A NEWSLETTER TO INFORM AND ACKNOWLEDGE CERS’ FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS CHINA since 1986 EXPLORERS China Exploration and Research Society VOLUME 13 NO. 4 25TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
3 25 Years Retrospective 39 Uncompensated Morality 8 25 Years of Surprises and Surprising Legacy 41 Golden Monkeys & Lisu Village 10 Return to the Arjinshan Calving Grounds Boundless Lake 14 Angel of the Plateau finds new home 42 From Junk to Jewel 16 Explorers of the Arjinshan 20 Crisis Aversion at Antelope Watershed 30 My “Will” – Arjin Shan Nature Reserve CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Students and staff in front of Zhongdian 32 Filming in Arjin Center Yunnan. Students listen to tales at 34 The Road to Arjin Lisu site. How Man with newborn Antelope 35 What the CERS education program has meant to me calf. Zhang Huibin and How Man with 36 My CERS Experience from student intern to staff guests Karl von Habsburg and Wellington 38 My time with CERS Yee on expedition.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 1 A NEWSLETTER TO INFORM AND ACKNOWLEDGE CERS' FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS Founder WONG HOW MAN CHINA Directors: BARRY LAM, CERS Chairman EXPLORERS Chairman, Quanta Computer, Taiwan China Exploration and Research Society MAGNUS BARTLETT Director, Odyssey Publications VOLUME 13 NO.4 25TH ANNIVERSARY ISSUE
WILLIAM BLEISCH, PhD Science Director, CERS President’s Message years of CERS. A milestone some may call JAMES CHEN it. But it was measured in inches and tiny Managing Director, Legacy Advisors Ltd. steps. CERS was first conceived in 1986. I intended it to be small, but somehow it grew BILLY YUNG bigger than I expected, or even recognized. Group Chairman, Shell Electric Holdings Ltd. I25 intended to conduct just a couple of worthy projects and it ended up being dozens of projects. Some projects seem big CHRISTABEL LEE now, but for me they are all like small children, as I remember Managing Director, Toppan Vite Limited them best as tiny beginnings. I hoped to find just a few supporters but ended up collecting many friends who share the MICHAEL J MOSER, PhD same commitment and mind set. WELLINGTON YEE For over a year, I agonized over whether we should even plan for another 25 years for CERS, allow it to mature. Now the CERS Field Staff: decision has been made, and I would adamantly work toward that goal. WILLIAM BLEISCH, PhD, Chief Biologist PAUL BUZZARD, PhD, Field Biologist If our mission in exploring China and conserving its natural and cultural heritage was relevant during the last 25 years, it should even be more so today given the break-neck pace CAO ZHONGYU, Logistics Support of change. For the first quarter century, we worked on the ground. For the next 25 years, CHEN LI MEI, Zhongdian Centre Vice Director CERS will take flight. We will expand our horizon by bringing in a younger and more SHARON KO, Exhibit Designer capable generation to continue the work we have embarked upon. LI NA, Kunming Admin. Officer I have many to thank, my Board of Directors, past and present, my supporters, and my staff. LIU HONG, Speleologist I even have to thank my good fortune in allowing me to do something I thoroughly enjoy, and at the same time adding more meaning to life. QIJU QILIN, Zhongdian Centre Director MARTIN RUZEK, Earth System Scientist Our board has decided that CERS should go bi-lingual in 2012. With 25 years of deliverable Logistic Support Manager results, we don’t need to be humble and low profile any more, not even in China. Our SO SHU XUAN, Chinese compatriots should judge us by our track record, rather than speculate about what WANG JIAN, Kunming Director are CERS’ intent and mission. As with my many projects, I always like to jump-start things ZHANG FAN, Kunming Conservation Center Director and get ahead of schedule. That motto still stands today: “it is easier to ask for forgiveness than permission.” So we begin with this President’s Message for our 25th anniversary both in Chinese and English. Headquarters Staff: ALAN CHOW, Chief Executive Officer CERS二十五年CERS學會成立之初，我想像它永遠仍將是一個小型學會，有如父母眼中的孩子一 RABBIA CHOI, Admin. Officer 般，絕未想到它會發展和壯大到今天的規模。我當年的打算是學會將開展為數不多但有意義的項 目，沒想到至今學會所完成的項目，已達數十個之多。有些規模看來還蠻大的，但對我來說它們 JOE LUNG, Web/IT Manager 都如小孩那麼小和親切。我亦未料及學會能有如此眾多的支持者和理念相近的朋友。 TRACY MAN, Accountant BERRY SIN, Logistics Director 過去整整一年，我一直在作思想鬥爭：應否為CERS的下一個二十五年作一番認真的規劃？讓它長 大成人，現在我已經決定要這樣做，今後的歲月，我將傾全力為達至學會新的目標而奮鬥。 Associate Filmmakers: CHRIS DICKINSON 在過去的二十五年，CERS一直在中國進行探險活動和開展自然和文化保育項目為其使命。在世事 XAVIER LEE 快速變化的今天，學會應該更加堅定地執持這個使命。在過去的二十五年，學會的事務從零開始 穩步前進，今後的二十五年，我希望學會能有飛躍般的進步。為拓展視野，學會將會為它的團隊 Editor: 培養年青一代和更為能幹的成員。這對於延續和傳承學會的使命，也是非常重要的。 CATHY HILBORN FENG 我要感謝學會現今和過去歷屆董事局的成員，我的支持者和學會的職員。我亦感謝老天對我的眷 顧，令我得以從事這份我極為喜愛及為我的生命帶來意義的工作。 Assistant Editor: ZOE KAUDER NALEBUFF 學會的董事局已決定自2012年起，所有文章發佈都爭取以中英文並用。學會成立二十五年來，取 得不少成果，所以我覺得我們無須過於低調和謙卑。我們的中國同胞亦可以根據這些成果來判斷 Design and Printer: 我們的目標和使命而無須憑空猜測。董事局近期作出決定，自2012佃年起開始以中英文雙語作 業。我從來喜歡偷步起跑，正如我常提倡的格言，”請求原諒比爭取批准來得容易”。現在我提 TOPPAN VITE LIMITED 早執行董事局的決定，以中、英文發表我對學會成立二十五周年的感言。 (852) 2973 8600
HOW TO REACH CERS: Unit 7 & 8, 27/F, Tower B, SouthMark, Wong How Man 11 Yip Hing Street, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong Hong Kong phone (852) 2555 7776 fax (852) 2555 2661 September 2011 e-mail: [email protected] Website: www.cers.org.hk With respect to the entire contents of this newsletter, including its photographs: CERS TAI TAM RESEARCH CENTER All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2011. @ China Exploration and Research Society. (852) 2809 4181 Please contact CERS for reprint permission.
PAGE 2 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY 25 YEARS RETROSPECTIVE Wong How Man
t was September 1985 in the coffee shop of the Green Lake Hotel in Kunming. My small expedition team and I had just completed the most difficult part of the Yangtze Expedition, my longest and final Iexpedition for the National Geographic. We were returning from the source of the Yangtze, full of confidence that my team had discovered a longer s and more important source of the mighty river.
FROM TOP: River otter fisherman on the Yangtze. Hanging coffins of Sichuan. Matrilineal Moso of Luguhu. (all circa. 1985)
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 3 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Along our way back to Kunming, we picked up in Mountain cabin in the Angeles National Forest, CERS’ first base. Chengdu Marion Fay, a guest from Los Angeles. Tai Tam Research Center, Hong Kong. Zhongdian Center, Yunnan. Lisu Architectural Ensemble. Clinic/Teahouse by the Mekong. Marion was an attorney friend, and at the time a Tai Tam library. Angeles Forest library. close friend of Jeff Chop, my chief assistant on the expedition. In a casual conversation, and later a more serious discussion, we pondered upon the possibility and necessity of setting up my own organization.
