中國富豪新寵：身價25萬歐元的賽鴿

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.

中國富商一直忙于收購當代藝術品、頂級葡萄酒和世界上一些奢侈的汽車。現在他們把鴿子也列入了“非有不可”的藏品清單。

中國一位航運業富豪最近花250，400歐元（約合32.8萬美元）買下了一只荷蘭鴿子。據主持網上拍賣的比利時賽鴿天堂網說，這個價格創下了新的世界紀錄。

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.

寵物還是收藏品？這些鴿子可不是公園里以零碎食物為生的普通鴿子，而是專門用來比賽的。這項小眾運動在英國、比利時、荷蘭和德國擁有狂熱愛好者，在中國也有越來越多的人喜歡上了賽鴿。

買主胡振宇在溫州開有自己的公司，中國振宇控股集團。他對賽鴿天堂網說，他想把越來越多的精力放在賽鴿上。振宇集團去年在溫州贊助了一場賽鴿比賽，獎金達人民幣700萬元（約合110萬美元）。

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.

賽鴿在過去一直是一項鄉村休閑運動，中國富裕愛好者的加入在這個圈子里激起了一定的波瀾。據英國《電訊報》報道，有資深賽鴿人士抱怨賽鴿價格過高、并且正在向另一片大陸流失。

在賽鴿天堂網發表上述關于拍賣消息的文章之后，于70年前開始參加賽鴿運動的愛好者肯·安布勒評論說，“我們不能忘記，賽鴿是一項簡單的運動，所有擁有恰當理由、愿意參加的人都可以參與其中。”