Melodious old-world enclave in Hong Kong

By BRIAN JOHNSTON

The languid, lilting call hangs in the air above the street noise, then soars into a burbling melody that brings images of mountain streams and whispering pine forests.

The sound carries even above the incessant cacophony of cars, taxi horns and resonating air-conditioning units of downtown Kowloon. Passers-by pause and smile. It's the song of a finch, pure and haunting.

As you follow it along the street you begin to hear the cheeps and trills of other birds launching into a discordant chorus. But the finch doesn't hesitate, outsinging the competition with a cool cadenza of high notes.

Follow the song of this feathered siren down a narrow lane and you'll find another surprise in the clamour and chaos of Kowloon: a little lost enclave surrounded by high walls, more like rural China than urban Hong Kong. Old men in white vests and traditional slippers sip tea and congregate under the trees, birdcages piled around them like vegetables in a village market. The atmosphere is tranquil and unhurried.

Morning sunlight slants through the tree branches and splashes the pavement with gold. Red lacquered gates in old Chinese style mark the boundaries of this unique survivor of another age. This is Yuen Po St Bird Market, one of the most unusual and entertaining places in Hong Kong.

Actually, Yuen Po St is really two streets, little more than alleys: one shelters a row of some 70 tiny shops while the other is laid out with flowerbeds like a park in miniature. You can buy birds and seeds and cages in the one street, then move across to the other, forgetting commerce to indulge in the pure poetry and romance of songbirds.

Locals meet here with their birds, carried proudly from their homes in ornate cages, to swap information and admiration and while away the morning. The birds, brought face to face with their competitors, are encouraged to sing, swelling up their breasts and bursting into a symphony of song before retiring to a well-earned rest in the sunlight.

Even if you aren't a bird lover, the area is fascinating, and there's plenty of opportunity in Yuen Po St to talk to the locals about this ancient Chinese indulgence.

Birds have held an important position in Chinese culture for millennia, appearing as background decor even on the earliest silk paintings. By the Tang Dynasty (618-907), birds had become a major subject of art in their own right, and in the following Song Dynasty were portrayed with increasing realism thanks to the scientific study that was also being devoted to various species.

Frequently depicted on porcelain and painting and often referred to in poetry, birds became associated with symbolic meaning. The mandarin duck represented faithfulness, the magpie good luck. Of the songbirds, the light-vented bulbul was a symbol of longevity thanks to the white cap on its head, which gave it the appearance of a white-haired old man.

Such songbirds were considered the most elegant and refined of pets, a living reference to traditional Chinese art and poetry. But the good fortune and long life associated with birds was also transferred into popular culture.

Even today in modern Hong Kong you can see punters at the horseraces carrying songbirds with them in cages for good luck. Songbirds as household pets are still common in modern Chinese cities, both on the mainland and in Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong, where bird-keeping is well suited to crowded living conditions.

There are bamboo birdcages hanging everywhere in Hong Kong if you keep an eye out: in the corners of teahouses, on high balconies among the washinglines, and outside shops on the busy streets.

The Bird Market started as an informal gathering in Hong Lok St, where bird lovers would congregate to swap notes and hear the birds sing. In true Hong Kong style, entrepreneurs moved in to supply cages and accessories, and soon an entire market had taken shape.

In 1997 this was moved to Yuen Po St, perhaps at the cost of some of its original hustle and bustle. Still, it's hard to complain about the quiet alley, which provides a welcome respite from the crowded streets all around, and you could well end up lingering here longer than you expect.

Start off in the street of tiny stalls where equally tiny birds are sold. To the uneducated glance, many of the songbirds seem small and drab, but this is because the Chinese value them not for their plumage but for their ability to sing. Still, there are some spectacular exotic varieties to catch the eye: snow-white cockatoos from Australia with great yellow crests, multicoloured Brazilian macaws cracking nuts in their powerful beaks, even the occasional peacock imported from India, preening like a Rajput prince.

In between, shops sell all the accessories of bird-keeping, from delicate porcelain feeding bowls to toasted seeds in little glass vials. The Chinese believe that a songbird's diet influences the way it sings, so a great deal of attention is given to providing the pampered pets with the best food available.

For the most part, they're fed fresh fruit, boiled eggs and cereal, all of which are on sale here. Live insects are also a treat; owners buy grasshoppers imported across the border from the fields of Guangdong Province, which are fed to the birds on the ends of chopsticks. The birds are also given honey to soothe their vocal chords.

Also for sale are the ornate bamboo cages that the songbirds call home. Even if you don't own a bird, these splendid cages make for unusual and decorative souvenirs with a distinctively Chinese look - just remember to declare it at customs back home.

These are works of art in traditional style, resembling multi-layered pagodas with sweeping upturned eaves. They may well be fitted out with ivory perches and velvet covers. Bamboo is the favoured material for the cages since it is strong but light, so that the cages aren't too heavy for their mostly elderly owners to carry about.

Small square cages are used for canaries, while thrushes are given larger round cages. Others have particular functions:
some for breeding, others for incubating eggs. These luxurious (if cramped) living quarters are testimony to the value of the songbirds within them, some of which can fetch hundreds of dollars.

After investigating the shops it's time to retire under the trees to watch the rituals of bird- keeping. This is a fine opportunity for the bird owners, many of whom are retired, to chat among themselves.

It's also important to let the birds socialise, because they learn some of their songs from other birds. Yet while they sing naturally, songbirds are also trained by their owners, who spend many hours whistling tunes at them or playing birdsong on tape.

Chinese thrushes compete with other birds with extraordinary names such as the babbling thrush and singing lark. The latter is known for its ability to dance as well as sing.

Proud owners ceremoniously take their covers off the cages, unveiling their latest acquisitions and jostling for position, trying to place their birds close to others that will encourage them to burst into song.

The best singer of all? Hard to say, but the society finch is certainly considered one of the best songbirds to keep as a pet. This is actually a hybrid species that doesn't exist in the wild, which means they're used to being handled by humans and don't easily become stressed - an advantage if they're to be good singers.

Society finches are playful and curious birds that seem to have cheerful personalities.

Suspended in their cages from the trees of Yuen Po St, they warble ecstatically, and it seems the tumult of Hong Kong pauses for a moment in admiration.

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Getting there

Flight Centre has packages to Hong Kong starting at $899 a person twin share including return airfares on set departures from Auckland, Wellington or Christchurch and three nights' accommodation. Sales valid until August 15. Airport taxes and insurances are additional.

Bird market

Yuen Po St bird market is open every day from 7am to 8pm and admission is free. The nearest MRT stop is Prince Edward Rd. Yuen Po St leads off this road about a 10-minute walk west of the station.