Three sets of fluorescent lights, each dangling an old alarm clock, hang from the ceiling. The lights illuminate three cockpits built to the same general specifications. The round cockpits are built above ground and are roughly five to six feet in diameter and about four feet high. The walls appear to be made of reinforced heavy cardboard and they are lightly padded on the inside. This is done to help prevent the cocks from hurting themselves on the walls of the arena during their fights.
The floor of each cockpit is carpeted to give the fowl better footing. The carpeting is not a pretty sight. Dried chicken blood and excrement mix with the red betel nut spittle stains left by observers of earlier contests who have come for the fights held here one afternoon each week.
The size of the crowds for each cockfighting day varies with the season. During late summer and early fall, when the birds are molting and still not in their best form, perhaps only 25 to 30 people will show up, and only one or two pits will be used. But from late fall through May, it is common for all three pits to be in action at once.
The cockfighters and spectators are mostly men, but women do come to watch—and perhaps bet—as well. The men at this cockfight venue make it clear to their visitor that no hoodlums come to this particular pit. They also claim that all the wagering is friendly. In fact, betting is not always an integral part of the activity. On this day, one of the cockfighters is having two of his cocks spar in conjunction with the groundbreaking ceremony for a new Taoist temple being built nearby. In this case, children make up a significant part of the audience. But this is an exception; cockfighting is normally serious business.
"Wanting totally to flex their blazing might" two cockers demonstrate the inherently antagonistic feelings between roosters, as "Hackle feathers now spread in display."
Gamecocks in Taiwan tend to be rather large, and owners do careful selective breeding in order to obtain the best fighters possible. One enthusiast says that the forerunners of two large gamecocks in his possession were imported from Japan at very great expense. A single cockfighter may own dozens of birds. The pit proprietor says he originally raised poultry for the table, but later switched to breeding and raising gamecocks. He now has about twenty. Another cockfighter claims to have about 60. It is estimated that several thousand people may be raising gamecocks in Taiwan, and one aficionado says there has been talk of forming some kind of association.
Roosters are, of course, inherently antagonistic toward one another, and must be kept apart. For centuries cock fighters around the world have used—many would say abused—this natural predilection for the sake of the blood sport, and rules have been formulated to govern the activity. In Taichung, as in most places, the cocks are matched by size and weight.
Certain pre-fight preparations are required. For instance, before pitting the cocks, clear plastic tubes are pushed down their throats. Then each cocker spits two or three mouthfuls of water through the tubes into his cock's stomach. Next the feathers of the cocks are soaked with liquid detergent and water. The purpose of both measures is to keep the birds' body temperatures down during their strenuous combat in the heat of the cockpit. The combatants are then carried wet to the pit and placed next to one another. The battle begins immediately.
Before the fight, the respective owners agree on its duration and on which cock must win. If the cock designated to win is unable to defeat the other in the allotted time, the opponent automatically wins. Several ways of winning or losing exist, but fights are not normally to the death; the cocks do not wear the lethal metal spurs used in the U.S. and elsewhere, and even their natural spurs are not allowed to grow too long. As a result, cockfighting is a more leisurely activity in Taiwan. Combat can last as much as an hour, considerably longer than in other parts of the world.