From food for the deceased to propitious good luck symbol—how did the common rooster make this transition and become the sole bird to make it into the Chinese zodiac calendar? The reason lies in the dawn of time—figuratively and literally. Have roosters always crowed at the first sign of morning light? Apparently so. In “the ancient Persian faith of Zoroastrianism, [cocks were seen as] a benign spirit that crowed at dawn to herald a turning point in the cosmic struggle between darkness and light” . 1 The classical Chinese view of the world also encom- passed the model of a world of darkness and a world of light, but rather than being in cosmic struggle, they were perceived as polarities, working in conjunction with one another, constantly evolving from the one to the other—two forces known in Chinese as yin (the dark, wet, feminine, lunar) and yang (the light, dry, masculine, solar). In Chinese folklore, therefore, as in many other cultures, roosters with their dawn cries were naturally associated with the sun and the sun was often portrayed as a red disk enclosing some sort of bird—a two or three-legged crow, a “red bird of the South” or a rooster being the most common. The Chinese zodiac consists of twelve animals, each of which was seen as propitious due to its value or virtues. The zodiac places the rooster in the 10th position, after the monkey but before the dog and pig. Several popular children’s stories relate how the Chinese zodiac was ordered but in one the Jade Emperor awards positions according to how the animals place in a swim- ming race across a turbulent river. After a number of other animals, the rooster arrives on a raft together with the goat and monkey, but because they had worked as a team—the rooster finding the raft, the goat and monkey clearing the weeds and pushing the raft to shore—they are awarded places eight, nine and ten. Most historians believe the original zodiac came from Hellenised Egypt, perhaps entering China from Bactria around the beginning of the Christian Era. Our first references to the Chinese zodiac are found in the Textiles Asia JANUARY 2017, VOLUME 8, ISSUE 3 3 The Year of the Rooster: The Symbolism of the Rooster in Chinese Art Patricia Bjaaland Welch Below Liao Dynasty (907–1125) purse embroidered in satin stitch with two magnificent abstract confronting roosters. Chris Hall Collection. Above An embroidered drawstring bag with a very regal embroidered rooster standing in a garden setting features coxcomb (to symbolize high professional status) and a peony (to under- score the idea of rank and honours). Chris Hall Collection.