Know Your Rats: The Rat's Complicated Image Problem in Chinese Culture

Having celebrated the first dawn of the new decade, things are in full swing to welcome the new lunar year 春节 (chūn jié). Given that we're currently riding out the final days of the year of the pig, the astute astrologists among you will know that next year marks a new 生肖 (shēng xiào), AKA Chinese zodiac cycle, which begins with the year of the rat or mouse 鼠 (shǔ).

Given that it has been granted first place in the zodiac order, you'd think that the rat would be a revered creature and celebrated for its wily intelligence. Sadly for this rodent, however, rats are more commonly believed to be filthy and wicked animals that, despite their cute, little twitchy faces, do more harm than good. Why so?

How the rat became China's vermin non grata

Back in ancient China, almost all of the region's financial wellbeing was largely reliant on its agricultural economy. When framed this way, you start to understand how an animal that endangers the harvest and crops may come to be regarded as the arch-enemy. To make things worse, mice were also known to spread diseases, making it not only a nuisance to food supplies but also a direct threat to a farmer and their family. No wonder then that China's traditional idioms about rats are often quite negative, take for example: "a rat crosses the street, everyone chases it down," (过街老鼠，人人喊打 guò jiē lǎo shǔ, rén rén hǎn dǎ), longhand for "everyone detests a lowlife."

Then why does the rat still rank first among all the zodiac?

Different folklores tell different stories, but the most common tale is that the Jade Emperor 玉皇大帝 (yù huáng dà dì) organized a Great Race among all animals of the world and that the first 12 animals to cross a river and over the finish line would be forever mythologized in the Chinese zodiac. Ever the cunning one, the rat is said to have hitched a ride on the back of the ox 牛 (niú), jumping off at the very last moment to claim ultimate victory.

Even more astonishing is the belief that the rat became the first zodiac after it bit a hole through time and space itself, therefore dividing the sky and the land (鼠咬天开 shǔ yǎo tiān kāi) and creating life as we know it. Now we're talking.

As you can see, it's not all bad...

The rat then hasn't always been portrayed in a negative light. There's also the treasure-spitting rat in Indian Buddhism (吐宝鼠 tǔ bǎo shǔ) as well as ornamental rats (鼠来宝 shǔ lái bǎo or 钱鼠 qián shǔ) that people may keep in their home as a symbol of good fortune. Additionally, the rat frequently appears in reproduction worship due to its fertile characteristics, and some regions even have temples dedicated to it because of its ability to sense natural catastrophes.

The colorful world of Chinese rat idioms

That being said, you probably shouldn’t invoke the rat to describe someone (or at least, not someone you like), as the following idioms will likely demonstrate:

• 鼠目寸光 (shǔ mù cùn guāng): "Rats are shortsighted." A metaphor for people who only care about short-term benefits.
• 贼眉鼠眼 (zéi méi shǔ yǎn): "Looks thievish like a rat." To describe someone who acts furtively and is potentially plotting a scheme.
• 抱头鼠窜 (bào tóu shǔ cuàn): "Run like a rat." To describe someone who is as coward and bolts at even the slightest hint of danger (usually after having been found guilty of doing something).
• 蛇鼠一窝 (shé shǔ yī wō): "The rat and the snake live together." A metaphor for villains who are on good terms with each other.
• 首鼠两端 (shǒu shǔ liǎng duān): "The rat tentatively looks through a hole." To describe an indecisive or skeptical person.
• 官仓老鼠 (guān cāng lǎoshǔ): "The rat lives in the national barn." To describe someone who is protected by the equally nefarious company they keep.
• 罗雀掘鼠 (luó què jué shǔ): "Capturing the sparrow and digging up the mice." This saying was used to express the severity of someone's poverty but is now usually used to describe efforts in raising funds.
• 投鼠忌器 (tóu shǔ jì qì): "To beat the rat but be afraid of breaking the vase." A way to describe someone bound by a dilemma and unable to act as they wish.

As you can see, the rat's image is complicated, but usually portrayed in a negative light when framed by traditional beliefs. That being said, to be a rat is not all bad, as we'll show in next week's Mandarin Monday.

READ: Mandarin Monday: The Wild World of Chinese Zodiac Signs

Image: Zdeněk Macháček (via Unsplash)