The Supply and Demand for Protected Wildlife Products in China
On 8 September 2017, two days before I began writing this chapter, a Class 2 State-protected whale shark (Rhincodon typus) was wheeled on an open lorry through the streets of Fujian province and publicly dismembered in board daylight. The process was captured on video and shared on social media . The parts of the whale shark were said to have been transported to a local hotel as food, which the staff quickly denied when asked by local reporters. The perpetrators were shortly arrested. The comments on the internet poured in from all over China and the rest of the world, condemning the perpetrators for their lack of empathy and cruelty. However, only a small number of these comments touch upon the legality of the trade in protected wildlife in China.
Given the growing wealth and the opening of borders between China and neighbouring states, protected wildlife is increasingly sought after for human indulgence. This illustrated case is merely the tip of a flourishing underground illegal wildlife trade in mainland China and Hong Kong.
Before embarking on further discussion, some distinctions on terminology must be made. Protected wildlife and State-protected wildlife will be used throughout the remainder of the book. Protected wildlife refers to the wildlife protected under the Conventions on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), of which China is a signatory member, and State-protected wildlife refers to key wildlife protected under Article 10 of the Wildlife Protection Law 2016 in China. The consumption of both State-protected and protected wildlife is unlawful in mainland China and Hong Kong (legal status and relevant laws will be discussed in Chapter 2).
The general illegal wildlife trade can be broken down into four stages: (1) poaching , when the wildlife is illegally caught from its natural habitat; (2) transportation, smuggling of the poached wildlife (in either dead or alive form) from its source country to its consumer state; (3) processing of wildlife products into consumable goods (for example, raw ivory needs to be processed via polishing and refinement into worked ivory products) 1 ; and (4) the distribution and consumption of illegal wildlife products.
This book focuses on the final stage of the illegal wildlife trade in China, that of the illegal distribution of wildlife products in the underworld. Analysis of the transaction of illegal wildlife products, operations of distributing networks, and how they establish and foster trust in their illegal exchange will also be presented. The data analysed in the following chapters is a collection of my research conducted over a six-year period, from 2011 to 2017 across Mainland China and Hong Kong.
Generally, protected wildlife is sought after within the Chinese communities for four general purposes: (1) medicinal uses; (2) collectorās items; (3) local delicacies; and (4) as exotic captive pets. One of the biggest uses for protected wildlife in China is for medicinal purposes. To date, the legal industry of traditional Chinese medicines is estimated at a value of RMB 392 billion in 2015 (Chiu, 2016). The practice of traditional Chinese medicines includes herbal medicines (Lao, Xu, & Xu, 2012; Lu, Jia, Xiao, & Lu, 2004; Zhang, Li, Han, Yu, & Qin, 2010), acupuncture (Lao, Hamilton, Fu, & Berman, 2003; Lao et al., 2012), massage (Lao et al., 2012; Zhang et al., 2010), qigong (a form of gentle movement focused on cultivating breathing and stretching of the body), or taiji (a type of traditional Chinese martial arts training) (Covington, 2001; Lu et al., 2004), and dietary treatments (Ho, 1993; Lao et al., 2012).
Today, traditional Chinese medicine is still widely practised within Chinese communities across the world. Unfortunately, wildlife products form a small yet historical part of the practice of traditional Chinese medicine and the demand for these products has been devastating to the population of some endangered species. To illustrate, the population of Southern white rhino is declining (CITES, 2016) since they are heavily poached for their horns, which are believed to be an effective cure for food poisoning, headaches, and hallucination, and even to cast away āevil spiritsā (Ellis, 2005; Save the Rhino, n.d.) in the teaching of traditional Chinese medicine. To many, consuming or applying rhino horn powder in the hope of curing illness is scientifically ungrounded and lacks any scientific logic, and non-governmental organizations (NGO) have also promoted that the ingredients in rhino horn are the same as those found in fingernails.
However, this does not reconcile with the views of users in reality. One of my informants revealed to me that he applied rhino horn power onto the rashes of his skin when he was a young boy and his rashes were completely healed from months of treatment. Another informant commented on using rhino horn power to cure his hair loss. I have visited several traditional Chinese medicine markets during my data collection in Kunming (Yunnan province) and in Guangzhou (Guangdong province) in 2012 and 2015/2016. All the wildlife products openly sold in these markets were lawful and frequently used in the treatments of traditional Chinese medicines. Selected examples include dried seahorses, dried caterpillars, velvets, and tails of deer (Baum & Vincent, 2005; Boesi & Cardi, 2009; Childs & Choedup, 2014; Corazza et al., 2014; Giles, Ky, Do Hoang, & Vincent, 2006; Hou, Wen, Peng, & Guo, 2018; Yen, 2015; Yeshi, Morisco, & Wangchuk, 2017). Similarly, the illegal trade in protected wildlife for medicinal purposes is growing in mainland China; clearly, such was not openly sold in the stalls of the wholesale markets, and the following case judgement provides a glimpse into this illegal industry:
In June 2014, a man was arrested for buying 1170 grams of Chinese pangolin scales from a supplier for approximately RMB 2000 RMB and charged under Article 341 of the Criminal Law of China . The man was arrested at an army checkpoint in Yunnan province after driving away from the pickup point. He admitted that he purchased the pangolin scales to use as Chinese medicine. The judge accepted that the defendant was sincere in his plea and that he was cooperative and remorseful during the investigation. He was sentenced to a suspended sentence for two years and received a penalty fine for RMB 5000. 2
The second demand for protected wildlife products is as collectorās items, which could be broadly categorized into two kinds: (1) personal or (2) as gifts. The first category can be illustrated with my experience gained from speaking to sellers and consumers of ivory products. Ivory is sought after as an investment, and interviewees speak of the potential profits they can make from selling ivory in the near future, when the population of elephants is even less than what it is today. Conservationists have predicted that elephants will be extinct within twelve to twenty years if poaching persists (Gandelman, 2013; Stampler, 2015). Interviewees were also stunned by how much the value of ivory products has gone up in the past decade, while some were saddened to hear of the threats posed by the ivory trade to remaining elephants. The majority justified their purchase on purely economic argument: when there is a demand, there will always be a supply. Aside from economic gain, another reason for purchasing ivory products is the cultural belief that ivory products can cast off evil spirits and brings inner peace.
Unfortunately, not only the tusks of elephants are heavily sought. The recent growing demand for the skins of Asian eleph...