Even if you don’t care about astrology, odds are pretty good that you know your star sign — I’m a Gemini, which is twins, and Ocho the cat, my co-producer, is a Cancer, the crab. But you may have heard that we just entered the Year of the Rabbit, which is part of the shengxiao, or Chinese zodiac. Based on a twelve-year cycle that’s related to the lunar calendar, the Chinese zodiac and its relatives are increasingly common in Western culture. If you’ve heard of it, you probably know that a different animal represents each year — but did you know that behind that series of twelve animals is a legend of an ancient competition? This week, we’ll take a look at the story of the Zodiac Race.

 

Written, narrated, and produced by Jaer Christie

Research by Jaer Christie & Elena Tung

Music by Shaoqing Luna Li - all via https://filmmusic.io/u/sqluna/music

Dancing Abroad

Desert Liaison

License (CC BY 4.0): https://filmmusic.io/standard-license