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Earlier this month, for the magpie to become Edmonton’s City Bird, which earned our city a from Nature Canada. The black-billed magpie () - the species we see in Edmonton - is a clever bird that is known for being talkative, resourceful, and highly conspicuous around town. While some people consider them to be , magpies are essential to the bird biodiversity of Edmonton.

In Chinese culture, magpies are seen as the messengers of joy, especially for married couples. The Chinese word for magpie is 喜鵲 (xique), with the first character 喜 meaning “happiness”. In wedding celebrations, decorations are often adorned with this character repeated, meaning “double happiness” and endless blessings. There is also a Chinese folk tale that describes a forbidden romance between a, in which the lovers were banished to opposite sides of a celestial river. However, magpies would form a bridge every year on the seventh day of the seventh month, so the lovers could reunite for one day. This day, known as the Qixi Festival, celebrates romantic love in a similar way to Valentine’s Day.

This from the Mactaggart Art Collection features multiple magpies interspersed amongst daisies, peonies and scholar’s rocks. The combination of magpies and flowers follows the typical academic bird-and-flower paintings (huaniaohua) that have a long tradition in China. These types of compositions use the symbolic meaning of birds and flowers to convey a specific message. In this tapestry, which may have been made for a wedding,  the magpies represent love and happiness, the peonies symbolize wealth and abundance, and daisies represent innocence and newness. 

Want to see more birds? Come visit Birds & Beasts: Wearing Honour and Order in the Qing Dynasty, on view now in Gallery A, Telus International Centre until June 28, 2025. Visit our website for more information.