Walt, Poor Len [and Ed.!]
wish Agents 78 & 88
and all our Chinese readers
There is some confusion amongst us Westerners about what this coming year is called. Our agents tell us tell us it's the Year of the Sheep (绵羊) but other Chinese (and Vietnamese) say it's the Year of the Goat (山羊). The animal pictured above certainly looks like a goat. Or it could be the Year of the Ram (公羊) which I'm told is also correct. Since I'm one of whatever the animal is, I'll take the last one.
How do I know I'm a ram person? [No smart remarks, please. Ed.] I consulted the table below, which shows the years of the Chinese zodiac. It's a twelve-year cycle, so the last Year of the Ram was 2003, the one before that was 1991, and so on. If, like me, you're so old that you can't see your birth year in the diagram, just keep adding 12 to your birth year until you find the right one in the outer ring. Easy!
