Cuckoo Rooster
咕咕雞
First voice
before dawn.
In Chinese folk culture, the rooster has long been more than an ordinary farm animal. Because the words for “chicken” and “auspicious” sound alike, images of roosters often appear in New Year pictures, paper-cuts, and household decorations as signs of good fortune.
The rooster was also praised in old texts for its “five virtues”: refinement, strength, courage, kindness, and trustworthiness. Its daily crow at dawn gave it another meaning — a creature that announces light and the beginning of a new day.
Cuckoo Rooster began with a folk toy I had collected many years ago: a clay rooster known as a Ni Gugu. I loved both its compact shape and the sound of the name itself. “Gugu” felt soft, playful, and oddly perfect for a rooster, so the zodiac piece became Cuckoo Rooster (咕咕雞).
I kept close to the simple silhouette of the clay rooster, but filled its surface with another layer of folk imagery. One of the main motifs is the Zhuaji Wawa (抓髻娃娃), a traditional paper-cut figure associated with protection, blessing, and wishes for life to flourish.
The printed words 「吉星高照」 and 「雞年納福」 bring those wishes directly onto the body of the rooster — not as explanation, but as part of the pattern itself.
This was also the first zodiac piece in which I combined red-lacquered wooden parts with a soft fabric body. The contrast between painted wood and printed cloth became one of the defining features of Cuckoo Rooster (咕咕雞).
Made by Hand
Original patterns are screen-printed onto fabric, then each piece is cut, sewn, filled, and finished by hand. Small variations are part of the process, making every zodiac companion slightly different.
Zodiac Years
People born in the Year of the Rooster include:
1933 · 1945 · 1957 · 1969 · 1981 · 1993 · 2005 · 2017 · 2029
Your zodiac year returns every twelve years.
For those born in the Year of the Rooster, 2029 is one of those special years.