By Gan Tian (Beijing Today)
Updated: 2008-04-29 10:30

Fish, birds, feathers and ferns

The Beijing Guanyuan Pets Market is also called The Fish, Bird and Insect Market. When a visitor enters, the first thing to tickle your ear drums is the wonderful sound of singing birds. It would be so nice to hear such colorful melodies in the second ring road or city's downtown area, so everyone would be tempted to explore this market. Having a pet is a popular pastime in China. Many an old man whiles away the hours teaching his birds to say "ni hao" and almost everyone has had a pet katydid at some point. This market is where local people come to indulge their hobbies.

The Guanyuan Market sells all kinds of plants and animals, from crickets to rare breeds of cats. In China, cats with one blue eye and one brown eye are especially treasured and you'll see lots of pet birds in the morning dreaming of freedom at Tai Chi sessions. There are some creatures at this market you would only expect to see at the zoo like snakes, lizards, spiders, insects, snails, tortoises, crabs and fish. Animal rights activists might be bugged by this, but for everyone else it is a really interesting experience.

There is also a cricket area, with stacks of bamboo cages filled with crickets chirping loud enough to deafen you! There are land tortoises ambling around, big iguanas and other lizards-even a boa constrictor! Also in the house, green snakes, red snakes, strange-looking crabs, weird large snails, squirrels and a tarantula! Among the normal animals are many aquarium fish, frogs, chicks, ducklings, piglets, hamsters and rabbits. "I am fascinated by the market. If you love animals and getting close to odd ones, you should visit," a foreign visitor said, "If you are an animal-rights activist, maybe you should visit a museum."

Reasonable prices

Since you can find really strange and rare animals at the Guanyuan Market, the prices are a little high but not unreasonable.

For example, Siamese cats cost from 300 to 800 yuan, Russian Blues 500 to 1,000 yuan, Scottish folds under 1,000 yuan, Persians 300 yuan and common cats only 30 to 50 yuan. The market also stocks birds, fish and guinea pigs at cheap prices. Finally, you can buy dog and cat food and tearless shampoo for 30 to 50 yuan. Pet toys are also available.

Visit the Guanyuan Market. It will bring out the animal in you.

Beijing Today

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