In Beijing, it's common to see seniors walking along, with their birds in little cages. They continue in this way, a very long tradition of bird breeding.

"I have to take them out everyday, otherwise they won't sing." Every morning, Mr.Zhang wakes up at dawn to enjoy the local park, right next to the Workers' Stadium, in Eastern Beijing. But this 67 year-old Beijing retiree is interested neither in physical exercises nor in taichi, like other people his age.

His passion is bird breeding, which he has been doing for already 10 years. Twice a day, he wanders the streets of the capital, in short, determined steps, carrying his coops covered by blue blankets.  He then hangs them from the tree branches. This is what the Chinese call, "to walk the birds."

This old tradition dates back to the Qing dynasty, during which, the Manchurians raised birds in their free time. Later, the tradition was restarted by the youngest members of "bad families" during the interwar period. For this reason, it was mostly the lower classes that were given over to this sort of entertainment.

Nowadays, it is often retirees between 50 and 60 years old who get together in public gardens or the forests of the outskirts of the city, where birds are allowed.

Between trees and bushes, these bird breeders engage in card games or Chinese chess. From time to time, they stand up, check their coops, show their tongues to the birds, or pass their fingers along the bars of the coops. Right away, the birds start to sing in unison.

Stretching out the legs

Zhang himself is never tired of the birds, and he talks about them with a passion. He is currently breeding forty birds in total, mainly thrushes and canaries.  This is a pleasure that knows no rest. 

"At seven in the morning I clean the coops, change the water and prepare fresh food. Later, I walk my birds in the park until 11:00am. After my nap, I take them out again from 3 to 6 in the afternoon," he explains.

Not everyone can become a bird-breeder. "You have to know many things in order to breed birds," insists Zhang. The most difficult part is to make them sing. Thus, since the very beginning, Zhang must "walk his birds very often in order to get them accustomed to outside noise and people".

This is called "pressing the birds".  This is a learning process that requires a lot of patience: "a young bird requires to be pressed at least one year," he emphasizes.