By Tabitha Messick 

Almost everywhere you look these days- you see a cow . It is the Year of the Cow after all. But wait, is it the year of the cow or the year of the ox? While visiting the Capital Museum's Spring Festival exhibition this week with friends, I was surrounded by many sculptures, statues and pictures of cattle. But I started to wonder what are the differences and similarities of the two animals?

Tabitha Messick is posing as kissing an ox mascot outside the Capital Museum.

These types of animals are abundant in China and are part of the Bovidae family. They include ox, cattle, water buffalo and yak. All Bovidae are called cattle in China for some unknown traditional reason.

In the United States, cattle typically mean cows eaten for consumption and made into other products. I walked through the exhibit puzzled and wondering why cows were prominently displayed in the Year of the Ox exhibition. I learned it was a cultural difference between the U.S. and China. While yaks and water buffalo are also known as cattle here in China, the traditional cows and bulls took center stage at the exhibit. The national treasures and artistic renditions showcased the importance of cattle in Chinese history.

In addition to its place in the zodiac, cattle remain an important symbol of Chinese agricultural production. Cattle can bear hardship and hard work, but are also gentle creatures. Cattle are very important in China as oxen help farmers and laborers in the countryside and helped develop China's agricultural roots. Agricultural modernization remains and important part of the Chinese government's priorities but even with modernization, cattle will have a special place of reverence in China; thanks to the Year of the Ox.

Cows have been marketed by China before. The cow (Nui Nui) was the mascot during the Paralympics in September in 2008.

In fact, around the world cattle are important national symbols. In India, cattle are revered and allowed to roam the streets due to Hindu beliefs. In the United States, cattle are often referenced in economic terms. A bull market is considered an improving financial market, while a bear market is when stocks are on a downturn. Around the world, many are hoping for a bull market. Perhaps in the Year of the Ox, the celebrations of cattle will ring in a bull market.

The physical characteristic is the most telling difference between the cow and the ox- oxen have horns. I stood under some of them to get a picture and they were huge!

Either way as I try to figure out this conundrum, it's been fun to say "Happy Nui (cow) Year" to all of my foreign friends.

Tabitha Messick is from North Carolina in the United States. She is currently a freelance writer for various Beijing publications and a public relations consultant for a theater company. She also is a private English tutor for two high level Chinese businessmen. She graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill last year with a double major in Journalism and Political Science. She has lived in Beijing for over a year and worked as an intern for the China Daily Website in the summer 2007.