Beloved creature

Many programs featuring the rabbit have been shown on Chinese television channels and streaming sites in the first month of the traditional lunar calendar.

For those eager to dive deeper into the rich history and culture surrounding the creature, as part of the Chinese zodiac, Tu Nian Tu Bao Bei (Bunnies in the Year of the Rabbit) — a seven-episode program that premiered on CCTV-14 and now available on CCTV's website — offers a fun and informative way to explore related archaeological and ancient knowledge.

Produced by CCTV-14, the children's channel owned by China Media Group, the show gathers seven families, dividing the children, aged between 6 and 11, and their parents into two groups. Interweaving games with quizzes, the program highlights seven of China's major cultural relics, all inspired by rabbits.

Among them is the country's oldest "jade rabbit", a little palm-sized object unearthed at the Lingjiatan relic site in Ma'anshan in East China's Anhui province.

Believed to be the earliest such antique found in China, experts estimate it was created around 5,300 years ago during the Neolithic period.

Liu Yaxuan, an 11-year-old girl, serves as a "relic guide" for the show, introducing the rabbit carved in a running posture with its head tilted upward and tail curled up. It's an image dating back centuries that always amazes her.

Other highlighted "protagonists" in different episodes vary from a bronze rabbit head from Beijing's Yuanmingyuan Park, or the Old Summer Palace, to an anthropomorphic rabbit sculpture wearing an official's outfit displayed at Shaanxi History Museum, which is believed to have been made during the Tang Dynasty (618-907).