New York Today: The Year of the Rooster

Jan 26, 2017 · 18 comments
PurpleCast (Silicon Valley)
Please consider the name of the animal. The tradition of translating 鸡 as "rooster" in English is a male chauvinist interpretation. In Chinese, the animal is "鸡 chicken", not "公鸡 rooster" or "母鸡 hen". Chicken is non-gender specific. (hen = female, rooster/cock = male). So instead of propagating the male form of the animal, why don't you use a gender-neutral, all-inclusive word, CHICKEN. Welcome 鸡年 the Chicken Year.
SLAINTE (The Emerald Isle)
Kung Hei Fat Choi!
AC (New York)
does the MTA fare increase include removing the homeless, mentally ill, and "entertainers" from the subway trains, and getting more consistent A/C in the summertime (ie the red line) (it was awful last summer, half of every train didnt have it), or is that an extra extra fee ...
Lifelong Reader (New York)
I wish you would add a transliteration of the Chinese characters. Mandarin, or Mandarin and Cantonese if you can do both.
Ken (New York)
Since you didn't list the other animals, here they all are in order:
rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig.
Legend has it that the cat and the rat, friends at that time, would leave early for the race. Because the cat liked to sleep late, the rat promised to wake him up. The rat forgot to wake up the cat, who missed the race altogether.
That's why the cat does not appear on the Chinese Zodiac Calendar, and still today, hates the rat and tries to kill him.
Mike A (Princeton)
Mavericks lasso Knicks
D (B)
Neat
Leon Freilich (Park Slope, NY)
DROPPETH AS THE GENTLE RAIN

Pigeons flocking above,
Pigeons that we love,
Pigeons flew here to sup.
They did. Don't look up.
Needlepointer (New York, NY)
The Chinese New Year parade is one of the most beautiful to see. The creativity in the costumes is amazing. Happy New Year to all!
B. (Brooklyn)
Certainly is the year of the rooster: in which Donald Trump, a man who crows about himself as if it were he who made the run rise, cockadoodles all day.
B. (Brooklyn)
That is, the sun rise.
joe wortham (punta gorda florida)
Year of the Rooster – Ha!

Tis the year to see
The proud rooster over such as we
Who proclaims with the rising sun
That his work has just begun.

Strutting forth in all his glory
Bedecked with robes both fine and gory
For he’s fought a battle with those who came before
And won them all and more.

The rat that supposedly won the race
Retiring in disgrace
With glory aplenty
Still the crown was what was intended.

Remember the rat has a place
In history’s sad trace
Bringing to mankind a disease unjust
That cleansed the cities of vermin and victim as much.

The Plague passed as records reveal
To permit growth without parallel
Until the current state
Human pestilence awaits.

The vanquished rat will pass
For time erases both the pain and pleasure
That all must endure
(A fate which we should treasure).

Behold the Ox that finished in second place
As the Chinese calendar does trace
But moves to the lead – in charge
To pastures both green and large.

Who is this one that time sought to hide?
Sweeping politics and passions aside
And strides forth to lead
A troubled public that has need, indeed.

**
The players:
Rooster – the press for sure
Rat – Overburdened Democratic party that has become fat and infested
Ox – A neutered one that carries a heavy burden
tonit4 (NJ)
I would say I am a rooster I get up 4 days a week at 2:30 am and I am walking by 3:30 am to get in my 5 miles before I start work at 6:00 am.
Marie Euly (New York)
I love the festivities in Chinatown.
We New Yorkers are indeed lucky to live
in a multicultural city.
A lot of New Yorkers however are too
busy to appreciate such privilege.
Freddie (New York NY)
That tale of the rat cheating the ox and still being given the years honor is both moving and disturbing somehow.

Tune of Both Sides Now - in honor of the clouds forecast

(verse)
Scary hairy breeding pest
With trains and stations to infest
They're really not seen at their best
When I view rats that way

But now I see rats won the race
And left the ox in second place
Their cheating should be a disgrace
It really ain't fair play

(chorus)
I've seen the rat from both sides, dear
A pest, but cheered with its own year
It's still the rooster I'd prefer
I really don't like rats - no sir!
NYC Traveler (West Village)
You are incredible, sir! Thank you for your songs.
Billy from Brooklyn (Hudson Valley, NY)
Kung Hei Fac Choy (sp?) to all
Lifelong Reader (New York)
Transliteration of 恭禧发财, per Google Translate: Gōng xǐ fācái

BTW, in English we call the animal the Rooster, but the Chinese use a word that applies to either sex:

"The Year of the Rooster is represented by the Earthly Branch character 酉. The name is also translated into English as Cock or Chicken. Rooster is the only bird included in the Chinese zodiac. However, the Chinese term is more generic, as it applies to barnyard fowl of either sex.

"In the Tibetan zodiac and the Nepalese Gurung zodiac, the Rooster is replaced by the bird."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rooster_(zodiac)