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The Bengalese Finch. History and Origins.
Attempts have been made to discover some information on the Chinese history of cage birds from the National Library of China, but I have been told that just to be informed if they had any references to "Bengalese" would cost $250 US, a bit over the top just for that information I thought.
A friend Jenn-Ching Luo from New York who is also very interested in discovering the origins of the Bengalese tells me.
"Since the 19th century, there were no Chinese aviculturists (China was in trouble that time, and then Chinese communist had Cultural Revolution. Those killed (I think he means discouraged or banned bird keeping here) most Chinese aviculturists.). There are some problems to trace it back."
He tells me concerning his research in China and his contact there, "That gentleman, who is only a bird keeper (not an expert), will keep trying to find more ancient books, and will let me know if he finds anything. He cannot understand what kind of theory to support that Japanese developed the original mutations. The years 1620s mentioned in article about history of Bengalese, (the Avicultural Magazine, February 1922) seems not correct, either. History book shows ancient Japan and Mine Dynasty did not have a good relation around 1620s.
He did predict "the birds might be introduced to Japan earlier", possibly in T'ang Dynasty (618-907). Japan sent many experts to T'ang Dynasty to learn what Japanese were interested in, and Japan imported and brought many things back to Japan, including fruit tree, rice, vegetable (possible seeds only), poultry, livestock, culture, and so on. Japan also modified the traditional Chinese characters into Japanese in the T'ang Dynasty. Ancient book shows pet birds were bred in cages in T'ang
Dynasty, very early (The problem is which kind of pet birds. No details in the book. Bengalese or not? Unclear.). T'ang was a great time in Chinese history. He thinks those "birds" might be introduced to Japan in T'ang Dynasty. No further proof, prediction only. It may be very difficult to find out the real history."
Further to this a Chinese contact Gaowei sent me the following information:
I asked my friend to check for some the published information in China that concerned the lonchura striata; unfortunately, the books are all in Chinese. so I have translated the main history for you. The ancestors of lonchura striata is found in North Vietnam 4000 years ago. at that time North Vietnam used to be a province of China. and about 3500 years ago, people had begun to keep them in their homes in the area of North and South Vietnam. and at that time, the bird was called Pumped Munia and Bengalese. More and more people became interested in the birds, the domesticus bird became popular in China in the Ming and Qing dynasty, and the bird was called sisters owing to their beautiful appearance. About 120 years ago, Japanese began to breed the bird and made a mixture with a kind of domestic bird of Japan, that is why all the published information said that the bird is first bred in Japan instead of China. But actually, the bird is very popular in China and Chinese also developed the different branches o their family. which have the different appearances.
What I deduce from this is, unless these birds were already colour variants, i.e. variegated or whites I find it difficult to believe they would be described as being called "sisters, because of their beautiful appearance" And also surprised to read that the Japanese "made a mixture with a kind of domestic bird of Japan" and do not believe this to be correct.
I have no doubt that the Bengalese is the domesticated form of Lonchura striata, possibly produced from the crossing of various geographical races of that species.
Always open to any further input on the subject or to discuss The Bengalese Finch
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