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Zodiac, Earthly Branches and Daily Hours

Zi-Rat, Wu-Horse, You-Rooster — the zodiac also marks the hours of the day.

The twelve Earthly Branches are: Zi, Chou, Yin, Mao, Chen, Si, Wu, Wei, Shen, You, Xu, Hai. They are used for counting years, and also correspond to twelve two-hour periods in one day. Zi 23:00-01:00, Rat Chou 01:00-03:00, Ox Yin 03:00-05:00, Tiger Mao 05:00-07:00, Rabbit Chen 07:00-09:00, Dragon Si 09:00-11:00, Snake Wu 11:00-13:00, Horse Wei 13:00-15:00, Goat Shen 15:00-17:00, Monkey You 17:00-19:00, Rooster Xu 19:00-21:00, Dog Hai 21:00-23:00, Pig Ancient Chinese matched animals to hours by observing their living habits: Rats are active at night (Zi hour); horses are energetic at noon (Wu hour); roosters return to roost in early evening (You hour). The zodiac is both a year-marking symbol and a daily-time system in ancient China.