A well-known garden bird in Chinese cities is the vinous-throated parrotbill (Paradoxornis webbianus). Ranging from Manchuria south through China and Korea to Myanmar (Burma), it frequents bamboo groves, tea plantations, and scrub, as well as gardens. Searching out seeds (seed and fruit), it moves in large flocks through the undergrowth and stays in contact with constant sharp chirruping calls.

Most ornithologists (ornithology) now classify parrotbills as comprising the family Paradoxornithidae, although some place them in the songbird family Sylviidae, which also includes Old World warblers (warbler), babblers, wrentits (wrentit), and laughing thrushes. The rare Maui parrotbill (Pseudonestor xanthophrys), confined to the forests (forest) on the upper slopes of one dormant volcano on the Hawaiian island of Maui, is unrelated.