Discover the World in the Footsteps of a Chicken

The book also suggests that the white broiler can serve as a symbol of the Anthropocene. The term “Anthropocene”, proposed primarily by atmospheric scientists and geologists, emphasises the profound impact of human activity on the Earth’s biosphere.

How, then, have humans influenced the planet through the white broiler?

In terms of skeletal morphology, pathology, and genetics, modern white broilers differ significantly from their ancestors. While they grow rapidly, they have almost entirely lost the ability to survive in the wild. They lack feet capable of effectively scratching for food and their wing development is extremely poor; without human intervention, they simply could not survive.

It can be said that this is a species born entirely to satisfy human demand. Consequently, Professor Bennett of the University of Leicester believes that the white broiler can be seen as an iconic species of the “Anthropocene”.

II. The Ancestor of the Chicken: The Red Junglefowl

In his works, Darwin noted that the modern domestic chicken likely originated from the Red Junglefowl found in the tropical jungles of eastern India.

Further research in archaeology and modern biology has revealed that the origins of the domestic chicken are not limited to the Red Junglefowl; genetic introgression from the wild Grey Junglefowl contributed to some of the yellow skin and yellow beaks seen in modern chickens—traits largely inherited from the Grey Junglefowl.

In 2020, Wang Mingshan’s team published a study in the journal Cell Research exploring which of the five existing subspecies of Red Junglefowl was domesticated into the modern chicken. Their research indicates that the South Asian subspecies of Red Junglefowl, currently distributed from southern Yunnan to northern Thailand, is the primary ancestor of the modern domestic chicken.

Between 2021 and 2025, I happened to be conducting field observations in Xinping County, Yuxi City, Yunnan Province. The wild habitat of the Red Junglefowl is relatively hot and dry, located in the tropical region of China south of 23°N latitude. I have recorded video of female Red Junglefowl foraging; as wild birds, they possess formidable flight capabilities.

Did humans find the chicken, or did the chicken find humans? This is the question posed in the book.

Archaeological research in Thailand provides early examples of Red Junglefowl entering the human ecological niche. The cultivation of rice attracted Red Junglefowl closer to humans, and through this proximity to human life, they were gradually domesticated.

At my research site, an elderly gentleman surnamed Tao told me that the primary difference between the Red Junglefowl and the domestic chicken is simply that one lives on the mountain and the other lives in the home.

From the perspective of the local people, the relationship between these populations is described as a nature-culture continuum. In other words, wild and domestic animals are seen as belonging to the same category, or rather, as being in a state of continuous exchange.

As the ancestor of the domestic chicken, Red Junglefowl often hybridise within their distribution areas. This hybridisation has produced several miniature chicken breeds in China, such as the Dehong chicken, the Dali Mountain miniature chicken, the Camellia chicken, and the “Ant chicken” of Hainan’s Wuzhi Mountains. Some of these are kept for ornamentation, or used to lure Red Junglefowl, earning them the name “matchmaker chickens”.

These chickens are used locally to decoy Red Junglefowl, while also serving as an important food source in the local diet. Locals chop the skin, meat, and bone together to create a stir-fry known as “bone mince stew” (gutou sa), typically served to distinguished guests.

It is evident that the hybridisation and gene flow between Red Junglefowl and domestic chickens have shaped the species known as the “chicken” and created a diverse array of culinary choices.

Red Junglefowl have very low egg production, with a fixed breeding season from January to May. After the breeding season, they undergo a phenomenon known as “feather erosion”, where the feathers on their necks become short and black. This is believed to be a self-protection strategy for wild animals during the non-breeding season.

Compared to domestic chickens, Red Junglefowl possess a much more streamlined physique, which facilitates foraging and escaping in the wild.

Having discussed the Red Junglefowl, let us turn to China’s local chicken breeds.

As of 2024, according to the Catalogue of Livestock and Poultry Breeds of China, there are a total of 140 local chicken breeds in the country. These breeds are adapted to local climates and are socially recognised, giving them distinct regional, genetic, and cultural characteristics.

For example, the well-known Taihe Silkie was once presented as a national gift to Thailand. The Yanjin Silkie is one of Yunnan’s six famous chickens; it is very similar to the Lianshan Silkie documented in “Vanishing Foods”, though larger in size. The Haidong chicken, shown at the bottom right, originates from northern Qinghai and areas bordering Gansu. The White-eared Yellow chicken is currently one of China’s high-yielding local egg-laying breeds.

Now, let me tell you about my own family’s chickens.

One of these chickens was a birthday present from my uncle thirteen years ago. At the time, it was a common local egg-laying breed; it was quite small, weighing only about 1.5kg, but it had a high egg yield. It was also used to hatch our local breeds of geese and ducks.

The black and yellow hens beside it were yellow-feathered meat chickens introduced to the area at the time. There was a vast difference between the yellow-feathered breeds and the native chickens, which actually created a complementary relationship.