Our last stop before Kunming was Luguhu, an alpine lake which is home to the matrilineal Moso tribe, then little-known to the rest of China and the outside world. This was my second visit to this remote place, and I felt the urgency to return more times to document their changing and vanishing customs.
PAGE 4 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY I also wanted to revisit and make further inquiries On that same trip, I purchased a one-bed-room into many of the new discoveries I have made apartment in Kunming, which logically became along the Yangtze, the mysterious hanging coffins the future Field Office for a fledgling organization. of the extinct Bo people, the families who knew Back in Los Angeles, Marion followed through with how to train river otters to fish, the dilapidated registration of CERS as a non-profit organization. monasteries throughout the plateau, the unique Using my mountain cabin in the Angeles National nomadic culture of the Tibetan grasslands, and Forest as a base, we began operation in 1986, almost much more. blindly, but faithfully. I started giving lectures around the region in the hope of gaining interest and support. The “what to do” list goes on and on, but the “how” The first newsletter came out as a stapled eight page seems faraway and largely unknown. The only way Xeroxed homemade affair. By 1987, we counted 65 to follow up on many of my discoveries seemed to members, including Bill Bleisch and myself, each s be the setting up of my own support organization. paying USD25 to join. Like an explorer walking into the vast unknown, CERS was conceived and born.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 5 In subsequent years, and within the following two decades and a half, we moved our base from Los Angeles to Hong Kong in 1994 and established an office and research facility. We started field offices in Kunming, Dunhuang, and later in Zhongdian (Shangri-la)—a sizable Center with multiple buildings. We maintained several permanent project sites with small theme museums. CERS is now capable of launching the most complex expeditions to the remotest regions of China with our own fleet of expedition Land Rovers. Our role has expanded to cover even neighboring countries, with our mission extended into education of a younger generation through case studies based on our own work results.
From that tiny beginning in 1986 to today, CERS became an organization which I find hardly recognizable, sometimes even daunting. The long list of supporters, large or small, was all crucial to us at different times throughout the growth of CERS. Our staff and associates, long or short term, have all contributed to our exploration, research, or conservation results of the Society. It has been a journey of perseverance and endurance yet most enjoyable, a sojourn commensurate with the spirit of exploration; certainly matching the mission upon which I originally founded this organization.
PAGE 6 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Yak Cheese Factory/Lodge. Inle Lake Burmese Cat Café. Shangri-la Old Town Exploration Museum. Black-necked Crane/Migrating Bird Museum. Hainan traditional village. Tibetan Mastiff Kennel.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 7 t would be cliché and not entirely true to 25 Years of say that in 1986 none of us could imagine what CERS would become. I remember that Surprises and we all had great hopes, although we really had no clue about where the path would a Surprising takeI Howman and the fledgling Society. Legacy 25 years ago China was young, just born again after the Cultural Revolution had staggered to its long- Dr William Bleisch awaited end in 1978. By 1986, everyone seemed confident that change had arrived to stay and opportunities seemed boundless. I remember the first street-side private food stands, tables and chairs in the open air under a single light bulb. Eager customers crowded around, while the shop fronts of the state-run restaurants, with their bathroom tile interiors and proud surly waiters, stood empty. It was the opportunity of a lifetime for fearless UPPER AND LOWER RIGHT: Dr Bleisch at Arjin entrepreneurs, and for explorers. The frontiers were Mountain 2001. At Calving ground 1998. vast and unexplored then, and the world was hungry MIDDLE: Younger Bleisch after Black Gibbon in 1987. UPPER AND LOWER LEFT: After Yunnan Snub-nosed for knowledge about this newly accessible universe. Monkeys. Studying newborn Tibetan Antelope. CERS provided so many of us the opportunity to
PAGE 8 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY make the jump from passive observer to active mud, setting camp in the dark. All of these dark moments only make participant. the highlights stand out even brighter – the first time to photograph a Chinese gibbon in the wild, the first time to map the true source of the The minority cultures, the forests, and Yangtze, the first time to see the calving Tibetan antelope and then, that mountains were a constant source of same winter, and on my birthday, the first chance to see their mating. fascinating discoveries. It is hard now to conger up the same wonder and the 25 years have passed and much of what was once unexplored and strangeness that tinted everything that I saw pristine has been touched by the modern world and forever changed. in those first days in China. Just like the day Every year, more roads reach into even the most remote places and in Gansu, as Howman and I drove through the with them, it seems, more devastation of what was unique, fragile and high grasslands above the upper Yellow River, precious. Inevitably, CERS has changed as well, focusing more on when a pair of black-necked cranes suddenly documenting and saving what is vanishing than on revealing what is appeared out of the fog, seemingly enormous astonishing and bizarre. One of the unique and valuable features of and stately, strutting beside the road. Each of the CERS approach to exploration is that the Society continues to go the discoveries like that seemed to launch a back to the same sites and issues again and again, creating a continuous hundred questions and a dozen projects. Some record over the decades, documented in writing, images and video. of those projects continue to this day. Almost unnoticed, this has created a mine of information that will keep scholars and armchair explorers busy for generations to come – a legacy The strongest memories come from the that perhaps only a few of the founding members of CERS could have expeditions: of course the road itself, the imagined when we came together in the hills over Los Angeles 25 years longest part of every expedition, the flat tires, ago. the washed out roads, digging cars out of the
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 9 Arjin
Mountain
Return to the Arjinshan calving grounds
Paul Buzzard, PhD
ong distance migrations by ungulates are truly a memory while white-eared kob migrations in southern Sudan some of the earth’s most stunning biological are threatened by political conflict before they have been fully phenomena because they can involve thousands documented. Even the famous zebra/wildebeest migrations of the of antelope, caribou or other hoofed mammals Serengeti are seriously threatened with a planned road that would traveling hundreds of kilometers. These bisect the reserve. migrationsL are imperiled, however, and a conservation priority because of the large landscapes required maintaining them. Tibetan antelope females take part in some of the longest Unfortunately, most migrations are gone or seriously endangered migrations (up to 600 km roundtrip), and these migrations are as the human population expands and more of the natural one of the characterizing features of the Tibet/Qinghai plateau environment is altered. For example, in Asia, Mongolian gazelle ecosystem. Early explorers such as the Russian Colonel and saiga antelope migrations are increasingly threatened by Prezwalskii noted antelope females migrating in the thousands railroads and over-hunting, respectively. Similarly, in America, and tens of thousands, but it was not until 1992 that the location pronghorn are forced to use smaller and smaller territorial of a calving ground was discovered by Zhang Huibin, Vice- bottlenecks as development encroaches. In Africa the white- Director of the Arjinshan Nature Reserve. tailed wildebeest and antelope migrations of South Africa are just
PAGE 10 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY LEFT: Tibetan Antelope migrating with newborn calves. RIGHT UPPER: Herd of Antelope at calving ground. RIGHT LOWER: Newborn following mother.
The calving ground discovered by Zhang Huibin lies adjacent to fortunate to see several herds of argali sheep, close relatives of Arjinshan and seems to be visited by antelope from both Arjinshan Marco Polo sheep. I have seen large argali horns in the north of and eastern Tibet so it is potentially important for gene flow between the reserve but this was the first time to see live sheep. We also these sub-populations. This calving ground is also important had the chance to see wild yaks on distant peaks as well as a because the migration route through Arjinshan is largely intact. goitered gazelle, a welcome change from the ubiquitous Tibetan As China modernizes, the migration routes of other antelope sub- gazelles. populations have become increasingly threatened. For example, fences in the Changtang Reserve of Tibet and highway/railroad When we reached the calving grounds, I was immediately struck construction between Kekexili and Sanjiangyuan Reserves of by all the antelope near our camp. In fact, over 300 antelope Qinghai impact antelope migrations in these areas. were spread over the nearby hills and riverbed unlike my last trip in 2006 when I didn’t see more than 50 in the same area. Before traveling to the calving grounds we were able to search Survey methods over the next several days such as hilltop point for other wildlife in the north of Arjinshan. A local guide led us surveys, walking transects and dung transects all suggested a to small lake that hosted a pair of breeding black-necked cranes significant antelope population increase. We published a paper s as well as several other water-bird species. In addition, we were several years ago that demonstrated a population decline at
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 11 the calving grounds from 1998/1999 to 2001 followed by an increase in 2006 so a further increase this year shows that conservation efforts continue to be effective. Hopefully the huge migrating antelope populations as seen by the early explorers will return in the near future.
