The story of 12 animals zodiac in ChinaOne day, Tian Di (The God Above) wanted to manage all animals on earth. He took out 12 chairs and told cat to tell 11 other animals to go to sky palace.
When cat told ox about it, rat overheard news. The rat was very angry and he ran as fast as he could to palace. As a result he got there before ox. Tian Di then let him sit on first chair. The ox took second seat. Then tiger, rabbit all came and settled on chairs. From then onwards, rat comes first in zodiac cycle. The cat was not in cycle because he went to tell other animals. Ever since, cat is not in zodiac cycle.
The truth is that cats are not originated from China but just imported from overseas. That is another reason why cats are not included in animals zodiac.
In fact, different countries consist of different animals. India has lions whilst Egypt has cats.
In Chinese animal zodiac, different animals have different characteristics.
Rat - Though it has nature of stealing. It is smart and has good Ox - It is hard-working and ask for little. Tiger - It is brave, strong, and is king of all animals. Rabbit - It is cute and loved by children. It runs very fast. Dragon - The only imaginary animal. Only kings can be referred to as dragon. After all these years, people have come up with this description of a dragon: deer horn, fish scales, snake body, chicken feet and phoenix tail. And all Chinese people are offspring of dragon.