Rat
鼠
Sources & Method
來源
What Counts as Tradition?
SAGE separates historically supportable calendrical structure from later folklore, symbolic interpretation, and modern reflective personality language.
Traditional facts, cultural history and modern reflection are intentionally separated so visitors can see which layer they are reading.
Sources Behind the Traditional Record
Wang Chong — Lun Heng 論衡
Eastern Han
·
Classical passage associates the Earthly Branch Zi 子 with Water 水 and the Rat 鼠.
Alfred Forke — Lun-heng, Appendix II
1907–1911 translation / study
·
Appendix II discusses the Cycle of the Twelve Animals as a calendrical and chronological system.
Metropolitan Museum of Art — Chinese zodiac figure of a mouse
Song dynasty, 11th century
·
Public-domain Chinese zodiac figure demonstrating historical material representation of the zodiac mouse/rat.
Modern Mirror Source
International Personality Item Pool
modern
·
Used only as vocabulary support for modern reflective personality language. It does not validate zodiac personality.
Modern personality vocabulary is used only for reflective language. It is not evidence that zodiac birth year scientifically determines personality.