At the calving grounds I was also able to gather more data that will hopefully clarify why antelope females migrate. One must remember that the females migrate from comparatively lush winter rutting grounds to calving grounds in a more desolate area with more inclement weather all while heavily pregnant just to return a couple weeks later. Why? Two of the major theories suggest that (1) the females migrate to avoid the large wolf packs and other predators that need to remain in the winter area to take care of their young, or (2) maybe the antelope migrate to take advantage of high levels of minerals at the calving grounds important for lactation such as calcium and magnesium.
Support of the predator avoidance theory evidence suggests that wolves are still a threat, and single wolves that are able to follow the females can have a large impact. For example, on this trip we observed a wolf killing three calves. But to fully test the predation avoidance theory one needs to know more about the predator-prey dynamics during the time when migration was selected for, i.e. during the environment of evolutionary adaptation, a time in the distant past when there were likely more wolves and other potential predators such as Asiatic wild dogs than there are now.
Fortunately, it is possible to evaluate the mineral theory by directly testing the soil and plants of calving grounds and comparing results with soil/plants at the winter rutting ground and along the migration route to assess the influence of mineral levels. There may not be a straight-forward choice between the two theories, however. For example, perhaps predators were the impetus to migrate and the mineral content in vegetation helps to maintain the migrations. Nevertheless, future research by CERS will continue to provide insight.
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Will, Paul and Sharon sharing a laugh. Tibetan Gazelle female. Argali Big Horn Sheep. Female Tibetan Antelope.
PAGE 12 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 13 Arjin
Mountain
Angel of the Plateau finds new home Liu Ming
Good News : Angel of the Plateau Finds New Home at Yusupu Aleke : The story of Zhuoma and her Foster Parents
home under the white clouds Liu, a caravan is coming from Yaziquan, it could be bureau chief Zhang’s The Yusupu Aleke check point ‘cars.’” Hearing that, Liu dropped his work and came out. was surrounded by peace and tranquility under the setting A new member for check point sun as dusk approached on It was indeed bureau chief Zhang Huibin’s caravan. He was coming with the JulyA 4th. It was time to make dinner. The check CERS exploration team from Hong Kong. After entering the check point and point commander Liu was watching the news, his chatting briefly with its officers, bureau chief Huibin said to Liu, “come with important task this time of the day. In the kitchen, me, I’ve got someone for you to care for.” He took out a cardboard box from Zainapuhan was making dinner and shouting out his car. Inside was a shivering newborn Tibetan antelope. “Oh, good Lord!” loud to Aimaier to get him more coal so that he commander Liu exclaimed with delight. Yes, a Tibetan antelope, the angel of could also make tea. the Aerjin – Kekexili reserve, a protected species.
Car lights at dusk The rescue of the new born and her mother As Aimaier was getting cold in the backyard, Bureau chief Huibin told us that they found the newborn Tibetan antelope he saw lights in the distant Arjin Mountains, an near the Tuziwu Lake in the western part of the reserve. It was raining heavily unusual sight this time of the day. The lights were at the time and a car was stranded in mud and members of the CERS team from the direction of Yaziquan and he was now were busy trying to pull the car out. At this juncture Huibin spotted a Tibetan sure that they were from a small caravan of cars. antelope with her new born cub. The mother was extremely weak after giving He ran to the duty room, shouting, “Commander birth. The newborn was hungry and trembling with cold. They were saved by
PAGE 14 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Newborn Antelope calf with body guard. Searching around with curiosity. Nursing with baby bottle. Intimate pair. Moment of joy.
the expedition team. It was July 1st. birth. Staff of a mining company that frequently passed through the checkpoint heard of the news about Zhuoma and they also provided milk for her as a gift After bureau chief Zhang left the check point, to the checkpoint’s new member. Obviously, people who heard the news were commander Liu convened a meeting with his staff so excited and joyful. On first arrival, Zhuoma could neither stand up nor open members Aimaier and Zainapuhan. They resolved her eyes. Now she could walk and run freely. She was growing up healthily. that the checkpoint should take good care of the cub following bureau chief Zhang’s instructions. On July 7th, I received a set of photographs from the checkpoint. They show little Zhuoma trotting, playing with staff, and chasing insects. I was so Life at the check point delighted to see that she was well and fine. The Tibetan antelope baby was female. Her date and place of birth were July 1, Tuziwu Lake. Associate researcher Li Weidong said, “The small fund allocated for research should be used to study the Tibetan antelopes. So far, we only know that they At the staff meeting, it was also decided to name are migratory. We know very little about their habits and where they usually the cub. Three suggestions were made: Zhuoma, go. If we understand their migration pattern, we would be able to protect them which meant goddess; Duoji, which meant good better. Tibetan antelopes that grow up in captivity might be quite different luck; and Yuhituzrin, which meant twinkling star. from those in the wild, we don’t know their effect on the food chain of other They were suggested respectively by commander animals on the Tibetan Qinghai plateau. It might give rise to ecological Liu, Aimaier and Zainopuhan. Liu’s name was disasters in the long term.” adopted so the cub was called Zhuoma.
