You may not think that "to be a rat" sounds very nice, but to the chinese it sounds well, traditionally they have seen rats as an intelligent animal which is able to survive and get its goals thanks to its intelligence and practical sense, in fact, in many old chinese portraits of important people like governors or businessmen they were portrayed with a rat close to them, meaning that they (this men or women) had the valuable features of the rat.

Artwork made by Amuria

And there is also a funny story which tells how the rat got to be the first of the 12 chinese zodiac signs, in short it was thanks to its intelligence and because she wasn't very fair with his friend the ox.

Typically, people born in a rat year are quite expressive and tend to be surrounded by a lot of different and interesting people, is easy to recognise them because of this, they use to be very social and always manage to be the centre of the group... rats seem to have waiting queue to talk with them.

It's strange to see a rat doing nothing, somewhat they are always busy with something, and many times they are like those hamsters running inside a wheel very fast...

One of their typical defects is to be somewhat picky and very nervous, they are too often in need of some relaxing massage and somebody who knows how to calm and comfort them.

Great survivors, always with an ace in the hole to get out of any too interesting situation.

One of the most famous rats was William Shakespeare, and there are many rat artists, for example Marlon Brando, Johann Strauss, Mozart, Richard Bach, Gerard Depardieu, Olivia Newton-John, Leon Tolstoy, Bono, Antonio Banderas, Tchaikovsky, Nastassia Kinsky and Antonio Gaudi.

Also some notable politicians were born in rat years, for example: George Washington, John J. Kennedy or Prince Charles of England.