Yuen Po Street Bird Market, Hong Kong

My VoiceMap tour of art deco Hong Kong’s Kadoorie Hill and environs also takes you through a few Kowloon local markets….

Yuen Po Street Bird Market was established after the former “Bird Street” at Hong Lok Street was demolished in the 1990s. At Yuen Po moon gateways divide the length of the street into a series of traditional-style courtyards.

Keeping songbirds as pets has been a popular practice in China for centuries, particularly among the nobility and the scholarly elite, and particularly during the Qing Dynasty. It’s never completely died out and similar markets and “bird walkers” are to be found in every mainland Chinese city as well as Hong Kong. However, some think the tradition remained stronger in Hong Kong due to particularly dense living conditions and small flats.