Milk for Zhuoma was no problem because a herdsman nearby had a goat that has recently given
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 15 Arjin
Mountain
CLOCKWISE FROM UPPER RIGHT: Explorers of Yurt homes at Yixikepati in the 1930s. Sart women and child at Yixikepati (both by Filchner). Caravan of Maillart and Fleming. Mastiff chasing off Wild Yak in the Arjin Mountain. Sven Hedin depicting Wild Yak and the Arjinshan Tibetan Mastiff encounter. W.V. Bleisch
he extraordinary thing about the early too particular of their motivations. Some came to conquer, explorers of Arjinshan, in addition to the some came to bring back scientific data, and some were fact that they would attempt it at all, is the simply passing through following what was temporarily the incredible differences between them. One most convenient route to what seemed at the time a more might think that there was a formula for the important place. Tsuccessful explorer, a single personality type or a cluster of characteristics that insures success. This would be very Nikolai Mikhaylovich Przhevalsky was the first and wrong for the explorers who braved the harsh reality of perhaps the most productive of all the explorers who the Arjinshan spanned the spectrum. There is the imperial entered what is now the Arjinshan Nature Reserve. arrogance of Przhevalsky, the military discipline of Bailey Not content to enjoy the glittering life of Moscow and and Dagleish, the bravado of Sven Hedin, the serendipity Petersburg, the geography teacher who went on to be of the Littledales, the sensitivity of Ella Maillart, the promoted to the rank of general led a series of remarkable dry humor of Peter Fleming, or the severe rationalism expeditions through the most remote regions of western of Filchner. Each brought his or her set of skills, China. On 9 August 1883, the start of his 4th expedition, preconceptions, and emotional baggage. Each brought away he left Moscow and headed through Siberia in a search a unique account of a harshly beautiful world that tested for the source of the Yellow River. He assembled a team both men and beasts to the limit and beyond. of military men and Cossaks, 21 men in all, 5 of them already old hands at exploration. He spurred them on To qualify for the unique collection of extraordinary with a call that; “The Emperor and all Russia, in fact explorers of Arjinshan, it is not just necessary to have the whole civilized world, is looking at us with trust and been there. After all, hunters, herders, pilgrims, traders, hope. Let us not spare strength, health or even our lives.” and raiders have passed through the Arjinshan, probably He also relied on 54 camels and 55 horses, fully loaded for thousands of years. The key criterion of an explorer with supplies, including an impressive arsenal of weapons is someone who leaves behind an account of his or her and ammunition. Having achieved his goal by May of the adventures and observations. Beyond that, we should not be next year, he continued on through the Tsaidam and past
PAGE 16 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY Gas Lake on a route that was occasionally used by Mongol pilgrims and Dalgleish, had found their way from Ladak travelers seeking to avoid troubles in the southern oasis of Charkalik to to Charkalik (Ruoqiang in Xinjiang) and the north. This brought the team through what Przhevalsky called the were preparing a rapid assault on the Kun ‘Valley of the Winds’ and on into the Arjinshan. Crossing the Chimin Lun Mountains. The team included a young Tagh range, he was the first European to record the existence of a vast Ladaki guide, Muhamed Isa, who would salt lake, the Ayak Kum Kol. later go on to achieve fame on expeditions with Younghusband, Rawlings and Sven The Russian New Year of 1885 (13 January) was celebrated by shooting Hedin. In May and June of 1886, Carey twenty-three Tibetan antelope. By that point, Przhevalsky was back at and Dalgleish crossed what is today the the Gas Lake oasis and on his way back to Petersburg, nearly two and Arjinshan Nature Reserve. They seem to half years after the start of his trip. In the fourth expedition, his team have been more interested in the logistical had travelled some 15,000 miles in 3 years, surveyed over 4,000 miles needs of future military expeditions than in of unmapped territory, from Kyakhta in Siberia through the Arjinshan collecting scientific information, but they to Aksu in Xinjiang, and collected hundreds of biological specimens, did report seeing many Tibetan antelope many of them new to science. In the Arjinshan, he was the first explorer north of Ayak Kum Kul Lake. By May 25, to report “a lofty, sharply defined peak” in the southwest of his route. 1886 they were back in inhabited lands, Przhevalsky did not live to see the peak up close, dying of typhus at probably at the village of Issik Pakte on the start of his 5th and last expedition to China in 1888, but his student what is today the northeastern corner of the Petzov led the expedition on and estimated the height of Ulugh Muztagh Arjinshan Nature Reserve. as 7,224 m. (In fact, the peak is just shy of 7,000 meters, at 6,985 m, as measured with lasers by Three years later, in 1889 Gabriel Bonvalot, a Sino-U.S. expedition in Prince Henry of Orleans, the Duc de “We see upon the banks [of the Kum Kul the 1990s.) Chartres, a Belgian priest called Father Darya] the skeletons of camels which have been Dedeken, and a local guide named Parpi Bai gnawed bare by the wolves. A little further on we find emerging from the ice the almost intact Not to be outdone by the crossed the Arjinshan from the north, then humps of camels, and upon closer examination Russians, the French and crossed the Kun Lun range at the Kum Kul we see that part of a caravan has been drowned British soon launched their Darya (Pass). They continued on towards here, including the camel-driver one of whose own secret expeditions Lhasa for 3 months, only to be blocked by arms is raised as if in an attitude of menace or of entreaty.” to the region. By March the Tibetan army only 100 km away from Gabriel Bonvalot, 1889 of 1886, two British their goal. Three years later, in the summer s army officers, Carey and of 1893, French explorers Jule Dutreuil
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 17 purchased 50 additional animals from them. Littledale’s plucky account of their trip hides the extremely serious difficulties they faced. The number of pack animals remaining at end of their journey amounted to 2 ponies and 6 mules. All the rest had died.
Despite the hardships, they managed to survey 1,700 miles from Cherchen to the Ladaki border, all of it uncharted. In recognition, they and their fox terrier, Tanny, were made Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society, which also voted a silver collar for the dog in recognition.
The light-hearted amateurishness of the Littledales was the de Rhins and Fernand Grenard formed a team with Parpi perfect counter-point to the serious imperial ambitions of Bai and Mohammed Isa and again crossed the Arka Tagh Przhevalsky’s Cossacks and the assault team spirit of Carey (Farther Mountains) at Kara Muran Davan (Black Water and Dalgleish. These expeditions were soon followed by Pass) west of the Ullugh Muztagh peak. They traveled on someone who combined the characteristics of all three: across the desolate Chang Tang in Tibet for 5 weeks until Sven Hedin, one of the most remarkable characters in the November before they met the first Tibetan envoys at history of exploration. Early on in what was to be a lifetime Zamna near the Nam Cho. After 50 days of negotiations, of exploration of central Asia, the Swedish born explorer during which time all but 2 of their pack animals died, they began to focus on the remotest areas of Xinjiang and Tibet. finally gave up and headed east. There, Dutreuil de Rhins In August 1896, he started from Khotan and traveled west, was killed by local Tibetans, partly because of his extreme crossing over the Arka Tagh into Tibet at the Kara Muran arrogance and perhaps also because of the local people’s Davan. Instead of continuing on to Lhasa as others had, he past experience of slaughter at the hands of Przhevalsky’s then continued east through the uninhabited Chang Tang, Cossaks when they had preceded him there. Grenard one of the most desolate regions on earth. He returned to himself traveled on for 6 months before finally reaching the region in1900, crossing and re-crossing the Kun Lun Beijing. range east of Muztagh Ulugh, collecting and recording as he went. After the accounts of harsh conditions and sad fates experienced by previous explorers, the next team seems Sven Hedin’s accounts are filled with poetic musings and remarkably cavalier. According to the team leader, St. whimsical sketches, but his travels were no less harsh than George R. Littledale; “We left England on Nov. 10, 1894 his predecessors. At the start of his 1900 expedition he with the same party as usual – Mrs. Littldale, myself, bought 56 pack animals. Only 7 survived. and our dog, accompanied in addition by my nephew.” They arrived in the desert oasis of Cherchen (Quemo in Sven Hedin was the culmination of a decade of explorers Xinjiang) below the Altun Tagh on April 12, 1895 where who came with the main goal of filling in the last blanks they brought on more supplies. They crossed the passes to on the map. The travelers that followed them were the Arka Tagh in lightening time, entering into Tibet on largely there for other purposes, either to cross through to May 15, 1895, and were only 48 miles or 2 days march somewhere else, or to carry out research that was unrelated from Lhasa when they finally turned back on Aug 29, to geography. The most memorable of these latter-day 1895, a decision forced explorers was Ella Maillart and Peter Fleming. While on them by the pressures they posed as husband and wife, they were anything but “… it ended up in our of Tibetan troops and by camping near the summit of that. Both were veteran reporters who, between them, had Mrs. Littledale’s chronic a pass in intense cold, where there was neither grass nor fuel. illness. Having brought for an occasion like this some of Silver’s self- Mr. and Mrs. Littledale boiling soup, personally we did traveled in style, starting pretty well.” Mr. and Mrs. Littledale, 1896 off with 250 pack animals from Cherchen at the start of their journey. 130 of these were sent back after the first pass while 120 continued on to the Arka Tagh. They then crossed the high pass into Tibet, and continued across the uninhabited Chang Tang. When they finally met Tibetan herders, they
PAGE 18 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY “Every day presented us with a new stretch of land upon which no white man had ever before set his foot. I UPPER LEFT TO RIGHT: contemplated my first Tibetan caravan of pack animals with a St. George Littledale and wife certain pride, as its dark columns advanced through winding, Teresa Littledale. Ella Maillart silent mountain valleys, that had been wrapped in undisturbed cooking in the field. slumber for millions of years….. I rode in the rear, as I was LOWER: Wild Ass and Tibetan constantly occupied in drawing maps, sketching, collecting Antelope as drawn by Sven specimens of rock and plants, and completing meteorological Hedin. observations.”
