The rich, as a class, behave more or less the same way around the world. They share similar tastes and preferences. The luxury companies require minimal customization in order to sell a product or service anywhere in the world. But you can depend on China to be different. With the number of rich rising dramatically in China all sorts of records are being set there in terms of pricing, but the latest news coming out of there is a bit unusual.
The new record is not about mansions, yachts, art, private jets or wine but a pigeon. A rich Chinese buyer paid $200,000 for a racing pigeon at a Belgium auction recently, setting a new world record. It is not commonly known what a racing pigeon is but the pigeon in question called Blue Prince was one of the highly pedigreed Belgian racing pigeons that have long been considered the gold standard in the pigeon racing world.
Pigeon racing has a long history in Western Europe dating back to the Romans and Charlemagne. Today we do not use them for communication as we have much more reliable technology available but simple races are held where the pigeons are launched hundreds of miles away from their home and the pigeon that comes back home first wins the race. The sport has taken off in China as it creates betting opportunities. In the US though, government ordinances restricting pet ownership and flights have been an obstacle in the sport developing to a level that it could be exploited commercially.
Via: blogs.wsj
