The Shēngxiào (Chinese: 生肖), better known in English as the
Chinese Zodiac, is a scheme that relates each year to an animal
and its reputed attributes, according to a 12-year cycle. It has
wide currency in several East Asian countries such as Korea and
Japan. Identifying this scheme using the term "zodiac" reflects
several similarities to the Western zodiac: both have time
cycles divided into 12 parts, each labels at least the majority
of those parts with names of animals, and each is widely
associated with a culture of attributing influence of a person's
relationship to the cycle upon their personality and/or events
in their life. Nevertheless, there are major differences: the
"Chinese" 12-part cycle is divided into years rather than
months; contrary to the association with animals implied in the
Greek etymology of "zodiac", actually four of the Western
"signs" or "houses" are represented by humans (one such sign
being the twins "Gemini") and one is the inanimate balance scale
"Libra"; the animals of the Chi