“There was no trail. Only gold seekers and yak hunters strayed into these parts. We climbed high on mountains that stormed the heavens. One of the first passes was as high as the peak of Mount Blanc and two days later we camped at an dress, food, and habits of the people they met in Issik Pakte altitude of 16,400 feet, where at nighttime the thermometer and Bash Malghun as well as the wildlife and plants that went down to -10.7 degrees C. Our course was southeast they saw along their way. It is food for thought that this and east. Towards the south the view of the Arka-tagh, “The kind of “News from Tartary” may live on longer than their Farther Mountains,” opens a magnificent panorama of peaks with eternal snow and eternal snow and between them short accounts of the political intrigues and military preparations tongue glaciers, shifting in green and blue.” of the day. Sven Hedin in The Conquest of Tibet, 1934 Similarly, the scientific measurements made by the German already traveled over much of Central Asia. Though they explorer Wilhelm Filchner are probably less useful now usually traveled solo, in 1935 they teamed up in Beijing to than his account of what he saw along his route. Filchner, travel cross-country to Xinjiang and a region that was off- better known for his mapping of Antarctica, carried out limits to foreigners because of the Dungan rebellion. They geo-magnetic measurements as his team rode camel and chose the supremely difficult route through the Arjinshan horse around the Qiadam to Issik Pakhte, past the ‘Ayagh because of rumors of war in the oasis of Charkalik in the Qum Kul’ lake, and on across what is today the Arjinshan Taklamakan desert to the north. The result of this journey Nature Reserve to the Charchen Darya (the Ullugh Su was a pair of accounts that both rank as some of the best river). He wrote a book that includes notes about what he travel writing ever written. observed along the way. Some time near September 1, 1935, traveling west from the Qinghai border towards Issik Fleming and Maillart traveled light compared with previous Pakhta, he recorded “the wide sandy plain of the valley, expeditions. They started with 1 guide, 4 camels, and 2 some five miles long, which slopes imperceptibly down horses in the Tsaidam. “And so we left, the three of us, to Issik Pakhta, is overgrown with minute bushes…. We for one of the most desolate parts of the world.” After observed dozens of herds of orongo [Tibetan antelope], exchanging one horse at the last settlement of Issik Pakti mainly females, with innumerable young.“ These ‘dozens for a fresh horse, they continued on to Bash Mulghan and of herds’ were decimated by poachers in the 1990s, but Charchen (Quemo), arriving with 2 camels and 1 horse still now that the land is protected in the nature reserve, the alive. numbers of antelope seem to be recovering to match what Filchner, Fleming and Maillart saw 76 years ago. Along the way, they recorded the routine of daily life on the trail and in the camp, and they also described their The accounts of Maillart and Fleming and Filchner all surroundings in detail, providing an enduring record of begin in Manchuria with ominous rumblings of larger what the Arjinshan was like in 1935. They recorded the events that soon engulfed the entire world in war. Arjinshan was closed to foreign explorers by that war and the war for liberation that followed. 1949 and the “Slowly we went on along a valley hollowed out by erosion beginning of New China also began a new era for the where the tracks of man had disappeared through lack of use; once, for six or seven hours, we lost our way. We shot antelope to boil Arjinshan, in which Chinese map-makers, scientists and with our strips of dough, melted snow for our tea, admired wild conservationists came to the fore. CERS has been proud to assess galloping away in a single file. lend a hand to the staff of the Arjinshan Nature Reserve, and together we continue to explore one of the most remote I shall never forget these pure, cold days when I had no complicated worries, was happy to possess nothing but a sleeping- regions of the world. Our purpose now is not conquest, bag and the clothes I wore, grateful to live on tsamba mixed with profit or adventure, but conservation. Even so, the spirit tea. It seemed to me that my calm joy would remain unimpaired of exploration lives on. For those with the endurance and were I never to see my home again; and this detachment had stubbornness needed to drive their dreams, the Arjinshan nothing to do with indifference, for I was intensely alive.” still provides a landscape filled with unknown opportunities Ella Maillart, 1942 for adventure and discovery.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 19 Arjin
Mountain
CRISIS AVERSION AT ANTELOPE WATERSHED 20 years of involvement at the Arjin Mountain Nature Reserve Wong How Man
PAGE 20 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY MAIN: Tibetan Antelope with newborn calves.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 21 CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: Peak of Muztagh at 6973 meters. Sunset clouds at calving ground. Expedition guests Karl von Habsburg and Wellington Yee. Expedition basecamp with Wellington, Zhang Huibin, Karl and How Man.
hough this is my eighth trip into the nature reserve and the fourth time to the calving ground, the logistics are no simple matter. Didn’t we just abort our expedition last summer due to unrelenting weather? Entering a remote nature reserve larger in size than Taiwan with only two Tresident families and a handful of gold mines is no joking matter. We literally brought in our own gas station, in the form of a four-wheel-drive truck hauling eleven large drums of diesel, gasoline and other supplies. On top of that, my team had just survived the first phase of an expedition in search of the source of the Salween River, and barely recovered from that harrowing experience.
PAGE 22 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY Our first encounter with the Arjin Mountain in 1991 was much innocent of what to expect. I explained the rather real danger simpler, just a chance happening when the expedition I led came always looming at high altitude. Mountain sickness drug Diamox, across it. Never had I thought we would become a long term oxygen tanks, Air-concentrator, compression chamber, we had supporter in research and conservation in this distant land. But them all. So my caution was just that, a caution, regarding when then again, much of what CERS did and committed to was not to alert myself to apply one or all of the named devices. Worse planned for. Things happen not because of a sudden surge in come to worst, we are accustomed to evacuating people to lower interest or impulsive choice, but as a matter of course once we elevation. We have done it several times over the years, most discover or touch upon important natural or cultural heritage recently last year. that require help and stewardship. Guided by simple intuition, we entered into twenty years of involvement at the reserve, in PART ONE June 29 evening this case because of the unusually large herds of endangered wildlife of the Tibetan plateau. “How Man, I am afraid what we have been worrying about is now happening,” said Karl with a stern and serious face. Karl Two members left our team because of the close call with death had just hung up on the satellite phone after calling home. Home and serious illness during the first phase of the expedition. Two is Germany where his 98-year-old father was. Karl, whom I have s new members joined as my guests, Karl and Wellington, a bit visited and stayed with many times, lives in Salzburg Austria.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 23 Karl is my very special guest - a royal guest, von Habsburg, get someone, a dear friend, evacuated as quickly as possible known in certain circle as the Archduke of Austria. His father for a family emergency. The objective is quite simple. Karl is Otto was the last Crown Prince of the Austro-Hungarian Empire the oldest son and head of the House of Habsburg. His father and for twenty years was an important member of the European is dying and he has to get home by the fastest and safest way parliament. possible. Both of us are avid reader on aviation history. In fact by coincidence, we both brought along the latest Air & Space “The news is no good. My father is in a coma and the doctor magazine for leisure reading. How ironic in that in this particular expects the worst, within the next couple days, I am terribly moment, flight is closest to our mind, but furthest from our sorry,” continued Karl. “No worries, give me a few moments reality. and we’ll have a plan worked out,” I reassured Karl. Karl kept apologizing as it took us five days of driving, with several In swift time, two of my newest Land Rovers were dispatched, hiccups among the vehicles and supply chain, to get to the both with brand new winches. In the event one car got stuck or Antelope calving ground. We had just arrived a couple hours mired in mud, the other could quickly help. Berry volunteered ago and settled down to have dinner as the light outside was to escort Karl all the way to Dunhuang where he would board a dimming. The sun sets after 830pm Beijing time at this far-flung plane for the first of multiple legs to get home. Zhang Huibin, western corner of China. our only guide and long-time collaborator with CERS at the Arjin Mountain Nature Reserve, would lead the way. Will, our “We’ve been expecting this to happen anytime over the last two youngest and strongest individual was also sent along. He is years since my father had an accidental fall. I was afraid all along also our expert on GPS so any possibilities of being lost could that it would happen during this expedition,” Karl reiterated. “I be quickly corrected with his real-time satellite tracking and fully understand, honestly I do,” I tried to put on a pacifying guidance. Karl is also very capable on the use of GPS, being an tone. “This is nothing disruptive, let me discuss with my team ex-Air Force pilot. During our trip, he impressed me with his and get right back to you,” I reassured Karl once again. pocket GPS.
