Miri Tales : White Ducks with Yellow Beaks

Peking Duck  is a very popular dish which one can pre order in most Chinese restaurants in Miri. The eating of the duck is rather elaborate as the skilled waitress or waiter would carve the duck for the diners. The service is usually impeccable.

Interestingly the Peking duck aka Anas platyrhynchos domestica is good for egg and meat production.

According to Wikipedia, the ancestors of these ducks (Chinese Mallards) orginated from the canals which linked waterways in Nanjing and originally had small bodies and black feathers. A write-up on the origin of the White feathers of the Pekin Duck is most interesting. " With the relocation of the Chinese capital from Nanjing to Beijing, supply barge traffic increased in the area which would often spill grain on which the ducks fed. Over time, the ducks slowly increased in size and grew white feathers. By the Five Dynasties, the new species of duck had been domesticated by Chinese farmers.^(Wikipedia)

A reference in history states that in 1873 nine ducks were exported from China to Long Island, New York in the United States and the animals and their meat are sometimes referred to as "Long Island duckling". Around 95% of duck meat consumed in the United States is Pekin duck.

Back in Sarawak, not much historical reference can be made to the history and origin of the duck population of the state. Although many Chinese can say that the yellow beaked white feathered ducks found in our state were first brought to our shores by the Chinese settlers in Sibu in the early days of Brooke rule and the population of this domesticated ducks spread all over the Borneo Island.