Rooster

The rooster is traditionally associated with good for\-tune and heroism, and here Chao portrays a brightly colored rooster strutting on fallen leaves. Roosters are common in the rural parts of China where their crow wakes up farmers before daybreak and where rooster fighting games entertain families in the evening.

In his writing on the painting, Chao expresses apprecia\-tion for the rooster's character:

Never in its lifetime does it utter any words lightly or in vain;
When crowing, a single cry breaks through the doors of millions.
In spring of the gengxu year [1970], light rain with a chilly draft in the studio,
Shao-an at the Daylily Dream Hall.