赛鸽

choi

James Marson, $1.4 Million Pigeon Raises a Flap; Chinese collectors covet Belgium's famed racing birds. Wall Street Journal, May 14, 2019.
https://www.wsj.com/articles/as- ... es-soar-11557757490

https://peckford42.wordpress.com
(story #2)

Quote:

(a) "KNESSELARE, Belgium—Deep-pocketed Chinese investors have ruffled feathers across Europe by snapping up prized assets, from ports to power plants. Now they're buying pigeons.

Their targets aren't the winged pests. These are racing breeds—speedy navigational wonders that can rocket home with uncanny accuracy when released half a continent away.

(b) A Chinese buyer in March [Mar 19] purchased a racer named Armando for the equivalent of $14 million [actually 1.25 million euros], a local record.

" 'Everyone knows the vest pigeon is from Belgium,' says Xing Xiaoquan, president of the Chinese Racing Pigeon Association 中国信鸽协会秘书长邢小泉.

"Lavish spending by China's new rich has already transformed markets for status symbols from designer clothes to soccer players. The attention—and cash—is causing a flap here in diminutive Belgium * * *

(c) " * * *During World War I, a pigeon named Cher Ami delivered a message that saved nearly 200 US soldiers despite losing a limb to enemy fire. The hero now stands on one leg in the Smithsonian Institution.

"Pigeon racing took off in Europe in the 19th century, and Belgian breeders created birds famed for speed and endurance. They were progenitors of most racers world-wide today.

(d) "For races, birds are driven * * * in trucks then released to fly back to their lofts—the aviaries where they were born and raised. Scientists aren’t sure how the homing works; some hypothesize the pigeons rely on the Earth’s magnetic fields.

(e) "Armando was sold via auction website PIPA, or Pigeon Paradise 赛鸽天堂网, whose founder and chief executive calls it the equivalent of Sotheby’s for pigeons. Nikolaas Gyselbrecht, 38 years old, launched the website as a portal for pigeon news in 1999 when he was a student, and later spotted a niche selling birds online.

"* * * Now PIPA, based in the small town of Knesselare, employs around 100 people across the world, including a network of agents in China. Sales for the year through the end of June should reach €25 million, 60% from China. The record-breaking price for Armando was 10 times what the top pigeon fetched a decade ago, Mr Gyselbrecht says.

(f) "As for Armando, who was named the 2018 National Ace Pigeon, his racing days are over. Businessman Xing Wei 河北开尔实业集团有限公司董事长邢伟, the bird's new owner, plans to breed him and sell his progeny in China and elsewhere, he said in an online video.

"Armando will remain in Belgium. That's just as well. Reputed homing pigeon flights include one from France to Vietnam and another from Maine to Texas, meaning it's not out of the question that if Armando were taken to China he could try to repatriate himself.

Note:
(a) Armando is Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, and Spanish variants of Armand (name)
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armand_(name)
(French form of Herman)
(b)
(i) Cher Ami
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cher_Ami
(ii) French-English dictionary:
• cher (adjective masculine; feminine singular chère; from Latin adjective masculine cārus, whose feminine singular form is cāra):
"1: (before the noun [including proper name]) dear (beloved)
* * *
3: (after the noun) expensive"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/cher
• ami (noun masculine; feminine singular amie; from Latin noun masculine amīcus, whose feminine singular counterpart is amīca): "male friend"
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/ami