Belgium's pigeons now fly east at record price

Last week, a loft of 218 racing pigeons fetched €1.3 million (1.1m) and a single bird, called Blue Prince, sold for €156,000.

"They want to have the best pigeons, own the best pigeons, breed with the best pigeons," said Stefan Roosen after Chinese buyers helped push the sale of the 218 birds that belonged to his late father, Pros, to a single-auction world record.

Most top birds bought in Belgium are not raced in China - it would be too expensive to lose them - but their offspring are.

The auctions confirmed Belgium as the age-old breeding hub of the birds and China as the new centre of demand.

In pigeon racing, birds are released up to 700 miles from home. The bird that flies back fastest wins.

The sport has spread from its origins as a European working-class pastime, and developed a cachet in modern-day China.

From 250,000 pigeon fanciers half a century ago, there are 30,000 left in Belgium. "And they have an average age of about 70, so the decline will continue," said Pierre De Rijst, head of the Belgian Pigeon Federation.

He remembers 1955 when 20 pigeon breeders on his street would spend evenings sitting outside discussing racing. "Now," he said, "there are two left".

So the precious birds fly off to Asia, carrying with them generations of genetic know-how.

But in China, federation membership has boomed over the past 15 years, and is now about 300,000.

"Prize money is enormous," Yi Minna, the chief operating officer at the PiPa pigeon auction house said. "We have a €1m race in Shanghai, with the winner getting about half that," she said.

And that is reflected in the Belgian auctions.

"These guys, they just don't stop," De Rijst sighed. "They say: 'this bird comes with us to China' and that's it."