[ANIMAL NOISES]
[LAUGHTER]
THOMAS MORTON: Hi, I'm Thomas.
We're on the outskirts of Beijing, and a million
dollars' worth of pigeons just flew over my head on
their way back home.
Like most rational humans, we consider pigeons vermin,
flying bird-shit dispensers who spread disease and
antipathy wherever they fucking land.
Here in China they take a slightly more progressive view
of the pigeon.
20 years ago, sort of a poor man's delicacy, but now, with
the new Chinese economy, it's become a rich man's plaything.
Instead of spending their money on wine and cars,
Beijing's new billionaires are spending hundreds of thousands
of dollars on racing pigeons.
The same flying rats we kick in New York have been turned
into luxury goods, with pigeons auctioning for up to
$330,000 per bird, which has turned pigeon racing from an
old man's hobby into, if not the sport of kings, at least
the sport of China's young princes.
Billy from VICE China is going to help us guide our way
through the ritzy underworld that is Chinese pigeon racing.
We're at the Pioneer Pigeon Club.
It's basically a fancy country club for
people who race pigeons.
These are the guys who are racing pigeons behind us.
They are all really well-monied Chinese--
kind of nouveau-elites.
If China's upper crust looks a little, well, murdery, it's
for good reason.
There really isn't an old money here, considering they
just started capitalism 30 years ago.
Everybody who's rich now got rich on their own, and often
through less-than-savory enterprises.
So the way the race works is all the pigeon-owners bring
their pigeons here.
They buy an anklet for it.
That costs 5,000 kuai, which is like a little under $1,000.
Then they take all the pigeons and load them up
on that truck there.
The truck drives way the fuck out of town.
And then the first one home wins.
Once they get to the launch site the pigeons are released
en masse and use their homing instincts to fly back to their
individual roosts.
Since the distance varies from roost to roost, the winner of
the race isn't the first bird to land but the one who
maintains the fastest average speed in-flight.
This is tabulated by whoever's putting on the race, behind
closed doors, then announced via the web in mass text,
which makes pigeon racing not only a horrible sport to watch
but also an extremely easy sport to fix.
So the truck is just about loaded.
I think there's two more trays that are gonna go in there.
And then this whole thing gets covered, so it's night time
for birdies.
And then we launch them.
This is the new money.
This is the thoroughbred racing of China.
They're birds.
MR. BOKUN: [SPEAKING CHINESE].
THOMAS MORTON: Good to meet you.
The man to beat this year is Mr. Bokun who, despite getting
into the sport two years ago, has already won multiple
championships and owns one of the most expensive flocks in
China, as well as his own racing association.
MR. BOKUN: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
THOMAS MORTON: He also has two professional trainers who look
like the nunchuk guy from "Double Dragon." They care for
his birds and chauffeur them to the races in their own car.
Do you have a favorite out of all these?
You're gonna pull it out?
Oh, that's where-- he rides shotgun.
That's the one.
MR. BOKUN: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
THOMAS MORTON: After registration, Mr. Bokun
invited us over to his modest 10th and 11th floor walkup to
see where he keeps his championship breeding flock.
MR. BOKUN: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
THOMAS MORTON: Thank you very much.
This is, um--
your hospitality and generosity
are kind of in surfeit.
MR. BOKUN: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
THOMAS MORTON: They all look gorgeous.
They don't look like pigeons, almost.
MR. BOKUN: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
THOMAS MORTON: Are you worried that--
is anybody worried--
that the cost of entry into pigeon racing might exclude
some people in the future?
MR. BOKUN: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
THOMAS MORTON: Can I ask, what kind of company do you run?
How did you start in business?
Thank you.
[SPEAKING CHINESE]
MR. BOKUN: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
THOMAS MORTON: While modesty--
or perhaps the much-reputed honor--
kept Mr. Bokun vague about the source of his riches, he is in
essence the very model of a Chinese self-made man.
After ascending the ranks of the local Communist party he
brought a number of lucrative development contracts to his
neighborhood, changed his original surname of Hong to
the more elegant Bokun, and set to work building his
fiefdom of leisure--
which includes the country club I'm currently shagging
his balls at.
-[SPEAKING CHINESE]
THOMAS MORTON: We're just riding to a country club now,
with a Chinese ex-gangster's grandmother's wedding vase.
Feel like we might have bit off a little more than we can
chew with this pigeon racing.
Mr. Bokun is what Beijingers call an old brother, which is
a friendly sort of honorific, like good ol' boy, but also a
loose demonym for the Chinese underworld.
Later that day Mr. Bokun took us for a multi-course lunch
with his wife and business associates at a fancy
restaurant featuring one of the largest Lazy Susans I've
ever plucked food from.
So what's this area called?
MR. BOKUN: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
-[SPEAKING CHINESE]
MR. BOKUN: [SPEAKING CHINESE]
-They want to kill the fly.
THOMAS MORTON: Oh, the fly is right there.
This fly's lineage must be very impressive.
This isn't just like an
ostentatious display of wealth.
This is genuine excess.
We just left three or four full meals on that table,
slowly revolving.
I feel like a lot of this has been geared towards impressing
us and/or intimidating us.
And, uh, it's kind of working.