The Pigeon Game

The first event I went to in DC was The Pigeon Game, a Taiwan to the World documentary hosted in the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University.

I got excited because I used to race pigeons and I plan to go to Taiwan. I will have to find some of these people.



I was a little disappointed with the documentary mostly because they make it sound like pigeon racing is some kind of strange, exotic, and foreign interest that is strangely particular to Taiwan. I keep perceiving the narration as casting the information with a kind of strange eccentricity that doesn't necessary take the subject seriously. It seems to present the information in a way that makes it seem like a curious sideshow novelty, and that doesn't sit well with me.

But, I did learn a few things about how pigeon racing is expected to go in Taiwan. For example, it seems like Taiwan only has a young bird (entrants are less than 1 year old) racing season. I am assuming this because the narrator says pigeons can only race for one season, and the birds in the documentary seem to be all young birds. The United States and many other countries, on the other hand, have an old bird season for adult pigeons as well.

The documentary described many more precautions against cheating than I'd seen before ... the pigeon racing scene seems like a pretty hazardous place.

Also, because Taiwan is an island, in order to get enough distance, race starting points are typically on the open ocean. The pigeons are 'shipped' to the starting point and released over the water.

Excitingly, the school I will probably study at in Taiwan is in the same city as a port where the pigeon races depart from.


After The Pigeon Game, there was a documentary on the Chestnut Tiger milkweed butterfly, suspected to occasionally and surprisingly migrate between Taiwan and Japan. But I didn't stay for the whole thing.