Chinese citizens prayed for extinct wildlife on the Qingming Festival, a Chinese traditional festival for respecting the dead. Also known as Tomb-Sweeping Day, the Festival usually falls on April 4th or 5th.
In Guangzhou, some citizens visited the Graveyard For Extinction in Yingzhou Ecological Park. Rows of grey cement tombstones fall backward like dominoes, each carved with the name of an extinct species and the time of its extinction.
There is another graveyard for extinction in Beijing Milu Yuan (Park for Elks), built in 1999. Every tombstone is carved with an animal’s name, emblazoning its extinction in recent centuries. This special graveyard was designed to tell people that the extinction of a species would bring about the tragic extinction of 30 more species.
Recently, the “Rescue Performing Animal Project Proposition,” authored jointly by numerous circus groups, accused and questioned the Project. According to the proposition, the Rescue Performing Animal Project opposes animal domestication under the name of charity, which threatens the livelihood of circuses. The list attached to the proposition revealed that 238 circus groups participated in this condemnation.
Chunmei Hu, Head of the Rescue Performing Animal Project, told Red Star News that in 2016 the Project detected 19 problematic performances after 35 surveillance executions. Some of these were handled by management departments, while others are expelled or rectified.
The initiator of the proposition, Jinsheng Yu, Head of the Hebei Qunyi Circus, said: “We feed the animals well and treat them as we would treat babies. The volunteers of the Rescue Performing Animal Project are too extreme. They accuse us of being abusive if animals are in the cages, and consider setting up tents for performances illegal.”
Yu claimed that no explicit ban on circus performances exists. Thus, the Rescue Performing Animal Project doesn’t have any legitimate justifications for inciting volunteers to repeatedly obstruct performances. Yu pointed out that out of the many circuses in China, although some don’t meet the requirements, most do.
Zeying Yu, Deputy Secretary-General of the China Zoo Association, believes that animal protection organizations oppose circus animal performances mainly because the survival status and “welfare” of wild animals during mobile performances are difficult to guarantee. “The living conditions of zoos are better than those of circuses, though we still often receive complaints from animal protection organizations.”
Yu acknowledges that she supports the animal protection organizations in supervising the zoo, but opposes the information fraud, inaccuracy, and faulty generalizations in their complaints.
Regarding the news that many zoos and circuses have severed their partnerships in recent years, Yu indicated that the zoo industry is not “blocking” the circus industry. The two industries simply disagree on the treatment of animals. She thinks that circuses have reached a turning point of life and death which cannot be resolved by the zoo. Circus workers who had once sought help from Yu pleaded that without support from the zoo, the workers will become homeless. As a result, the circus animals will also suffer from worse living conditions. She helplessly responded: “There’s nothing we can do.”
“Our nation still lacks a comprehensive law to protect animals from abuse,” said Shenglian Luo, a Chinese NPC deputy in support of the enactment of animal protection legislation.
For years, several NPC deputies have been advocating for the creation of anti-animal abuse legislation.
According to an online survey in 2010, 80 percent of the netizens surveyed showed approval for such legislation, and 75 percent believed that animal abusers should be legally responsible.
Luo thinks current laws on animal protection have too many flaws.
Deputy Luo @ Procuratorial Daily
“The laws are incomplete. Many animals are excluded from the protection list. The existing laws are full of contradictions and can’t be carried out smoothly. In addition, animal abuse has not been strictly defined, not to mention the precaution and punishment for it,” said Luo.
The official response was released on the press conference held on last Monday, March 12th. Chaoying Wang, Deputy Director of Legal Council of Standing Committee of the National People’s Congress, elaborated on this issue.
“Legislation protecting companion animals is still under research and discussion, and we haven’t reached a consensus on this. I’m afraid that little progress would be made in the short term,” Wang responded.
Info from Procuratorial Daily, Phoenix New Media, and SDNews.com
Photo from Procuratorial Daily
Written by Hengyu Du, edited by Riley Peng @Animal Dialogue
A few days ago, Lieyu Zhu, a National Representative of the National People’s Congress (NPC) and director of a legal firm in Guangdong, has proposed to the NPC and National Committee of the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC) a bill that makes animal abuse illegal.
Cases of animal abuse abounded in recent years. In January 2017, A pet shop owner in Yunnan Province, for instance, cruelly deskinned a cat after a buyer returned the cat to the store. In the following month, two middle students in Sichuan Province threw down a puppy from a two-meter-high stair and stuffed firecrackers into the mouth of the already half-dead puppy, in addition to beating it with wooden sticks.
What has been done about these brutal, inhumane abuses? Sadly, although public opinion condemns these actions, these criminals remain untouched by China’s laws.
But why should we punish animal abusers?
Zhu asserts that violence towards animals harms the morale of the society and public utility. Some severe cases of abuse even threaten the lives and property of other citizens.
In the example of the dog meat business, in various regions, dog stealing has become rampant and highly systematized. Many gangs use poisonous arrows and guns to rob villagers of their dogs, often damaging the properties of villagers, as well as injuring them when the weapons have missed their targets.
