The Chinese character for transcendence, yue (越), has been named the guidance character of 2015, the Year of the Sheep, indicating the year of social, political, economic and diplomatic transcendence of the country.

The character was selected based on the country's political and economic development in the past year, as well as prediction and expectation for 2015, said Shen Yi, head of the Beijing Eastern Lohas International Cultural Exchange Center, in Zhengzhou, capital of Henan province.

This is the fourth year the center has released a guidance character.

The past three guidance characters were zhen, which means trueness, and neng, or energy, and yang, or nourishment, which was named in an attempt to urge people to slow their fast-paced lives and pay more attention to their general health, said the center.

Coming up with the character of the year is one of the cultural origins for countries and regions in East Asia that share Chinese cultural origins, including China, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore and South Korea.

The selection of the Chinese character of the year was first started in Japan in 1995, with the original intention to enhance Japanese identity and understanding of traditional culture.

Many people taking the survey share concerns over either the heatedly debated political issues that influence people's lives most. The regularly held similar character poll also provides a platform to offer ordinary people an opportunity to express their opinion on what matters most, or remind people of the most impressive memory in the past year.

It also offers a clue of the social panorama, which, inevitably, has drawn the participation of a huge variety and number of people.