As the year 2005 is the Year of Rooster according to the Chinese lunar calendar, the rooster has become a hot general topic. Besides being a delicious dish on New Year's Day or other festive days, the rooster has many virtues that indeed reflect philosophies in business and life.

To begin with, roosters, as harbingers of dawn, are very punctual animals. They sing at daybreak, and are never early or late. The same rationale applies in doing business, where punctuality and trustworthiness are the most important.

Second, based on Chinese tradition, local roosters usually hunt food by themselves, which is comparable to a market economy. By comparison, roosters on a chicken farm are fed by human beings, meaning that every thing from drinking to eating is done at a fixed time. Such fixation is like a planned economy. The traditional local roosters are superior to the farm-fed ones, therefore the market economy is superior to the planned one.

Third, roosters are competitive animals. They can fly, though not to a great height, and they are always trying to fly higher and higher into the sky.

Fourth, roosters are very beautiful, adorned with a blood-red crown, full-grown feathers and rich colors, and on the dining table, they taste very good. In business circles, a lot can be learnt from the roosters, such as, how to establish a good brand image with a sound reputation and how to bring one's strengths into full play. Only in this way can a businessperson have full assurance of his or her success.

Next, roosters are energy-efficient animals, as the chicken survives on grain. Raising roosters is therefore a low-input but high-output business.

Last but not least, roosters are modest animals. They know they are nothing but roosters whose responsibility is to simply herald the daybreak, and they never dream of becoming phoenixes. Having a clear picture of our position in the market is very important in doing business. This is to say, successful businesspeople should grasp every opportunity to expand their business in a practical but creative way.

On the dining table, the rooster is hailed as "extremely auspicious" (in Chinese, the character for "rooster" is a homonym with that for "auspicious", with the same pronunciation of "Ji"), and people in business circles like to say, "The rooster sings, and the good fortune arrives". When two friends meet, they will say to each other, "Do the sword dance at rooster crow, and good luck in the Year of Rooster!"

Editor: Catherine