To stop such frequent incidences of violence, Zhu thinks animal abuse should be punishable by law. Moreover, he recognizes psychological similarities between animal and human abusers. National research also supports his idea, indicating a higher likelihood of animal abusers to commit violent crimes to humans. Therefore, behaviors of animal abuse have also exacerbated violence towards humans.
Although China has already strengthened and implemented measures to combat violence such as laws against domestic violence, it still hasn’t enacted any laws against animal abuse. The existence of anti-animal abuse legislation, emphasizes Zhu, is crucial to the overall order and well-being of the Chinese society.
In fact, what to do about animal abuse is a hotly discussed topic around the globe, and more than 100 countries have already established related legislation. China, the leader in so many other areas, should also take action and not lag behind.
In late January, The Ellen Show published a video on its Instagram about a Chinese woman who has donated $1.5 billion, one-third of her property, to save endangered animals. This is the largest personal donation to a wildlife conservation cause in history!
Who did such a heroic act?
It’s no other than famous Chinese entrepreneur Qiaonv He, founder and chairman of the Beijing Orient Landscape.
A Rock Journey to Success
In January 1966, Qiaonv He was born into a peasant family in rural Zhejiang. Out of the five children in her family, she was the second eldest, and one of the most hardworking.
He as a young girl; Photo Credit: penetratingview
In 1992, she successfully founded the Beijing Orient Landscape and made her first million through simply selling bonsai. Just as her business was expanding and becoming more prosperous, however, a manager took away all the money from her company, and she was also cheated in her subsequent investment in a Henan mine.
Pursued by creditors and abandoned by employees, she felt like she couldn’t carry on anymore.
However, she didn’t give up and survived.
She restarted everything from scratch with her own hands, and slowly attracted more customers for her bonsai business.
In 2000, just as she was about to relaunch her company, another storm hit her.
Under the pressure of overexpansion and stock market crash, problems began to emerge in the financial chain, and leaders of the company left again with their money. Suddenly, her company was near bankruptcy.
This strong woman stood up again even after this.
In 2006, she and her team finished the landscape decoration for a hotel in Suzhou, which stunned the whole industry and helped her reputation reach an unprecedented height.
After this turning point, she began to undertake orders from most big cities and became an established leader in the landscaping industry.
In November 2009, Beijing Orient Landscape finally became a listed company, and the He couple is now worth more than 10 billion.
Building the World Through Philanthropy
As her landscaping business became more and more prosperous, she also began to worry about environmental pollution.
Inspired by the Rockefeller Foundation, she started a series of philanthropy projects beginning in 2014, donating billions of dollars to environmental protection programs. One of the most earth-shaking moves she made was donating 1.5 billion dollars for wildlife conservation in October 2017.
In addition, she donated 20 million dollars for wild feline conservation organizations Panthera, WildCRU and Oxford University’s conservation research unit to start a 10-year program focusing on saving endangered species, including snow leopards, tigers, jaguars, lions, etc.
Her donations can make a huge difference in the fate of these endangered wild animals.
Please share this news with those around you! A woman like her who’s humbly and silently changing the world deserves to be recognized!
In mid-October, Wang Pu and Duode Jiangba, two shepherds in Yushu, Qinghai’s Tibetan Autonomous Region, spotted a snow leopard on the opposite side of the river.
The hindlimbs of this snow leopard were diagnosed as paralyzed. After 24 consecutive days of rescue, it finally managed to stand up again on the morning of November 9th.
The hearts of concerned Chinese netizens throbbed with excitement as they witnessed its gradual recovery, anticipating the day when it can freely run and catch prey again.
The injured snow leopard being x-rayed at Nangqian People’s Hospital on October 23rd (Photo Credit: Nangqian Public Security Bureau for Forestry)
Snow leopards—the endangered “kings of snow mountains”
Snow leopards, or “kings of snow mountains,” usually have a grey-whitish exterior, speckled with black rings and black spots. They are often active in regions with altitudes above 3000 meters. They are light, adroit and can be suitably called the “ghosts” traversing cold and high regions.
Only 4500-7500 snow leopards remain alive around the globe, and approximately 2000-2500 of these reside in China, where it became a species under first-class state protection.
Because snow leopards face the threat of extinction, losing even one individual leopard can considerably impact the preservation of the species.
There is hope for this injured snow leopard
When first rescued by volunteers, this rescued leopard could neither walk with its hind leg nor eat or drink anything, which caused it to become very weak. Thankfully, after the strenuous efforts of a medical team—consisting of Beijing Forestry University’s Changxi Xiao, Beijing Zhongnonog Paide Veterinary Hospital’s director Wan Yu, and his assistant—the injured leopard gradually began to regain its vigor.
The injured snow leopard sun-bathing in a nesting box (Photo Credit: Xining Wildlife Park)
Now, not only can it stand up and walk, its body weight has also increased from 17.5 kg to 21 kg. Moreover, its wild nature starts to gradually return.
One of the rescuers hopes that one day Xiangnan County can be included within the national protected areas and become a national park, which will make the protection of wild animals much easier.
