China’s pigeon racing enthusiasts are flying high
- Membership of the Chinese Pigeon Association has soared to about 400,000 in recent years
- A Chinese enthusiast made headlines in November when he paid US$1.9 million for a racing pigeon
Yu Yuguang’s heart beats faster every time he stands on his roof, eyes trained to the sky waiting for one of his pigeons to pass through the trap door of its home loft.
“Those are the most intense and enjoyable moments of a pigeon race,” the 57-year-old said, adding that the sport was like playing the lottery.
Yu has been lucky. “Little Ancestor”, his seven-month-old pigeon, came first in a recent Chinese Racing Pigeon Association race, beating more than 4,800 other birds and completing a journey of just over 1,000km (620 miles) from Langfang, near the Chinese capital Beijing, to Shanghai in a record time of 16 hours, 24 minutes and 54 seconds.
The 5,000 yuan (US$765) prize money, however, pales in comparison to the 200,000 yuan Yu spends on his 500 pigeons each year.
In China, where pigeon racing has a long history, economic development has allowed the sport to spread beyond the ultra-wealthy. Membership of the Chinese Pigeon Association has jumped from tens of thousands in the 1980s to about 400,000, according to its vice-president, Huang Jian.
By comparison Belgium, the traditional heartland of the sport, has about 20,000 pigeon fanciers.