Why was it a complementary relationship?

In our area, there was a very large breed known as the ‘high-legged chicken’. A male high-legged chicken could grow to nearly a metre tall, or even more, weighing between 3.5 and 4kg. The hens laid very few eggs and were prone to paralysis during the incubation period. Consequently, we would typically raise both breeds, using the smaller ones to hatch the eggs of the larger ones.

The white frizzle black-boned chicken shown below is a famous medicinal breed, primarily found in local ethnic minority villages. Among them, the white-feathered, green-eared frizzle black-boned chicken is especially prized for its medicinal properties.

Beyond its medicinal value, it also holds cultural significance. For instance, if a family encountered misfortune, locals would hire a shaman to perform a ritual to ‘expel evil’ using a frizzle black-boned chicken. This act of ‘expelling evil’ was intended to cleanse the home of bad luck.

After 2010, the frizzle black-boned chicken gradually vanished, crossbreeding with yellow-feathered meat chickens and bamboo-silk chickens. As various commercial meat and egg breeds, as well as foreign varieties, were introduced, our local genetic pool was gradually diluted.

It is fair to say that the three original native chicken breeds no longer exist. Across the country, local chicken breeds are showing a similar trend of disappearance.

Let us briefly analyse the reasons behind the loss of these local breeds.

Following China’s transition to a market economy, household registration policies were relaxed, leading to increased population mobility. With the surge of migrant labour, a vast number of rural residents moved to the cities, and the number of small-scale farmers steadily declined.

I vaguely remember that during the height of the migrant labour wave, our local markets would be filled with local chickens for sale. Within just a year or two, everything—adult chickens, chicks, and eggs—was sold out. Since then, I have never seen these local breeds again.

Furthermore, as globalisation progressed, the introduction of commercial meat and egg breeds offered advantages in husbandry management, growth speed, and yield over native varieties. This led to a decrease in home-raised native chickens and a shift in the breeds being kept.

Thirdly, the rise of commercialisation saw the emergence of breeding companies and professional farmers, leading to a monopoly on production while smallholders and family farming gradually withered away. Urbanisation further accelerated this shift in farming incentives.

I noticed that during the ‘Beautiful Village’ initiatives in my hometown, every household was required to confine their free-range chickens. Once caged, local chickens became more susceptible to disease and struggled to breed; meanwhile, concerns regarding hygiene and zoonotic diseases emerged. Following the global outbreak of avian influenza, people became even more cautious about poultry.

IV. Chickens and Cultural Diversity

As we know, biodiversity and cultural diversity are inextricably linked. As farming methods and breeds change, the associated cultures disappear along with them.

Take chickens as an example. Many people today have no memory of terms used to describe plumage colours, such as ‘Gai Sha’ (sand-grey), ‘Lu Hua’ (mottled), ‘San Cai’ (tri-colour), or ‘Kui Hua’ (sunflower), because they no longer encounter such a variety of colourful chicken breeds.

In my home province of Guizhou, when the Miao people get engaged, the entire village brings the largest chicken raised in their homes. Everyone gathers for a feast to witness the engagement process; this ritual is known as ‘Eating Woolly Chickens’.

The large chickens used in these early engagement rituals were actually high-legged chickens. Their immense size and high meat yield made them a symbol of prestige when brought to a relative’s home. However, since the high-legged chicken went extinct, they have mostly been replaced by ‘882’ breeds or black-and-red meat chickens.

As natural incubation has gradually declined, smallholders no longer breed local varieties themselves, opting instead to buy directly from the market. With the disappearance of chickens capable of natural brooding, the population of local ducks and geese has also plummeted, as hens were previously used to hatch them.

In the beliefs of the Yi people in Xiao Liangshan, chickens and eleven other creatures share a common origin in ‘Red Snow’, collectively known as the ‘Twelve Branches of the Snow Race’. Chickens, like humans, are seen as having fingers and are generally classified as ‘clawed beings’. Consequently, they must not be slaughtered cruelly in daily husbandry or ritual activities. They are especially revered during ceremonies for their perceived ability to ‘expel demons’.

The Little Liangshan region possesses a profound genealogical culture. This culture of lineage records is a unique phenomenon among the local Yi people, developed through their study of biological kinship. More precisely, these records provide an explanation for the origins of both animate and inanimate beings.