Xinzhang Qi, another rescuer, wishes to acquire sufficient funds to establish a proper animal hospital with more professional veterinarians. Unfortunately, Xiangnan County currently lacks adequate medical resources for animals.
Just a week ago on November 26th, another injured snow leopard was found in Yushu and sent to Xining for treatment. Another war of rescue has begun.
Written by Riley Peng.
Info and photos obtained from The Paper.
Click here to read the original article from The Paper in Chinese
There won’t be any animal performance at China’s International Circus Festival this year!
After the bill banning the use of wild animals in circuses in the U.S., we now hear some great news for entertainment animals in China as well!
China is going to say farewell to the use of animals in performance at its 4th International Circus Festival (November 13th- 25th).
“[We] can very certainly and responsibly say that the abolition of animal performance reflects this era’s progress,” says a worker at Zhuhai’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Bureau on November 2nd.
During this year’s Circus Festival, only human actors will be performing. Going forward, China’s International Circus Festival will strive to take the lead in the direction and developing trend of circus performance, using acrobatics, magic, and other innovative techniques to captivate its audience. It will show that, without animals, circus performance can be just as fun and entertaining.
However, the staff members working at the performance site for the Circus Festival holds that they haven’t received any notifications about canceling items containing animal performance, nor any confirmation for the performance items this year. According to workers at Zhuhai’s Culture, Sports, and Tourism Bureau, this expressed uncertainty probably results from their concerns for advertising.
China’s progress in banning animal performance in circuses can be largely attributed to the effort of animal protection groups such as Save Circus Animals, as well as the general public’s growing awareness of animal protection issues. More and more people begin to support banning animals in circuses; even zoos have begun to cancel animal performances.
We look forward to seeing the absence of animals in China’s International Circus Festival this year!
Written by Riley Peng. Info obtained from The Paper.
What better way to celebrate than to read China’s first vegan magazine (that is, if you can read in Chinese haha)?
A Taste of Future, written by Veg Planet, is the first magazine in China focusing on vegan food and lifestyle.
1.Why did Veg Planet decide to publish a vegan magazine?
Meat has always been the center of culinary attention. However, although many think that meatless foods can’t be delicious, this conception is quite outdated.
Many of us probably don’t know that the popularity of vegan/vegetarian food is drastically increasing in China. In fact, the number of vegetarian restaurants has more than doubled over the last two years. 35% percent of Chinese people in the 20-49 age group, amounting to 200 million people, are flexitarians, or “flexible vegetarians.” More than half of Chinese consumers are willing to buy products containing organic, all-natural, and eco-friendly ingredients, making vegan / vegetarian products among the fastest growing ones.
This is also a trend we are seeing all across the globe, as more people begin to prefer vegetarian, vegan, and plant-based products. Instead of eating for the sake of eating, many start to eat for their health, the environment, the planet, peace, and love.
Veg Planet is joining this global culinary revolution!
Want a taste of the future? Check out this magazine!
2.What’s inside the magazine?
You won’t find any dishes that contain meat and seafood; you won’t even catch a glimpse of eggs, dairy products, or honey. But you will embrace all the tasty charms of plants here! You’ll discover kitchen tips for vegan cooking, recipes for dishes from Michelin restaurants, and whatever else lies within your imagination!
Lifestyle: This magazine contains information about the coolest restaurants, strategies, and recipes! Whether you’re a beginner or a seasoned chef, whether you want to put together a quick bite or an elegant meal, A Taste of Future’s got it all!
Nutrition: This magazine will teach you how to eat healthfully, what superfoods are, and everything else you desire to know about vegan nutrition!
Interviews: Read interviews with Pietro Leemann, the head chef of Joia, the world’s first Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant; Rolf Hiltl, the fourth-generation successor of Switzerland’s hundred-year-old vegetarian restaurant Hiltl; and many more gourmet masters, who will teach you the secrets behind this food revolution!
A map of Beijing’s vegetarian restaurants!
And more!
This is so exciting! What do you think of this? Leave your thoughts and comments below!
On October 12th, Zhejiang Qinglian Food Co. Ltd formally promised to eliminate its use of crates for sows, expand its welfare breeding bases for sows and finishing pigs, and advocate a welfare-focused breeding model, enhancing the welfare standard for more than 1,000,000 pigs.
This is the first Chinese pig-breeding enterprise to make a public promise about welfare farming. This foresees a hot trend for the adoption of a new, more humane breeding model in the entire Chinese pig industry.
This has huge implications, as China is the world’s biggest consumer and producer of pork, farming more than half of the world’s pigs. The traditional intensive farming method also faces various challenges, especially regarding the well-being of live pigs in the breeding, transportation, and slaughtering processes. Moreover, studies have shown a steady increase in domestic consumers’ demand for high-welfare pork products. From this, we can optimistically predict that enhancing animal welfare will be the future dominant trend for the livestock industry.
Lately, more and more companies, under the encouragement of World Animal Protection, have joined Qinglian in the effort to improve animal welfare. Among these are China’s Da Bei Nong Group, Thailand’s Betagro, and Brazil’s BRF, which have all publicly declared its commitment to adopt welfare breeding and enhance the living conditions of livestock.
