The last thing you would expect to find in an ever-expanding city like Beijing is Wildlife. But it's here!

In fact Beijing has a greater variety of bird species than London, New York and Paris.

This 8 part series will explore Beijing's wildlife and the people trying to conserve it.

Beijingers have a long tradition of keeping wild animals as pets, there are records of the royal family in the Qing dynasty keeping song birds and crickets.

Influenced by an ever-increasing awareness of the environment and animal protection. More people are choosing domesticated animals as pets. However some old generation Beijingers stick to their traditional attitude towards animals. In part 7 we meet Mr Liu who keeps crickets in his hutong home.

Wild Beijing – part 1: The Black Stork	Wild Beijing – part 2: Beijing's Wetlands	Wild Beijing – part 3: Birding in Beijing
Wild Beijing – part 4: Caught on Camera (video)	Wild Beijing – part 5: Swift Capital	Wild Beijing - part 6: Rescuing Raptors