--- title: New Google Doodle Honors Lunar New Year description: A new Google Doodle is ringing in the Lunar New Year (in Chinese astrology the Year of the Goat) with an animated graphic. canonical: https://time.com/3714524/chinese-new-year-goat-sheep-ram/ author: Kevin McSpadden article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-02-19T03:49:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:48:36.035Z og:title: New Google Doodle Honors Chinese New Year og:description: Gong xi fa cai! og:url: https://time.com/3714524/chinese-new-year-goat-sheep-ram/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltccc81cbf97d29198/69877feda988caa9556ac8a2/chinese-new-year-sheep-goat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: A performer looks out from the head of a lion dance costume during the opening of Ditan Temple Fair on the Lunar New Year's Eve in Beijing, China Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: New Google Doodle Honors Chinese New Year twitter:description: Gong xi fa cai! twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltccc81cbf97d29198/69877feda988caa9556ac8a2/chinese-new-year-sheep-goat.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # New Google Doodle Honors Chinese New Year ## Video: How Google Makes its Doodles [Watch (HLS stream): How Google Makes its Doodles](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/upF0qp1E.m3u8) (3:23)  _Published 2018-07-07. Our videographer went to the Googleplex in Mountain View, California to meet some of the designers and coders who create the special, clever variations on the Google.com logo known as_ by [Kevin McSpadden](https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Feb 19, 2015 3:49 AM UTC  A performer looks out from the head of a lion dance costume during the opening of Ditan Temple Fair on the Lunar New Year's Eve in Beijing, China Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015 A performer looks out from the head of a lion dance costume during the opening of Ditan Temple Fair on the Lunar New Year's Eve in Beijing, China Wednesday, Feb. 18, 2015Andy Wong—AP by [Kevin McSpadden](https://time.com/author/kevin-mcspadden/) ## Kevin McSpadden Feb 19, 2015 3:49 AM UTC A new [Google Doodle](http://www.google.com/doodles/lunar-new-year-2015) is ringing in the Lunar New Year — in Chinese astrology, the Year of the Goat — with an animated graphic that looks more like a sheep. Or it could be a ram. But the confusion is understandable, since the Chinese word (羊) for all three animals is the same. For people across East Asia, this is an important time for family reunions. In China, what is often called [the largest annual human migration ](http://time.com/3712347/chinese-new-year-travel/)on earth takes place as millions of migrant workers leave the cities and board trains to return to their native villages for what is also called the Spring Festival. It’s tempting to draw an analogy between packed train carriages and flocks of sheep, but, as anyone who has traveled in China during peak periods knows, you need to be much more of a ram if you’re going to stand any hope of getting aboard. Gong xi fa cai! Good luck and prosperity in 2015. 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