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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Al Kowsky, post: 7981869, member: 97383&quot;]John, I&#039;m glad you brought up the meaning of rats in Chinese &amp; East Asian cultures <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie50" alt=":happy:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. The Chinese had such high esteem for the rat that they gave it 1st place in their zodiac. The origin of the Asian animal zodiac began when Gautama Buddha was on his deathbed. The first 12 animals to reach the Buddha before he died would be honored in the zodiac. Just before the parade of animals reached the Buddha, the ox was in the lead &amp; the exhausted rat was riding on his back. The sneaky rat jumped off of the ox to great the Buddha first &amp; was honored as the 1st animal on the zodiac <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie81" alt=":shifty:" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. The ox earned 2nd place <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie7" alt=":p" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. I was born in the year of the rat (1948) &amp; take no shame in that designation <img src="styles/default/xenforo/clear.png" class="mceSmilieSprite mceSmilie8" alt=":D" unselectable="on" unselectable="on" />. Picture below is a Chinese rat carved in dark green jade, 80 mm long, that was given to me by a dear friend.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]1385128[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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