1. The Year of the Rabbit is an erroneous translation. There are no native rabbits in China but there are 7 native species of hare. So the correct translation should be Year of the Hare.
2. The hare is the fourth animal in the 12-year cycle. The Vietnamese Zodiac which has similarity to the Chinese Zodiac has the rabbit replaced with the cat.
3. As of 2012, we are in the Metal Phase of "Wu Xing" (Five Movements/Phases/Steps/Stages, commonly known as the Five Element) so this is the year of the Metal Hare. It will take approximately 60 years for us to revisit the Year of the Metal Hare which is in year 2072.
You should check out wikipedia if you are interested to know more on the topic. With that, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Chinese New Year.
