中国富豪新宠:身价25万欧元的赛鸽

Wealthy Chinese have been snapping up contemporary art, top wines and some the world’s most expensive cars. Now they're adding pigeons to their must-have list.

A Chinese shipping magnate recently spent 250,400 euros ($328,000) for a Dutch pigeon, a new world record according to Pipa, the firm that ran the online auction.

中国富商一直忙于收购当代艺术品、顶级葡萄酒和世界上一些奢侈的汽车。现在他们把鸽子也列入了“非有不可”的藏品清单。

中国一位航运业富豪最近花250,400欧元（约合32.8万美元）买下了一只荷兰鸽子。据主持网上拍卖的比利时赛鸽天堂网说，这个价格创下了新的世界纪录。

Are these pigeons pet or collection? These aren’t your ordinary birds that eat scraps in the park but ones bred for the arcane sport of pigeon racing, which has a cult following in England, Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and, increasingly, China.

The buyer, Hu Zhenyu, runs Zhenyu Holding Group in Wenzhou. He told Pipa that he wants to “focus more and more on the pigeon sport”. Zhenyu last year sponsored a pigeon race in Wenzhou that awarded 7 million yuan ($1.1 million) in prize money.

宠物还是收藏品？这些鸽子可不是公园里以零碎食物为生的普通鸽子，而是专门用来比赛的。这项小众运动在英国、比利时、荷兰和德国拥有狂热爱好者，在中国也有越来越多的人喜欢上了赛鸽。

买主胡振宇在温州开有自己的公司，中国振宇控股集团。他对赛鸽天堂网说，他想把越来越多的精力放在赛鸽上。振宇集团去年在温州赞助了一场赛鸽比赛，奖金达人民币700万元（约合110万美元）。

Pigeon racing has traditionally been a rural pastime, and the entrance of wealthy Chinese hobbyists are ruffling some feathers. The Telegraph quoted veterans of the sport complaining about the high bids and loss of the birds to another continent.

“We must not forget pigeon racing is a simple sport to be enjoyed by all who wish to become involved for the right reasons,” Ken Ambler, a pigeon fancier who took up the sport 70 years ago, wrote in a comment on Pipa’s auction announcement.

赛鸽在过去一直是一项乡村休闲运动，中国富裕爱好者的加入在这个圈子里激起了一定的波澜。据英国《电讯报》报道，有资深赛鸽人士抱怨赛鸽价格过高、并且正在向另一片大陆流失。

在赛鸽天堂网发表上述关于拍卖消息的文章之后，于70年前开始参加赛鸽运动的爱好者肯·安布勒评论说，“我们不能忘记，赛鸽是一项简单的运动，所有拥有恰当理由、愿意参加的人都可以参与其中。”