We were at the farthest and highest corner, almost 5000 meters To make a long story short, through a quickly arranged in elevation, at the border of Xinjiang with Qinghai and Tibet multiple car relay with change of drivers, we got Karl back to in western China and I had a situation at hand whereby I must Dunhuang within 28 hours, with day-and-night driving. He got
PAGE 24 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY LEFT UPPER: Mired deep in mud. LEFT LOWER: Bulldozer to our rescue. LEFT: Base camp at calving ground.
cautioned him about not straying too far or for too long. I have had quite enough excitement on this trip and needed no more spice to life.
We are here at the Tibetan Antelope calving ground to observe the birthing process of huge herds of antelope which migrate here yearly during this particular season. At its height, numbers exceed ten thousand females, with a high fraction of them pregnant and ready to give birth. Most non-pregnant ones are juveniles, perhaps learning the migration pattern and route, scientists surmise. It happens every year from mid June to early July. Lately it seems the calving season has a tendency of coming a bit late, perhaps due to climate change. Last year we failed on numerous attempts to gain the calving ground due to unusually heavy rainfall that turned the access “road” into mud streams.
Visits like this one have become more or less routine for CERS home within 48 hours, in time to be by his father’s bed side. biologists and our collaborators at the Arjin Mountain ever since His father passed away peacefully on July 4. When I read the 1998 when we discovered and noted the first-authenticated many obituaries on world media including the New York Times, calving ground of the Tibetan Antelope. The locations of such Wall Street Journal and BBC, etc, I felt relieved that the reports hidden sites had evaded scientists, explorers and fortune seekers stated that “all his seven children were nearby”, and Karl was for over a hundred years prior to our discovery. Why fortune the one who made the defining statement about his father being seekers? The very fine fur of the antelope provides material for “a towering person”, and his passing “a great loss to Europe”. the most high-priced shawl in the world, called shahtoosh, or One near-crisis averted, with us obviously setting a record time “king of wool.” Early British explorers and trade pioneers from going from a secret wilderness enclave in Central Asia back a couple hundred years ago already noted in their writings the to civilization. I vaguely remember a corollary in history that exemplary quality of this wool and detailed their futile search described a Mongol prince Batu Khan plundering Europe in the for the source of such valuable fiber. 13th Century. He withdrew his army from their winning position in Hungary and rushed home upon hearing news of the death of The fashion world in the latter part of the last century embraced, the Great Ogedei Khan, then ruler of China. I wondered how then rejected, this luxurious item following our disclosure on many months it took him to get home in the year 1241 A.D. world media of the wholesale massacre that the poachers had brought to the calving ground, with images of mutilated pregnant PART TWO June 30 to July 4 at calving ground female antelope and full-term fetuses and dead infants left on the and Antelope crisis open field to rot. That effort became a yearly vigil for us and our partners to protect the sacred Tibetan Antelope calving ground While waiting for our only guide and two cars to return, I in subsequent years. With this type of targeted publicity, CERS instructed that no car (we had a total of five cars and one truck) helped to end a crisis for a valuable and endangered species. was to leave camp. It was not so much for fear of being lost but Today that illegal trade has largely died down and the antelope rather the huge effort that might incur if one or more cars were are returning to much healthier numbers. mired in the mud, and all tracks somehow lead to mud-infested terrain. Anyone leaving camp now could only go on foot and in Near our base camp at 4900 meters, we set up eleven tents for pairs. I made an exception for Chris who was filming wildlife, sleeping and several large tents for day use. The latter became s as it is best he searches ahead stealthily, alone. Nonetheless I a god-send to shelter us from both the heat and the cold. The
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 25 weather beat down on us relentlessly, changing from scorching the reigns in directing this series of film on CERS. She brought sun one minute to heavy wind and snow just minutes later. Our along two cameramen, again a very unusual feat for a CCTV dress code, likewise, went through several rotations within documentary team. the same morning or afternoon. Sun, rain, hail and snow have decided to play musical chairs with us minions of the lowly PART THREE Calving and migration theory world, with hell taking a beating from heaven. The pinnacle peak of nearby Muztagh Ata looked down upon us sternly and Scientists have been baffled by the migration of the antelope. with little mercy. The 6973- meter mountain defines the border They (Dr. Bill Bleisch and Dr. Paul Buzzard of CERS included) of Xinjiang and the Changtang of Tibet. had put forth different theories of why the pregnant female migrated such long distances, sometimes upward of 600 Two mornings we woke up to an entire world of white in snow kilometers, to the remotest and highest calving ground where and frost, like Christmas came early in July. I kept joking with weather is brutal and pasture scant. Avoiding predators and Will that I asked him to come from Wisconsin, but did not ask replenishing magnesium-based diet have been hypothesized. I him to bring along a Wisconsin winter. I usually like to buy my however have my own little theory. down jackets on the short, just waist-length, so as not to impede my body movements. Here I wanted my down quite long, as I Tibetan Antelope have been famously known to host tiny larvae found myself always pulling my multiple layers of down jacket of parasites on their next-to-skin fur, that very same tender fleece and vest lower and lower, hoping it would insulate also my that provided the world with the most luxuriant shawl. Escaping lower body. to elevation over 5000 meters with winter-like extreme weather may provide sanctuary for the antelope, newborn babies included, We returned to the calving ground both to celebrate the success saving them from the infestation of such irritating pests. After of a CERS conservation project as well as to put on film the all, from long distance observations using high power spotting spectacular scene of the place and moment. Chris, being a wildlife scope, I did not see the Antelope performing their usual habit of filmmaker, found the story and filming opportunity unmatched. scratching and rubbing their skin and body. CCTV came along to document our twenty years of involvement with the reserve. In an unusual sign of its importance, senior My other theory is even simpler, though maybe a bit philosophical producer Kung Xiaoning, now in senior management within rather than scientific. Life starts with birth. The calving ground, the station, came out of the comfort of her office, and took up though used for short period, is the natural home of the Tibetan
PAGE 26 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY FAR LEFT: Fresh snow of summer hit base camp. LEFT: NEWBORN Antelope with How Man.
