Although the lore varies, the Ox's story is pretty straightforward. The Ox decided to participate in the Jade Emperor's race and ran until it got to the river. Before swimming, the Ox allowed the rat to hitch a ride. Some stories say the rat convinced the Ox to carry it across the river. Other lore says the Rat just jumped into the ear or onto the Ox and the Ox allowed the rat to stay. When they got across the river and/or close to the finish line, the Rat jumped off the Ox and the Ox came in second place. For all my Chinese New Year Posts including the story of the Rat check out the Category Chinese New Year.
References: Want to know why I chose a Banteng to represent an Ox? Check out Professor Yu Jiang and Professor Chuzhao Lei articles: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440313003166 https://natureecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/34309-where-is-the-chinese-yellow-cattle-from The Heavenly Race Jade Emperor/Buddha's Race https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/ox/ https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/story.htm https://wehavekids.com/parenting/Chinese-Zodiac-Story https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/ https://wehavekids.com/parenting/Chinese-Zodiac-Story#gid=ci026c487c100027c9&pid=chinese-zodiac-story-MTc0NTk0MTgyMTY5MzA3MTI2 https://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/ChineseNewYear/ChineseNewYearDay9.asp https://chinesenewyear.net/myths/
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Happy Belated Chinese New Year Everyone! February 12, 2021 was the start of the year of the Ox!
The Ox is the second animal in the Chinese Zodiac lore to complete the Jade Emperor's Heavenly Race. (A story for next week when I do the close ups pictures). In Chinese culture, oxen (aka domesticated cattle) were very important to agriculture. These animals and the farmers who cared for them were seen as being very hardworking, reliable, and modest. The design for my Ox's main body is based on the Banteng, a wild cattle found in Southeastern Asian rather than a domesticated ox or cow. This is because it's hard to find reference photos of Yellow Cattle (or Yanbian taurine cattle) but also because of an interesting article I read by Professor Yu Jiang and Professor Chuzhao Lei. These professors investigated the origins of the domesticated Chinese cattle. In their article, they talked about there being more than 50 breeds of cattle native to China. A good potion of those breeds are yellow so they have been collectively referred to as "Yellow cattle". One of their findings was "Chinese indicine [humped cattle] acquired 2.93% of their genomes from banteng (Bos javanicus), a wild cattle historically distributed in South China and Southeast Asia, with yellow-brown pigment." References: Professor Yu Jiang and Professor Chuzhao Lei articles https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0305440313003166 https://natureecoevocommunity.nature.com/posts/34309-where-is-the-chinese-yellow-cattle-from The Heavenly Race Jade Emperor/Buddha's Race https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/ox/ https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/story.htm https://wehavekids.com/parenting/Chinese-Zodiac-Story https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/ https://wehavekids.com/parenting/Chinese-Zodiac-Story#gid=ci026c487c100027c9&pid=chinese-zodiac-story-MTc0NTk0MTgyMTY5MzA3MTI2 https://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/ChineseNewYear/ChineseNewYearDay9.asp https://chinesenewyear.net/myths/ https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/rat/ https://www.chinahighlights.com/travelguide/chinese-zodiac/story.htm https://depts.washington.edu/triolive/quest/2007/TTQ07030/mythology.html
The year of the Rat
https://chinesenewyear.net/zodiac/rat/ https://wehavekids.com/parenting/Chinese-Zodiac-Story https://www.travelchinaguide.com/intro/social_customs/zodiac/story.htm https://depts.washington.edu/triolive/quest/2007/TTQ07030/mythology.html More Fun and Interesting Chinese Myths about Chinese New Year https://chinesenewyear.net/myths/ Who is the Jade Emperor? https://www.chinesefortunecalendar.com/ChineseNewYear/ChineseNewYearDay9.asp https://mythopedia.com/chinese-mythology/gods/jade-emperor/ 2020 is the year of the Rat so here is my first finished doodle of 2020: Chinese Zodiac Rat! 🐀
I don’t usually incorporate myths or legends into my animals nor other colors but with a new year comes new possibilities. Hope you enjoy! |
Artist and Blogger
I'm just a doodling artist. My current style started in a lecture class at MCLA where I began doodling in my notebooks. Now I've started a new series focusing on animals. Archives
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