Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads Circle of Animals/Zodiac Heads is an artwork by Chinese contemporary artist and political commentator, Ai Weiwei. The work comes in a small (gold) and large (bronze) version. Created in 2010, the zodiac heads (a Rat, Ox, Tiger, Rabbit, Dragon, Snake, Horse, Goat, Monkey, Rooster, Dog, and Pig) are inspired by those which once comprised a water clock-fountain at the Old Summer Palace, which is a complex of palaces and gardens in Beijing that were constructed by the Qianlong Emperor of the Qing dynasty. The Old Summer Palace was eventually destroyed by French and British troops in
Encyclical Encyclical An encyclical was originally a circular letter sent to all the churches of a particular area in the ancient Roman Church. At that time, the word could be used for a letter sent out by any bishop. The word comes from Late Latin "encyclios" (from Latin "encyclius", a Latinization of Greek "enkyklios" meaning "circular", "in a circle", or "all-round", also part of the origin of the word encyclopedia). The term has been used by Catholics, Anglicans and the Eastern Orthodox. Although the term "encyclical" originally simply meant a circulating letter, it acquired a more specific meaning within the context