The_Future_of_Global_Retail_Preview

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THE UBIQUITOUS EXPRESS DELIVERY The hidden power of retail

One of the legends about the Chinese zodiac is that the Jade Emperor chose which animals should be included depending on how useful they were for humans. Cows are good for ploughing the land, dogs help protect homes, dragons can make rain, and so on. Roosters, on the other hand, like to fight and are not of obvious use. To be included in the zodiac, therefore, the Rooster King came up with the idea of using his golden voice to wake peo- ple up in the morning. Like clockwork, every day at dawn, the Rooster King would rise early and call everyone to start a new day of work. Even though the rooster made the cut and was selected as one of the twelve animals of the zodiac, they are still not really held in high regard. Most idioms in the Chinese language refer to roosters in less than celebrated terms. For example, something that is insignificant is referred to as “chicken hairs and garlic peels ( 鸡毛蒜皮 )”. The year 1993 happened to be the Year of the Rooster. It saw the emergence of a new type of occupation, a new profession – albeit an unsung one – which came to flourish throughout China. By 2019, there

DOI: 10.4324/9781003205074-4