Whenever the Year of Rooster comes, articles abound in praise of the rooster. However, it seems no one has ever thought about the origin or the ancestor of the rooster. The earliest record on this problem is in "Zhou Yi (the Yi Classic)" of the Western Zhou Dynasty (11th century-771BC).

According to the book, the rooster evolved from the bird, and was originally named "Gutian Rooster (Big Swan Rooster)" or "Cai Rooster (Colored Rooster)". When Zhou Cheng Wang came to power, people from the Western Shu State (today's Sichuan Province in Central China) came to the Central Plains with roosters, which at the time were called "Shu Roosters.".

By the time of the Han Dynasty (206BC-220AD), Kong Chao, a famous scholar, further studied the problem, highlighting the possibility that the rooster might have originated in Shu. People have since believed that the roosters have their root in today's Sichuan, which is in fact a mistake.

As recorded in another historical book, "Li Ji " of the Western Zhou Dynasty, the newborn chicks were called "Yu Rooster", and the grown-up ones were called "Shu Rooster", which shows "Shu Rooster" was just a nickname for grown-up roosters.

Then, where did the roosters originate from and when did they come into existence? With the development of archeology, people were finally able to unveil the secret, learning that the roosters' motherland is Pizhou, which has existed for over 6000 years.

Among the thousands of cultural relics displayed in Pizhou Museum, there is pottery of a chicken, which is laying an egg in her roost, looking very much like today's chicken. The chicken pottery was unearthed from the bottom layer of the Pizhou Dadunzi Culture Site.

The rooster must have appeared prior to the making of the chicken pottery. Therefore, people living as early as 6,000 years ago during the Yellow Emperor Period tamed the birds into domestic fowls.
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Editor: Catherine