One such lineage record regarding chickens has been passed down locally, describing where they came from and where they are headed:

Of all the chicken clans in the world, you too are a member of the “Snowy Twelve”; fallen from the blue sky, landed from the azure heavens… First, a clan split off and made its home on the summit of Tu’er Mountain. They became the Eagle clan… Later, another clan split off and became the Goose and Duck clans… Then another split off and became the Peacock clan… Then another split off and became the wild chicken and jungle fowl clans… Of all the chicken clans in the world, you too are of the “Snowy Twelve” clan; you should not be harmed, you should not be eaten. We prayed for you to cast out demons, we prayed for you to dispel ghosts, we prayed for you to cast out demons and ghosts, and we prayed for you in the ancestral and divine rites. (Lijiang Yi Society. *Selected Compendium of Traditional Yi Culture in Lijiang* [M]. Yunnan Nationalities Publishing House, 2013: 24-27)

At the same time, it expresses the relationship between chickens and other species, including humans. Or rather, it extends a multi-species world through the chicken.

Local slang contains a rich vocabulary to describe the size, feather colour, and physical characteristics of chickens. These diverse, colourful, and varied chickens were once very common in their daily lives.

But this was merely my observation during my fieldwork. Looking at it now, things have changed significantly.

This photo was taken in 2016. At that time, many yellow-feathered broilers had already entered the Little Liangshan region, but this woman was selling local native breeds.

When I returned for a follow-up visit in 2023, I encountered her again, but the vegetable market had banned the sale of live chickens, and many hybrid chickens had appeared in the area. She told me that the chickens sold now were no longer local native breeds. She said it was simply impossible to source them anymore; the entire collection chain had broken.

There is a Yi proverb: “A broiler is not a chicken,” which is why only local or Yi chickens are used for divination. Following a sacrificial rite, divination is performed, which may predict a family’s future fortune or the weather for the coming days; for instance, if there is a black spot on the chicken’s occipital bone, it signifies that rain will fall soon.

During the Torch Festival, the Yi people require young white hens that have not yet laid eggs for their sacrifices. If the local breeds of the Little Liangshan region—known as “Nuosuwa” or Yi chickens—were to disappear, could the Torch Festival sacrifices continue? At the time, I was actually quite sceptical.

V. Protecting the “Chickens of Tomorrow”

Having discussed the crisis, let us look at some hope.

On 29 December 2005, the *Animal Husbandry Law of the People’s Republic of China* was promulgated, followed by the *Administrative Measures for Germplasm Conservation Centres, Reserves and Gene Banks for Livestock and Poultry* on 1 July 2006, initiating a tiered protection of local breeds.

This image was taken in 2018 in Daping Village, Yuanyang County. Most of the villagers are Hani, and they are very averse to foreign breeds. There are some unwritten customary laws in place specifically to protect their own breeds. For example, chickens from outside the village or those bought from the market are not allowed to enter. In this way, the local breeds are protected naturally.

In 2023, in Jiasha Town, Xinping County, I saw these Songmao (pine-feather) chickens again after many years. The number of Songmao chickens raised locally is still relatively high, and the cultural environment is not vastly different from my hometown in Guizhou. At the time, I was considering whether some of these breeds could be introduced from here.

The establishment of the Camellia Chicken germplasm conservation village in Manhena, Xishuangbanna, also realised a process of collaborative local breed protection, spanning from the national level down to the local and specifically to the village level.

To briefly summarise: between the 1970s and 1990s, increased consumption of meat, eggs, and milk in developing nations stimulated livestock and poultry production. However, the poor and small-scale operators were rapidly pushed out of the industry as production scaled up into individual large-scale farms.

This profound transformation in production, driven by demand, allowed industrialised livestock and poultry breeds from developed countries to enter developing nations in large numbers and establish monopolies, forcing locals to continuously pay high fees for imported breeds. The introduction of industrialised breeds has led to a global homogenisation of food and has dealt a severe blow to local breeds.

As one of the centres of poultry domestication, China possesses numerous excellent local breeds capable of meeting the diverse needs of different populations across the country. However, those local breeds unsuitable for intensive farming are gradually disappearing under the trends of commodification and globalisation, due to various social reasons.

The decline of small-scale local rearing means that smallholders risk losing their food sovereignty, leading to a decrease in food diversity. While the market appears to fill the void, it subjects home-scale rearing to higher costs and greater pressures on circularity.

As a wild species, the Red Junglefowl has received institutional safeguards, allowing it to maintain its ecological niche and preserve the gene pool of its wild relatives. Similarly, ‘indigenous chickens’ are protected by national policies, yet they require further support from local regions and communities. The survival of local breeds is essential for the continuation of traditions such as the Yi chicken culture of the Little Liang Mountains.

This intertwining of biological and cultural diversity began thousands of years ago when Red Junglefowl first lived alongside humans; it remains a vibrant and unpredictable relationship.

By resisting reductionism and securing a wider array of choices, the ‘chickens of tomorrow’ will remain in our own hands.

Foodthink Author

Zou Lei

A PhD candidate at Minzu University of China. During their Master’s studies, they researched the chicken culture of the Little Liang Mountains in Yunnan and continues to examine interspecies relationships amidst rural social change.

 

 

 

Compiled by: The Paper’s Reading Team