The chicken, also known as the "virtuous bird" or "candle night bird" in ancient times, is one of the oldest and most respected poultry. People have always held chickens in high regard. In his book *Hua Jing*, the Qing dynasty scholar Chen Weizi highly praised the chicken, saying it possesses "five virtues: a crown on its head, signifying refinement; three legs with spurs, signifying martial prowess; fighting on sight, signifying courage; calling to the flock when food is available, signifying benevolence; and keeping watch at night, signifying trustworthiness."
The ancestor of the domestic chicken is the junglefowl. Junglefowl are light-bodied and capable of flight. Roosters prefer to perch in trees and crow. They are distributed across the Indian subcontinent, from Pakistan eastward to the Indochina Peninsula, and further south to Java and Sumatra; in my country, they are found in Yunnan, Guangxi, and Hainan provinces. Chicken bones were discovered at the Banpo Yangshao Culture site in Xi'an, dating back over 6,000 years. These bones were identified as belonging to the genus *Jungra*, indicating that *Jungra* birds were also distributed in the Yellow River basin at that time. The transformation of the junglefowl into the domestic chicken is the result of humans utilizing biological variability and purposefully selecting and domesticating animals according to different needs.
It is a widely accepted fact that Asia was the first region in the world to domesticate chickens, and my country is one of the earliest countries to raise chickens. In the past, some people believed that domestic chickens in my country were introduced from India, but this is incorrect. Besides Banpo in Shaanxi Province, chicken bones have also been found at the Miaodigou Late Neolithic site in Sanmenxia, Henan Province, dating back 4,000 years. Furthermore, Chinese archaeologists have discovered pottery chickens at Qujialing in Jingshan County, Hubei Province (dating back approximately 5,000 years). This indicates that chickens were already being raised in my country more than 5,000 years ago. Traces of red junglefowl, maintaining their wild habits, can still be found in Yunnan, Guangxi, and Hainan Island. Therefore, it should be considered that the domestic chicken originated from domestication successfully achieved simultaneously in both my country and India.
