This is Randi Hacker with another Postcard from Abroad from the KU Center for East Asian Studies.

The Disney-fication of, well, everything continues apace. Even the Chinese Zodiac is not exempt. To review: The calendar runs on a 12-year cycle and each year has a designated animal. The traditional order of the years goes like this: Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Sheep, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, Pig. So where does Disney come in? Here. Disney Resort Shanghai has assigned some of Disney’s iconic cartoon characters to the Chinese zodiac. Thus the new traditional order: Remy, Babe, Tigger, Thumper, Mushu, Kaa, Maximus, The Jolly Holiday Lambs, Abu, Allan-a-dale, Pluto and Hamm. You know, people in China are pretty serious about their zodiac animals and when they ask you when you were born, they’re really asking what animal you are rather than the year of your birth. Is it just us or does saying you were born in the The Year of the Jolly Holiday Lambs seem…wrong?

From the KU Center for East Asian Studies, this is Randi Hacker. Wish you were here.