Antelope, mother and child. They migrate out and away from confident that his experience of over two decades at the reserve home so as to meet their mate, and to reproduce. They return with long years of observation and dealing with the Tibetan each year in June to their home and spring of life, at the calving Antelope would provide him with insight to make this next ground. After all, the female rendezvous only once a year with effort a success. I tend to concur. their male counterparts, in the depth of winter in December. Mating battles among the male ensue. The winner will not take Our several excursions to the higher and deeper reaches of the just one, but all - usually a harem of up to twelve female - at his calving ground were exhausting and futile. We were, time and disposal and as trophies, so to speak. again, defeated by soft ground which mired multiple vehicles in deep mud. Fortunately a bulldozer from a nearby gold mining Antelopes, both Tibetan type and gazelles, both in Africa and camp came to the rescue. For a moment, even the bulldozer Asia, have been known to occasionally abandon their newborns, was stuck in mud and took much effort in freeing itself, before for reason still unknown to scientists. We have seen this on assisting us. We resorted to making observations with binoculars previous trips and collected such orphans. Reserve staff had and spotting scopes. On some occasions, some members of my more such encounters. On this trip we picked up a newborn dead party were able to get to within two or three hundred meters of carcass and Zhang Huibin planned to make it into a specimen. the antelopes. Obviously the animals are no longer as nervous They have also planned to begin, with support from CERS, an about human presence as in the past, thanks to better managed experiment in the domestication of, and ultimately farming, the conservation measures. Tibetan Antelope. I used a 600mm lens attached to a 2X extender, providing my I am often baffled at the inadequacy of understanding of this camera with a 24-times magnifying power telephoto to capture superb and beautiful animal by the world at large. Having gotten the animals from faraway. Some of these images offered an world attention through its plight and even becoming one of the unmatched opportunity to count the ratio of adults to newborn. charmed mascots of the Beijing Olympics in 2008, the Tibetan The initial observations are very promising, indicating an Antelope has yet remained to be exhibited in zoos in China, let extremely high birth rate, though survival rate would be a alone the rest of the world. Long after the panda has become an more complicated matter to survey. On two separate occasions international icon and ambassador, no zoos, in China or abroad, and images, I deduced through simple count that among 48 have successfully raised any Tibetan Antelope. Several attempts females, there were 34 infants, and 41 to 29 respectively, quite a s had been made, but all failed. Zhang Huibin is both adamant and phenomenal and encouraging proportion.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 27 On a particular cold morning, we dispatched one car to the Cao raced over as the little animal tried to rise nearby gold mine in order to borrow some charcoal for warming to its feet, but collapsed right after. Within a our camp. The entire world and terrain around us was enveloped few minutes, it was against Cao’s chest as he in white, some area quite deep with the white fluff accumulated brought the baby calf to my arms. I quickly from the overnight non-stop snowfall. Two kilometers from cradled it inside my three layers of down jackets our destination, the car got hopelessly stuck in the snow. While while it gave out a small cry “Ney, ney”. We Losar, our Tibetan driver, was trying to jack up the car and fill again saved a newborn orphan. in stones to unstuck the vehicle, Xiao Cao my assistant and Will began to hike through the snow to fetch help from the gold Meanwhile, Losar got his car unstuck after mine. several attempts. We decided to forget about the charcoal and returned to camp as quickly Momentarily, just a hundred meters away from the car, I heard as possible. As expected, the entire camp was Cao yell out loudly that there was a newborn Antelope in suddenly filled with joy and “warmth” as a new the distance. I quickly rushed over and looked into the white member was added to our team. “She”, as Zhang horizon. There, some three to four hundred meters away from us Huibin identified the gender, became the most was a tiny black dot in the midst of an entire terrain of snow. It cared-for individual for the remaining time of was barely noticeable except to trained eyes, but Cao had been the expedition. We all took turns nursing Ms with me to the calving ground in past years and was a veteran at Yang (yang meaning sheep) with the milk and sighting infant antelope. bottle that Zhang Huibin had brought along for just such an eventuality. She was to be left to It was indeed a newborn antelope, enveloped in snow. But where the care of the reserve station as we exited the was the mother? It was nowhere to be seen. Nothing was moving nature reserve. It would be a most appropriate within sight of our vicinity as we combed our eyes left and right mascot for the Arjin Mountain Nature Reserve. into the distant horizon.
PAGE 28 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PART FOUR Altitude sickness crisis a long drive but we needed to get the three CCTV members down low. I cautioned everyone not to By now we were into our fourth day and approaching mention that along the way we needed to climb a fifth night at base camp and the calving ground. to above 5000 meters before finally descending All three members from the CCTV crew were to give them the impression that once we leave not feeling well and began acting up with various camp, it was all down hill. Imagined or real, it signs of altitude sickness. Xiao Du had been should give them some peace of mind, until our hiding inside the tent most of two days, nursing his latest crisis is averted. Several times, Kung shared progressively worsening headache. Xiao Ding was with us that in her 28 years career as a producer, seen less and less with his camera and tripod out. this was the only assignment that she wrote a will Producer Kung was coughing and vomited several and left it with her husband before departing on the times by the fourth day. In brief, I was seeing less trip. Now I joked to her that her husband may have and less of the three of them. All three were chain to be disappointed. smokers, but now seen without a cigarette most of the day. The air-sep oxygen concentrator became Epilogue their more constant companion. I had intended to stay as long as possible, and if condition allowed, During our last night at the calving ground, we swing our entire team toward the southernmost took out a very delicate wooden box Karl had left fringes of the nature reserve bordering Qinghai. behind. It held the famous and delicious chocolate But it was not to be. cake from Vienna, Sacher-Torte. It was cut up nicely and shared by all. By now we were sick and By the evening of the fifth night, Kung, despite her tired of gourmet packaged soup, or pre-cooked usual strong will and manly demeanor, opted to use wonder meals from the UK or even the freshly the oxygen tank we brought along. Her face was cooked food made by my staff. Even the aromatic swelling quite noticeably. All three retired to their coffee packages Wellington brought along started tent early. By night fall, I heard heavy coughing to lose their fizz. In the back of my car were many interspersed with the sound of vomit. It became cans of Wang Louji, a popular Chinese herbal tea more and more alarming. In the middle of the night that Karl had grown addicted to within his short at around 2:30am, I was woken up by very serious week with us. We bought two additional cases to sound of utter and extreme cough, followed by very satiate his thirst on this trip. Now I have no choice disturbing noise of acute vomiting. I put on all my but to quench myself with this substance on the warm clothes and crawled over to the tent of the long journey home. CCTV crew. With an unnecessarily ceremonial cough, I ventured in to ask how Gong was doing, Over the phone to Hong Kong, I heard that my and whether I needed to bring out our compression favorite fruit of the summer is on its last run in chamber, the save-all altitude device. “No I am the market before fading out within a week. Not fine,” came a somewhat calm and reassuring voice only that, three of the trees in my garden are all from Kung. “It was Ding who is not feeling well,” bearing this delicious fruit for the first time after she continued with a somewhat dignified tone. over ten years. Shortening my expedition with such a romantic excuse certainly has a historical I knew it was time for us to make another precedent. Like the famous Tang dynasty evacuation, before the situation deteriorated any concubine Yang Guifei, I too cannot resist such further. I certainly did not want to handle another attraction, or distraction, and can claim myself crisis. By 3am, several of my drivers were up and victim of seduction by my beloved Lychees. started all our diesel Land Rovers to warm up the Unlike Yang, my smile however will never be engine. We could not procure sub-zero diesel fuel recorded in history books and become the name of during the summer and thus often had to resort to a species of the fruit. restarting and warming up our vehicles before the engine got too cold.
I gave the order that we would pull camp early next UPPER: Cao dashed toward distant newborn Antelope calf. morning and head out of the reserve. It would be LOWER: Newborn calf rescued from the snow.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 29 Arjin
Mountain My “ Will ” - entering the Arjin Mountains Gong Yining
n late April this year, I was given the opportunity to enter the natural conservation in the Aerjin Mountains to watch Tibetan antelopes giving birth. Although I was already over 50 the conditions there are harsh, I still decided to go. I This was an expedition organized by CERS and I was invited to join them. The society has tens of years of expedition experience in harsh terrains and has done eight trips in the Aerjin Mountains in the past twenty years. They had all the necessarily equipment and support facilities ready for this expedition; all I needed to bring were my cameras.
As a director of documentary films, half of my time working was spent outdoors, often in difficult places. Realizing the forthcoming trip was tough, I made a will before setting off. I think the real reason that prompted me to do that was I wanted peace of mind.
