Ivory trade China undercover: breaking the gap between China and the West is crucial

[财新网] (Reporter Qing Yu) In an American ivory transaction investigation documentary, the post-85 ivory trading undercover investigator Huang Yuxiang has the title of "China 007". He has been conducting an undercover investigation of ivory transactions in Africa and Asia. He recently told Caixin reporters in an interview. He hoped that China and the world could understand each other more. The wild protection is not far away from the Chinese. Breaking the communication barrier is far more than once. The survey or two surveys make more sense.

This year's Beijing Film Festival's documentary "Ivory Game", Vulcan Productions, founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, and Hollywood actor Leonardo DiCaprio joined Netflix in 2016. Bristol's "Green Film Festival" won the Golden Panda Award (Best Exhibition Award) and Best Drama Award.

As a secret filming feature film, it exposes the crimes of elephant poachers and ivory sellers, reflecting the ivory poaching trade and threatening the cruel reality of the population of African elephants. One of the film directors and producer Kief Davidson said: "We used the means of news investigation to figure out who is doing what to promote the ivory ban, find them, and use this unique role to talk about this. story."

These roles include intelligence personnel, undercover activists, rangers and eco-friendly people. The ivory trading undercover investigator Huang Yuxiang, who appeared in the film, was called "China 007" and "unexpected hero role" by Davidson.

In the film, Huang Yuxiang is of medium build, wearing glasses and a baby face, which is far from the undercover investigators that most people imagine. The director said that no one would think that such an image of the Chinese would be an undercover who dared to take risks. But this is also his biggest advantage, because people will think that he is not malicious. He will also use his own advantages. When he is undercover in Vietnam, he pretends to be passing by and helping his uncle to see the goods.

In the film, most of the relevant personnel have carried out portrait processing, and some have added voice changes, and Huang Yuxiang completely appeared in the mirror, even using the real name. In an exclusive interview with Caixin reporter, Huang Yuxiang said that he hopes that China and the world can understand each other more. Let foreigners see a real Chinese, and realize that Chinese people can do some good things in wildlife protection. Wild protection is not far from the Chinese. Breaking the barriers of communication is far more meaningful than doing a survey or two surveys.

This gap is seen as a result of two-way misunderstanding in Huang Hongxiang. He told Caixin reporter that Westerners generally have a stereotype about the Chinese, that is, the Chinese do not care about wildlife protection and environmental protection. This is a completely wrong view. In the case of ivory, the proportion of people who buy ivory in China is less than 1%. On the other hand, Chinese people also have misunderstandings about foreigners. Many Chinese believe that Westerners with ulterior motives use wild protection to discredit the Chinese, which is equally biased.

Huang Yuxiang graduated from the Department of Journalism at Fudan University with a master's degree in international development from Columbia University. The undercover investigator of ivory trading does not seem to be related to his resume, but it seems to him to be a logical choice. During his master's degree in 2012, Huang Hongxiang went to Brazil for an internship and began to get involved in topics related to wildlife smuggling. At the end of 2013, Huang Yuxiang joined the African Reporting Program at Kingsoft University in South Africa and began interviewing and investigating the illegal trading of target teeth and rhinoceros horns undercover.

Huang Yuxiang recalled his first investigation in Uganda. He pretended that Chinese buyers bought ivory products from ivory smugglers. When smugglers took goods with him, the police appeared and arrested smugglers. Huang Yuxiang, who was still in the training period, was quite nervous. He did not know what reaction the smugglers would have when the police appeared. Will they attack the guns with their guns, and the African police officers could not determine whether they were reliable and whether they would be in danger. .

Showing his face in the film means the end of his investigation career. However, Huang Yuxiang joked that he was not unemployed. His current main business is to create a social enterprise Zhongnanwu in Africa, to provide Chinese youth with various projects in Africa, including academic research, volunteer projects, etc. Young people’s domestic and international projects involve wildlife protection in both directions.

China’s ivory trade “illegal” has achieved remarkable results

On March 24th, the State Forestry Administration announced the “List of fixed-point processing units and designated sales places for commercial processing and sales of ivory and products in phases and batches”. A total of 172 enterprises were required to stop processing and sales within two specified batches within the prescribed time limit. Ivory and product activities.

In December 2016, the General Office of the State Council of China issued the Notice of the General Office of the State Council on the Orderly Stop of Commercial Processing and Sales of Ivory and Products, and requested that the commercial processing and sales of ivory and products be completely stopped before December 31, 2017. By the end of this year, China will completely stop the processing and sales of ivory and products.

The State Forestry Administration also requires that after the commercial processing of ivory and products is stopped, the cultural department should guide the transformation of ivory carvings and related practitioners, and encourage ivory carving masters to go to museums and other institutions to carry out related art restoration work. The ivory carving craftsman uses alternative materials to develop other techniques such as dental carving and bone carving. For legally collected ivory and products, although market transactions are prohibited, exhibitions, exhibitions, etc. can be carried out in non-sales places.

Huang Yuxiang said that the Chinese government’s illegal operation of ivory transactions made everyone very surprised and surprised. He learned that a large number of wildlife protection organizations did not expect China to launch such a policy so early. International public opinion and the evaluation of the international community are very active, and the radical wildlife conservation organizations will praise China on this point.

To what extent can this policy prevent ivory poaching? Huang Yuxiang believes that the existence of the legal market in the past is actually confusing consumers. The average consumer does not understand animal protection. The store will use legality as an excuse to convince consumers. But in fact, ivory is not irreplaceable. After the illegalization of Chinese ivory trade, he believed that the ivory trade fair would be greatly reduced.

Huang Yuxiang also learned from the Kenyan Animal Protection Organization that poaching will not disappear completely because of the illegalization of the Chinese market, but the parties feel that the policy has caused a significant drop in demand and prices have fallen significantly. A report released by the non-profit organization Save the Elephant on March 29 said that in 2014, the average wholesale price of ivory in the Chinese market was $2,100 per kilogram; at the end of 2015, the price had fallen to $1,100. . In February 2017, it fell further to $730. The organization believes that China's economic slowdown and large-scale anti-corruption actions, coupled with the Chinese government's initiative to ban ivory transactions, and the public's awareness of protecting wild elephants are the four main factors that cause ivory prices to fall.

However, Huang Yuxiang proposed that it is not easy to completely ban ivory trade. The ivory trade is a global supply chain, and the supply side is the demand for African poaching, which is derived from the conflict of human figures and the economic needs of local communities. In addition to China, there is also a certain demand for target teeth in Southeast Asia and Japan. After China illegalizes ivory trade, there is still much work to be done by the wild animal protection organization.

What can the Chinese government and the private sector do in the future? Huang Yuxiang told Caixin that the Chinese government can strengthen law enforcement and suppress the illegal flow of wild animal products into China. Because corruption in Africa is serious and customs clearance is easy, the key to restricting the flow of illegal wildlife products into China lies in China's tightening of border control.

On the other hand, it is possible to further educate and communicate with overseas Chinese. In fact, overseas Chinese have played a very important role when illegal wildlife products flow into China. Overseas Chinese are also less aware of the protection of wildlife. The Chinese government can also cooperate with the private sector to conduct international surveys. There are many people who can do ivory surveys in China. If the Chinese government organizes a global investigation, it will effectively combat the illegal trade of wild animals. The government can also set up funds and organize projects to help communities and wildlife in Africa to help China build its image.

The Chinese folk Huang Yuxiang believes that the most important thing is to broaden the horizon and fully understand the global wildlife protection issues. After understanding, the public can support African wildlife conservation projects in material and financial terms, and explore the application of science and technology in wildlife conservation.