The zodiac animal of China's coming Lunar New Year has caused much
confusion in the English world, as its translation results in at least two
candidates: sheep or goat.
中国农历新年即将到来，但今年的生肖却让英语国家的人们感到非常困惑，因为它至少有两种英文翻译：绵羊或山羊。
Chinese folklorists say the animal symbol can be either a sheep or a goat
but more likely goat, given the latter's popularity as a farm animal among Han
Chinese.
中国民俗学家表示，羊年生肖的象征物既可能是绵羊，也可能是山羊，但山羊的可能性更大，因为在汉族地区山羊作为家畜更为常见。
The Chinese lunar calendar assigns an animal symbol to each year in every
12-year cycle. Yet the Chinese character for the eighth zodiac animal is "Yang",
which can refer to either of the two ruminants when used without attributes.
中国农历以十二年为周期，每年以一种动物作为象征。十二生肖中的第八个生肖是“羊”，而这个字在没有修饰限定语的情况下可指绵羊或山羊任意一种反刍动物。
Huang Yang, a prominent researcher on the role of sheep/goats in Chinese
culture, says tracing the origin of the zodiacal Yang could be difficult, as the
Chinese zodiac first appeared after the Shang Dynasty (1600-1046 BC), when the
Chinese people did not differentiate between sheep and goats in language or in
sacrificial offering.
国内研究羊在中国文化中地位的知名学者黄洋称，追寻生肖羊的来历比较困难，因为此生肖最先出现在商朝(公元前1600-1046年)之后，而那时人们在语言和祭祀中是不区分绵羊和山羊的。
Both species have a long history of domestication in China and have
appeared on oracle bone scripts and other artifacts since prehistoric times,
according to Huang, who in 2012 challenged the saying that Chinese are
"descendants of the dragon" by arguing that the earliest Chinese actually
worshipped the meek ruminants.
黄洋称，这两种动物在中国都有着较长的畜养历史，自史前时期开始，就已出现在甲骨文和其他手工艺品上了。黄洋曾在2012年质疑中国人是龙的传人，认为最早的中国人崇拜的是温顺的反刍动物——羊。
"But if we judge from the fact that the Chinese zodiac is a Han tradition,
Yang are more likely goats, which are more common livestock for the Han
Chinese," he tells Xinhua in a phone interview.
在接受新华社的电话采访时，他表示：“但如果我们基于生肖是汉族传统这个事实出发，
则‘羊’更可能指的是山羊，因为对于汉族人来说山羊是更为常见的家畜。”
Shaggy sheep are a common sight in north China's prairies and were
domesticated by Chinese earlier than goats, but goats are more commonly raised
in areas populated by Han Chinese, Huang says.
他说，绒毛蓬松的绵羊在中国北方的大草原上很常见，其畜养的时间也比山羊要早，但在汉族聚居地山羊更为常见。