Pigeon Talk by Alex Bieche

 2009 China Trip   New article forth coming.

Over the last few years we have heard that the biggest concentration of pigeon flyers in the World are in China . From all accounts 300,000 pigeon flyers and counting. In one city alone , Beijing there are 20,000 pigeon flyers. Last year I was asked by Barry Yu if Cindy and I wanted to be part of a group of American pigeon flyers that would visit China. Having to take part in such an exciting venture, how could I say no.  After getting all paper work in order including passports and visas Cindy and I  along with way too much luggage were off to the San Francisco air port heading to Shanghai China. On the same flight our friends Carl and Julie Perry, Jerry and Rita Stone and Armando De La O were all part of our American group as well. It was great talking  to Carl and Jerry during the flight because they had both  taken part in last years China trip and gave me some clues on what to expect. Once in Shanghai we met the remaining American flyers. Freddy Rivera from Florida, Berry Yu, Jennifer Rankin both from Texas, Steve Mardis from Oklahoma and  Peter Huang from Chicago. After gathering our luggage we were transported by van to the beautiful Olympic hotel. A 5 star hotel with all the modern facilities including of all things modernized toilets. These fancy toilets that must have cost a fortune had a complete program of selections that you could take advantage of. In this case it may be wise that I don't go into details!  Our first loft visit was to the loft of Mr. Young Lin.  They had a welcoming committee serving hot tea chocolates and presented each of us gifts. This one loft race has 2 yearly races. One early bird race and the 2nd race later in the year with late hatches. The loft looked like it could accommodate about 3 to 4 thousand birds. I was very impressed by the health of the birds. Our next one loft visit was the Chang Rong Pigeon Incubation Center   Also known as the One  Million Euro Race. The loft can hold up to 10,000 birds but Mr. Lin, the owner, prefers a max of 6,000 birds.  Our Next stop was to the Hotel Lake Xian Weiyanghu.  The owner also sponsored a large one loft race that we attended the following morning. Breeders from all parts of China, Belgium, Holland and Germany were all waiting for their entered birds to arrive. From what I was told 1500 birds were shipped to the race, with a lot of low fog and bad weather no day birds were reported. That night Barry Yu had arranged a meeting with a Mr.Hur one of Chinas well respected pigeon flyer, to see some of his breeding stock. Over the last 2 years Mr. Hur has spent several million dollars on top breeding stock. If you have followed some of the highest priced birds sold on PIPA lately to a China breeder going by the name of China Wall this is the guy. Anyway we were escorted to his pent house on the 6th floor where his loft manager brought in two baskets of pigeons. One by one we all got to handle some of his prize positions. This one cost 70k and this one 50k another one for over 100k. Off course all of them handled like the true champions they were. If one did not know the back ground or race record of these true champions you could think that you were handling just another great bird. But on the other hand knowing all the facts about each bird all pigeons are not the same when it comes to value. Mr. Hur a well respected China business man, was also one of the final torch bearers in the China Olympics that took place in Beijing. Before leaving we were all presented a collectors cluster of Postage stamps showing Mr. Hur carrying the Olympic torch. The good will gesture did not stop there, upon leaving the building we walked over to his restaurant where we were all treated to an extravagant evening meal. The following day our Chinese hosts took us to the Terra Cotta warriors museum, now considered the largest museum in the World. On march 29 1974 a local farmer of Xi Yang Village, while drilling a well discovered some pottery fragments along with ancient bronze weapons.  From here the Chinese Government took over and found that over 2000 years ago the first Emperor Qin Shi Huang of China buried full size clay replicas of his army including full size horses to protect him for ever. Three pits of buried warriors in total were found. In Pit number one alone some 1,087 Terra Cotta  warriors and life size horses after being restored are on display. On our way back to our van our group decided to do some shopping. Freddy Rivera, Steve Mardes and Julie Perry all purchased fur hats that are very common in the colder parts of China and Russia. The next day we boarded another smaller plane to Lang Fang China. On our arrival we were all greeted with a warm welcome by Herbots of Belgium. Our next 4 day stay would be at the Peace Hotel along with top flyers of the world. Along with our American group, top breeders from Belgium, Holland and  Germany were all well represented and stayed at the same hotel. This same group of pigeon breeders the next morning were all heading to the 3 day expo pigeon event. Pigeons representing their own family were well displayed with banners, pictures and free handouts. Pigeon lofts, feed including supplies of all kinds, were sold from several countries. In all my years I have never seen so many different pigeon products. All the vendors were assigned a security guard in uniform plus an interpreter, that I personally was glad to have at my disposal. All vendors were charged a moderate booth service charge along with a 20% commission per bird sold. Our American booths were all in a central area, with Barry Yu"s booth being next door to mine. Across from our booth  was the 6 x 1st  German  Champion A&W Drapa. At times we were inundated with pigeon flyers filling our booth to the max. In this case my wife Cindy was a big help taking care of all the paper work and of course as wives normally do also taking  care of all the money. Sales were a little slow the first day but went quite well the 2md day. The 3rd and last day was a true experience. This was the day pigeon shoppers were looking for a great deal. In this case they knew they had the upper hand because if the birds were not sold most breeders had no way to get the birds back home. In some cases I didn't get our normal price but I must say that in general we did quite well and sold all our 22 birds. The next day the China pigeon organization put on a Exbo extravaganza that I will never forget. The food was to die for. During our meal several presentations with trophies and plaques were presented. Distinguished Chinese pigeon officials did the signing of the upcoming Pigeon Olympic to be held in China 2015. Following we enjoyed  a 2 hour show with singers, dancers and  acrobats that even Vegas would be proud of.  The entire show was also televised on the China television network. To rap up the Expo event we stepped out to the parking lot to view a grand display of fireworks lasting about 15 minutes. Since the first day we arrived in China, one of the things we were most looking forward to was seeing the Great Wall of China. That day arrived and we were not disappointed and more than pleased. With snow covered mountain ranges in the background, what a sight. Totally breath taking. Walking the wall itself had to be a must and of course a lot of picture taking. The steep grade with stone mortared steps that were far from uniform didn't slow us down. I guess you might say taking part in walking the wall, one of the Great Wonders of the World, was more than just a lifetime experience. The next day we were on the move again and arrived at the Sea View Hotel  in Qinuangdao Island population of about 2 million people. The next morning we were of again to another large BOB ( Best Of The Best ) one loft race. This was a 320 mile race and shipped 1349 birds to the race. From what I was told they started with close to 6000 birds so the loses were quite high. As the birds started to arrive, results were well displayed on a large bill board. The elated breeder that had the 1st and 4th over all bird also had the first bird pooled across the board. With pool and prize money he won about 500,000 US Dollars. During our 12 day stay in China we had a few days to also do some shopping. I must say the prices were very good and several in our group bought extra luggage just to get the new items home.  Bringing  this article to a close I want to mention that  driving a car in China would be a nightmare. Thank God that we had a experienced driver during our stay. We witnessed vehicles going against traffic. U turns in the middle of the free way. Broken down trucks in the middle of the road and bicycles carrying a complete family of 6. It seemed like the bigger the vehicle the more right of way you have. I have included several pictures to go along with the article.

Until next time above all keep your birds healthy.   ALEX BIECHE  Bieche Lofts