BEIJING, Jan. 28 (Xinhuanet) -- Chinese are accustomed to using idioms to usher in good fortune for the New Year, but have to resort to the mimetic phrase "wang wang" of a dog's barking to wish for prosperity over the coming months.

    The Chinese Spring Festival of the "Year of the Dog" is coming,falling on Jan. 29. Puppies' images captioned with "wang wang" canbe seen on the posters, greeting cards and toys everywhere. The barking of dog is "woof-woof" in English and "wang wang" in Chinese. The character "wang" is the homonym to another Chinese character meaning wealth and prosperity.

    Many idioms and proverbs can be chosen relating to most of the 12 animals. For example this year has been the "Year of the Rooster" so the phrase "golden roosters heralding the daybreak" can be used. Dogs are famed for their loyalty and honesty in Chinese culture.

    According to the lunar calendar based on the cycles of the moon,the coming Lunar New Year will be the Year of "Bin Xu" or the "Year of the Dog". "Bin" is one of the ten Heavenly Stems and "Xu"is one of the 12 Earthly Branches. Chinese use Heavenly Stems and Earthly Branches as two sets of signs with one being taken from each set to form 60 pairs designating years, months and days with 12 years as one cycle.

    Twelve animals are chosen to represent 12 years. The dog is the11th in the sequence that starts with the rat, followed by ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, goat, monkey, rooster, dog and pig.

    It is said that 12 animals are selected and sequenced accordingto their everyday habits and characteristics. When "Xu" of the Earthly Branches represents the time of a day, it refers to 7 p.m.to 9 p.m. and it is the period when ancient Chinese prepared to goto bed and dogs took their responsibility as watchers guarding thegates to courtyards for their owners. Thus "faithful dog" was chosen to represent "Xu".