Big Ou Bird Cages

Big Ou Bird Cages

　　Big Ou Bird Cages

　　The craft of making bird cages in Da’ou Gecun Village, Qiji Town, dates back to the Ming Dynasty. Renowned for their intricate craftsmanship, elegant designs, superior quality, and unique artistic and collectible value, these bird cages have long enjoyed a prestigious reputation across China. During the Shunzhi era of the Qing Dynasty, Big Ou bird cages entered the Beijing market, where they were highly sought after by the city’s nobility and wealthy families, who competed to purchase them, making the cages widely famous for a time. A popular folk saying goes, “Baskets from Zhangyuan, measuring buckets from Maozipu, and bird cages from Da’ou heading to Beijing”—a testament to their fame. Big Ou bird cages come in three sizes: large, medium, and small, and are available in various shapes such as round, square, flat, flower-drum, and raised-waist. The cages are made from high-quality bamboo and tung wood. After the frames are constructed, they are boiled in a pot, which makes Big Ou bird cages resistant to cracking, warping, and highly durable. Nearly a thousand skilled artisans in the village specialize in making bird cages, with nearly 400 processing households producing up to 500,000 cages annually, generating over 5 million yuan in additional income. The products are sold in major cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou, Fuzhou, Xi’an, Xining, Nanchang, Harbin, Shenyang, and Changchun, and are also exported to markets in Hong Kong (China), Japan, South Korea, the United States, and Canada.