We Are HKers - Chan Lok Choi | Bamboo Birdcage Maker

Hongkongers have always loved their birds. Much like walking a dog, older Chinese men would take their caged birds out in the morning to parks or quiet streets and sit listening to their song. Often you would see the cages hanging from trees, while owners read the newspaper or played mahjong. Birds were typically chosen for their song, instead of their appearance. Nowadays, a handful of these bird-lovers can be found in parks around the city in the early hours, or in Yuen Po Bird Market, but criticism from animal rights groups and the arrival of avian flu in 2012 - with the subsequent bird ban on public transport- have hugely dampened this tradition. Today, the habit of walking a bird has almost entirely disappeared.

“I find the work here very special as you can’t find anywhere like this outside of hong kong. This is a unique place that represents our home.”

— Chan Lok Choi

THE INDUSTRY

Master Chan Lok Choi has been making cages since he was just 13 years old. His shop in the Yuen Po Street Bird Garden - where a Moon Gate entrance opens to a colourful world of thousands of singing birds, from canaries to Chinese thrushes - is the only one to sell handmade bamboo cages. Master Chan was taught the craft at a young age by his uncle and another famous cage-maker. It involves delicately bending bamboo rods into place, carving patterns or scriptures onto them and painting the cage. Unlike in his younger years, it now takes Mr Chan several months to make a cage from scratch. And now in his 70s, with none of his children keen to learn his trade, he understands his industry is fading quickly.

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【SHARED】Chan Lok Choi | Bamboo Birdcage Maker

THE INDUSTRY

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