The 12 Animals Representing Years （II）     The New Year visit-to-the-god story explains how the unpleasant Mouse managed to become the first of the 12. As the story goes, when the Ox heard of the god's decree, he said to himself: "It's a long journey to visit that god. I ain't a fast traveler and I'd better start early." So he set out on the eve of the Lunar New Year. The Mouse heard the Ox and jumped onto his back, without being noticed. The Ox, sweating all over, was so glad to be the first to arrive at the god's place. But just as he was about to express his New Year greetings to the god, the Mouse jumped down over the Ox's head and became the first to kowtow to the god. So he was appointed the first King of the Animals and consequently, the first of the 12 animals to designate years.     A more authentic explanation says, the Earthly Branches are divided into two categories: Yin and Yang. Each of them is paired with an animal of the same "gender." The gender of the animal is determined by the number of a specific part of its body. Odd numbers are Yang and even numbers are Yin. The tiger, the dragon, the monkey and the dog, all have five toes on each foot or paw, and the horse has one hoof. So we know they are Yang animals. The cloven-hoofed species such as the ox, the goat and the pig fall into the Yin category because their hoofs are divided into two parts. The rooster is also Yin since it has four toes on each foot. The rabbit has two upper lips and the snake has a two-point forked tongue. So they are Yin, too. The mouse had been a problem. It has four toes on each fore leg and five on each hind leg. It has both Yin and Yang qualities and there seemed to be no place to put it. Fortunately, the first of the Earthly Branches, Zi (子), can be considered both Yin and Yang. The Branches were also used to designate days and hours, and when symbolizing the hours, this branch covers a period from eleven in the evening to one o'clock in the morning. PM is Yin and Am is Yang. So the mouse goes together with this kind of split personality, you might say, that makes the little mouse the leader among his colleagues.     Now you may be wondering why there is no Year of the Cat, especially since cats have been popular as pets for thousands of years in China as well as in many other countries.     Well, in the legend, the Cat failed to be chosen because he was a day late getting to the God's place. The Mouse had played a trick on him. He lied to the Cat, telling him the wrong date for the competition. The Cat was not pleased and has hated the Mouse ever since.