The History of the Rooster Bowl that Appears on Google Doodle

Delmywellbrock -The History of the Rooster Bowl that Appears on Google Doodle - For culinary lovers of meatballs, chicken noodles, soto, and others, you may already be familiar with the presence of a bowl with a picture of a rooster. On Monday (12/9/2022) Google Doodle featured this legendary rooster bowl on the front page of the Google search engine, what's the story behind it?

Quoted from the official Doodle website, the image of a rooster bowl that appeared on Google Doodle today is to celebrate the Lampang Rooster Bowl or a rooster bowl that was registered by the Thai government in 2013.

In 2013, the Thai government registered this rooster bowl design as a Lampang Indication Product. Lampang is a province in Thailand. However, not from Thailand, the original design of the rooster bowl actually comes from China.

The history of the rooster bowl

The rooster bowl is not only used in Indonesia, this bowl is already popular in various regions, especially in Asia.

Quoting from National Geographic Indonesia, the story of the rooster bowl comes from the Ming Dynasty, precisely during the reign of Emperor Chenghua (1465–1487). At that time, the Emperor ordered four saucers with pictures of a rooster and a hen from a special imperial ceramics craftsman, in the Jingdezhen area, which is famous for producing ceramics for the palace since the 6th century AD.

Emperor Chenghua ordered four ceramic bowls with the doucai technique, which were made especially for himself and his wife, as a sign of love. The cup became known as Jigangbei which means "chicken cup". This cup has a picture of a rooster, female, and chick, which has the meaning of prosperity.

The saucer and bowl of the chicken have a symbolic meaning. The word “Ji” from Jigangbei, which means “chicken”, is similar in sound to the word “Jia” which means house. While the image of the peony plant symbolizes wealth, and the banana leaf which also appears in a cup or bowl symbolizes good luck for the family.

Not only did Emperor Chenghua revere the rooster bowl, but other emperors in China also loved it. During the Qing Dynasty, rooster bowls began to be mass produced. At that time, Chinese people who were in the lower middle class could only use bowls with pictures of chickens, because bowls with pictures of phoenixes, dragons, and other motifs, had a higher price.

As the times progressed, for farmers in China, the rooster bowl became a symbol of hard work for prosperity. This is connected with the role of the rooster who always wakes them up in the morning to immediately work in the fields.

Rooster bowls began to be known to other countries around the 20th century. Initially, rooster bowls were brought by immigrants from China, from their factories in Guangdong province. Then the rooster bowl spread to several countries in Southeast Asia.

The wider the spread of the rooster bowl, the higher the production. The technique of depicting a rooster also changed, from using hand drawings to finally being printed by machines.

Thailand is also one of the importing countries for rooster bowls from China. In 1957, entrepreneurs opened many kitchen equipment factories located in the province of Lampang, Thailand.

When Lampang mass-produced tableware using a rooster design, the bowl became one of the best-selling products.

Until now, Lampang continues to produce rooster bowls. However, only a few factories in Lampang are able to design rooster bowl products according to traditional styles and materials. This resulted in the original hand-painted chicken bowl becoming a rare collectible item and sought after by a number of collectors.