Is it the Chinese year of the goat or the sheep?
Is it the Chinese year of the goat or the sheep? Chinese folklorists say focusing on specific animals misses the point.
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China's 2015 Harbin Ice Festival: Photos
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Early in January, the 2015 Harbin International Ice and Snow Festival kicked off in northeast China. The festival has featured elaborate snow sculpture for more than 30 years. Herewith, some chilly scenes from the ice city. PHOTOS: Snowflakes Up Close and Personal
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Visitors take in monumental ice architecture, an ice maze, ice slide -- and for the adventurous (or foolhardy, depending on your worldview) cold water swimming in (air) temperatures that can reach -30 degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit. Winter Storm Stalls Midwest, Northeast: Photos
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Festival-goers can ride a sort of ice tricycle -- with a sled rail instead of a front wheel -- or try sledding or skiiing or just take a seat.
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View Caption + #4: The sculptures are on display through the end of February.
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A grand opening ceremony starts the fun, followed by an ice lantern show, sculpture competition and group wedding ceremony attended by Chinese and other international couples. PHOTOS: Steampunk Artist Transforms Ocean Trash
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The ice blocks used in the sculptures are created using water from the Songhua River, then chiseled by picks and saws into ornate, large-scale works of art. PHOTOS: Wild Winter Weather
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At night the ice buildings are illuminated as visitors traipse through the world's largest ice sculptures. Chill with These Ice Sculpture Photos
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Sheep or goat?
We've always suspected that people who pick up languages easily are smarter than the rest of us, but does this hold up to scientific scrutiny?
DCI
China's coming lunar new year has stirred a debate over which zodiac creature is the correct one -- but Chinese folklorists dismiss the fixation on animals as missing the point.
Traditional astrology in China attaches different animal signs to each lunar year in a cycle of 12 years.
The symbol for the new year starting on February 19 is the "yang", which can refer to any member of the caprinae subfamily -- or even beyond -- depending on what additional Chinese character it is paired up with.
For example, a goat is a "mountain yang", a sheep is a "soft yang" and a Mongolian gazelle is a "yellow yang".
Both goats and sheep appear in Chinese new year paintings, paper-cuts and other festival decorations.
Folklorists say it does not matter which one is used since the zodiac sign was chosen for the Chinese character's auspicious connotation rather than the specific animal -- at least in the beginning.
"This 'yang' is fictional. It does not refer to any specific kind (of sheep or goat)," Zhao Shu, a researcher with the Beijing Research Institute of Culture and History, told AFP.
- Much ado about mutton -
"Yang" is a component of the written Chinese character "xiang", which means auspiciousness, and the two were interchangeable in ancient Chinese, experts say.
It is also a part of the character "shan", which counts kindness and benevolence as among its meanings.
"Therefore 'yang' is a symbol of... blessing and fortune and represents good things," said Yin Hubin, an ethnology researcher with the China Academy of Social Sciences, a government think-tank.
"It is connected to the original implication of the Chinese character as an ideogram and reflects the world view of the Chinese people in primitive times," he said.
That said, the zodiac sign is being shunned by some Chinese parents-to-be, with expectant mothers scheduling Caesarean sections to give birth before the current year of the horse ends, according to media reports.