Today’s post, by Fang from the Visitor Team, is a celebration of Chinese New Year and is part of her series on the Chinese Zodiac. 

For more about the objects and collections at Manchester Museum, have a look at the Curators’ blogs.

Chinese Zodiac: Part 2 – Chicken

Chinese New Year 2017 starts on Saturday 28 January, and it’s TheYear of theRooster(鸡, Ji). In Chinese, the “Year of Ji” means “chicken” – either rooster or hen, but it is usually translated as rooster. And although many websites say 2017 is the Year of the Rooster – but the Stem-Branch calendar says it’s a female. Most accurately, the year of 2017 is called Red Fire Chicken Year. This blog will cover both the rooster and the hen.

The Chinese Zodiac

In the Chinese Zodiac, the chicken is the only bird included in the twelve zodiac signs, due…