Animals of the Chinese zodiac

These stone statues lined up in a row each have zodiac animals at their base, allowing visitors to find the statue corresponding to their birth year and offer their prayers with special devotion.

Characterized by their round, gentle smiles, these statues are lovingly adorned by worshippers with handmade hats and scarves knitted in red and yellow yarn, always kept warm and welcoming.

But why were twelve specific animals chosen for the zodiac starting with the rat, and why is the cat excluded? Behind this lies an ancient legend of a "race" between the animals.

Long ago, Buddha told the animals, "Whichever of you arrive at my place earliest on New Year's morning, in order of arrival up to the twelfth, shall represent that year." The slow ox set out the night before, but the clever rat, learning of this, secretly climbed onto the ox's back. Just before the finish line, the rat leaped off and crossed first. Thus the rat became first and the ox second.

The tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, and dog each made their way to Buddha using their own strengths, while the boar ran powerfully to the very end, arriving twelfth.

The cat, meanwhile, had been deliberately told the wrong date by the rat and arrived too late. This is why the cat was excluded from the zodiac and why, the story goes, cats have been chasing rats ever since.