac. I also found the commercial use of the Zodiacs interesting, and their artistic possibilities and the value they add visually and culturally.

Collector’s Name: Lillian Jin

Lillian Jin
2133 Hinman
Hanover, NH
03755

Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Spring 2019

Chinese Zodiac Folklore
“The Great Race and a Monkey Personality”

Francis Jin
New York, NY
May 20 2019

Informant Data:
Francis Jin is my biological older brother. He is 27 years old and grew up in Atlanta, GA before attending Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois. He currently lives in New York, NY, working as a proprietary trader. Although his career is in finance, Francis’s hobbies revolve around culture and travel. He has been to all countries in East Asia, and many in Europe and Southeast Asia. He maintains a lively social media presence and often provides travel recommendations to his followers. Through his excursions, he has formed an understanding of Chinese cultural traditions and is strongly influenced by his Chinese-American heritage. Francis’s parents are from Shanghai, China, and Harbin, China. They both immigrated to the U.S. for their graduate degrees in the 80s. Francis was born in the U.S. and has traveled to Asia for weeks at a time for vacation and to visit relative.

Contextual Data:
I interviewed Francis as a subject of our Folklore Collection Project as I thought he might have some insights into the ways in which Chinese Zodiac Folklore is characterized by Chinese culture and perhaps the sociocultural psyche. Having spent a significant amount of time in East Asia, but having grown up in the United States, Francis is ideal for being able to provide a widespread and thoughtful perspective of the unique factors that might inform Zodiac folklore and the societal understanding of it. I called him on the phone to ask him a few questions.

He was generally familiar with the story of The Great Race, which determined the order of the Zodiacs. He also spoke about the significance of this story in Chinese culture, most of his points being speculative and anecdotal, but reflective of his experience as a Chinese-American.

Cultural Context:
[I have recorded the story here as accurately as possible, but because of Francis’s colloquial way of speaking to me, much of the content is stylized and formalized in my own words.]

The story of The Great Race informs both the order of the Zodiacs and the character traits of the people who are of those Zodiacs. The most popular idea is that the rat snuck onto the Ox since the Ox is the fastest of the zodiacs and jumped forward at the last minute, so it is first in the cycle. There are other elements of the story as well, including the rabbit hopping closely behind and the dragon or horse stopping for various reasons and therefore coming in later. People born in the year of the rat, then, tend to be cunning and deceitful, and people born in the year of the ox can be a little more naïve but kind.

Social Context:
The Chinese Zodiacs are distinct from Western horoscope-type legends in many ways. First, they are based on the lunar calendar despite the fact that China utilizes the solar calendar. Chinese Zodiacs play little to no role in popular culture today; many Americans have “horoscope apps” or regularly check their daily horoscope. Zodiacs are barely a part of daily Chinese social culture; they are viewed as an item of the past, an ancient legend associated with the dynastic era. Its use of the lunar year instead of the solar year contributes to this view of Zodiac folklore.

Sometimes, older individuals with Chinese heritage may make remarks that a person behaves a certain way, or performed a certain action, because of their Zodiac personality. To the younger generation, though, this is generally myth and simply an interesting, creative way of justifying personality traits. For example, as a child, Francis was often told by relatives that he was silly, naughty, and energetic because he was born in the year of the monkey.

Finally, Chinese Zodiacs’ main significance today is “celebrating” that it is “your” year. Every twelve years, an individual has one year that is the year of his or her zodiac. This is said to be a special year that brings fortune and pride.

Lillian Jin

2133 Hinman
Hanover, NH
03755

Dartmouth College
Russian 13
Spring 2019