When archaeologists back in 2017 discovered that semicircle-enclosed crab and ram-horn motifs had appeared on bronze mirrors during the Wu Kingdom period (222–280), they regarded it as proof that Western astronomical zodiac signs had at one point crossed the seas and reached China.
Based on birth month in the tropical year, the 12 astronomical signs bore no relation to the traditional Chinese zodiac animals. All the same, images of these imported star signs would find their way into Chinese culture and traditional works of art.
Pictorial evidence of the signs did not mean that the names and connotations associated with them had been appearing in Chinese districts. The system of astronomy — originating from the ancient Mesopotamian region and maturing in ancient Greece — had reached India through Alexander the Great’s eastern campaigns. Later, as Buddhism began to spread in China in 2 BC, elements of Indian culture entered China, with these cosmic symbols in tow.
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