If Hongkongers are sheep, how far will Leung Chun-ying go to protect his flock?
Frank Ching says if Hong Kong people can really be described as sheep, then Leung should be prepared to take on the role of a good shepherd
The animal sign of the lunar new year that we have just entered is not controversial in Chinese, since it is simply called the Year of the Yang, or "Yeung" in Cantonese. But in English, there has been a huge controversy over whether it should be called the year of the sheep, the goat, or perhaps the ram.
The debate has brought in linguists, historians, archaeologists, folklorists and cultural experts, many of whom have weighed in on the side of the goat.
To Chinese people in general, it seems, it's not a big issue. Why bother to differentiate between sheep and goats? The Chinese character doesn't, just as the Chinese language doesn't differentiate between singular and plural, past and present tense, or male and female (until Westerners came along).
So far, theologians and religious scholars don't seem to have played a substantial role in the furore, which is a pity given the wealth of biblical material on the difference between the sheep and the goat.