I am not a person who fears death or emergency situations. I just wanted to show that I was serious because this was going to be the first time I could witness Tibetan antelopes give birth. These
PAGE 30 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY were new lives which we should respect. I told myself that I should behalf like a brave person during the expedition.
Several days later, deep in the Arjin Mountains, I finally saw the Tibetan antelopes giving birth.
In June to July every year, at this remote place 5,000m above sea level, baby antelopes are born. In the cold wind mother antelopes wait to give birth and, for those who have already given birth, tediously care for their newborns.
Now the expedition is over and I am back, with peace of mind like when I started the trip. The trip made me realize one more thing --- that instead of thinking so much about death, people should think about doing more good while they are still alive like protecting our environment and wildlife, like helping those who need our help.
Finally I wish to thank Mr. Wong How Man and CERS for CLOCKWISE FROM MIDDLE: CERS Land Rover fleet on the move. Base camp after fresh inviting me to join the expedition, and the Tibetan antelopes snow. Makeshift kitchen snowed in. A meal in the snow. in the Arjin Mountains for inspiring my thoughts about life Team picture at Arjin Mountain Reserve Entry Station. and death. CCTV interviewing CERS filmmaker Chris Dickinson.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 31 Arjin Filming in Arjin Chris Dickinson Mountain
ach year I approach every expedition with an So I was happy – more kit, amount of trepidation. It’s not an easy thing more creative options, and less to film, and I’m always striving to find better weight! techniques to employ and better equipment to use… Having filmed CERS expeditions E for five years, I now know what For 2010’s expedition I took my Panasonic Varicam HD video shots I need to tell the story and camera, with its stunning Canon lens. The camera captures thus avoid shooting too much gorgeous images, but it’s heavy. This year I adopted a different material. On average I end up approach - bring MORE cameras, but SMALLER ones! So, I with about 20 hours of footage – brought my new Canon XF300 video camera, which is about which means I shoot less than 1 hr of footage per day. This helps 1/5 the weight of my Varicam, but still shoots exceptional when editing because the final CERS films are only about 20 broadcast-quality HD footage. I also had my Canon 7D and 5D minutes long, thus I am working to a ratio of 60:1. This means for MkII stills cameras, which both proved essential for their ability every minute of footage used in the film, there is approximately to shoot HD video. In fact the 5D MkII has become so well- one HOUR of footage not used! And as I said – I shoot less than known for its quality that George Lucas shot parts of his latest an hour of footage a day, meaning that the final film represents movie ‘Red Tails’ on the camera!. These cameras are also ideal less than 1/1440th of the time spent on expedition. for shooting time-lapse, which is my favorite way to illustrate the ever-changing Tibetan sky and landscape. Finally I had a So, how can one make a film that truly reflects what happened? GoPro HERO HD camera - a ‘mini-cam’ that can be attached to such things as a car windshield – to get wide-angle shots of the Well, one thing that helps is that expeditions tend to be quite driver; the outside of a car - to get detailed shots of the vehicles straightforward – a journey from points A to B. The difficulty wheels splashing through mud; or even attached to your head to comes more in the physical and mental strains of filmmaking – get a rider’s point of view when atop a horse! The options are an aspect I’ll go into later. endless. This year ‘point A’ was the Silk Road Hotel in Dunhuang. It’s a Together, all these cameras still weighed less than the Varicam. great place to start an expedition – a bit of luxury before stepping
PAGE 32 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Snow mountains of the Arjin Mountain. Landscape and scenic Arjin Mountain. Chris Dickinson setting up remote camera on car. Mud-stained wheels. Filming dead newborn calf. Closing on a Black-necked Crane.
the pressure was on to succeed! This would be the underlying theme of the film – the ‘will we/won’t we’ cliff-hanger moment that adds drama to the film.
Apart from the fear of getting stuck in mud, we had other dramas to contend with - from mechanical malfunctions, to our support vehicle dying on us, to CCTV crew’s Toyota losing a wheel whilst speeding off-road, there was more than enough excitement to keep us busy.
It was thus a great relief to reach base-camp – with so many vehicular mishaps I was very concerned that my film would consist entirely of us fixing cars or extracting them from the mud.
A couple of days hiatus before making the final push to the main calving ground allowed me the opportunity try and get close to the migrating antelope into the harsh environs of the Tibetan Plateau. So herds nearby. The larger groups, numbering in the hundreds, including young the beginning of the story was straightforward. calves, were very cautious of human presence, and it was extremely difficult After that a lot of the expedition is repetitive – to get closer than 400 yards. However, the smaller groups, which tended to be we spend a lot of time bouncing around in Land less than a dozen antelope, without calves, proved less cautious and in fact a Rovers, and a fair amount of time setting up camp, little curious of me. I managed to get some lovely close shots of small groups, cooking, and eating. Since our schedule is drive, but the calves remained elusive. eat, sleep, drive, eat, sleep, etc, there is no need to film everything, just enough to represent the Finally the day came when we were to go to the heart of the calving ground – routine of expedition. Secondly, I need to describe where over ten thousand antelope were waiting for us to witness one of natures the journey’s geographical transition - from the amazing spectacles. A years worth of anticipation had led to this point. We salt-encrusted desert of the Gobi to the wind- started out early to take advantage of the hard ground. The going was good, whipped passes of the Kunlun Mountains all while but things would change before lunch. climbing in altitude to the rolling valleys and peaks of the Tibetan Plateau. And of course I need Our nemesis had returned. Mud—thicker and deeper than ever. Our lead to capture the animals we see whilst traveling. vehicle sunk in and the mud surrounded it, as if to ward off any attempts to My constant frustration, as a cameraman, is that free it. Our other vehicles couldn’t get close. Salvation came in the form of a we never have enough time to stop and get decent caterpillar tractor from a nearby mine. Even this behemoth had problems, and shots as we’re always rushing to get somewhere. before it could free our vehicle it had to extricate itself from the mud! All-in- Filmmaking takes time, filmmaking doesn’t like all it took over two hours to free the vehicle. With no clear route forward, the to rush, so I end up getting too many shots of decision was made to turn back. the mundane everyday stuff, but not enough of the exciting unexpected stuff. This is one of the Once again, mud had thwarted our efforts to get to the calving ground. We’d reasons why expedition filming is mentally tough. got so close, and seen large numbers of antelope, but the mass-calving had eluded us. This gives me reason to return again. Hopefully next time I’ll have The main objective of the Arjin expedition was to a full film crew with me so that we can do justice to this stunning part of get to the calving ground of the Tibetan antelope China, and be the first team to make a full-blown natural history documentary – point ‘B’. Considering that bad weather and on this amazing natural spectacle. impassible mud had caused us to fail last year,
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 33 Arjin
Mountain
The Road to Arjin William Ruzek
he geography of Arjin is one of magnificent trucks passing, a wrong turn could take us to an abandoned mine proportions and views. Watching Tibetan in a valley. Add in the various factors of weather and unknown Antelope race across a hillcrest as they are truck paths, and getting lost could mean your life or at least a silhouetted against a huge snow peaked mountain very long and frustrating trip back to the right path. is a spectacle to behold. Getting to Arjin, however, Tis an entirely different matter and another spectacle to behold. With Zhang Huibin guiding us we managed to get to our base camp outside the Calving Grounds in a relatively quick 12 hours. Many of the roads are constantly moving as erosion takes the (217km trip) Due to a family emergency of one of the team upper hand and the routes become impossible to pass. This members, 2 cars had to turn around the next morning. Though makes it incredibly difficult to map and navigate toward the we had been on the same route the day before, we got off the Calving Grounds. Mining activities increase the various roads main track 3 times. Once while driving through a mine—as there and route across the plains, riverbeds and mountain passes. are many different tracks and paths to choose from, another time But, new “micro” mines (a tent and a dredger/digger) create in a river bed—as the tracks are difficult to see with the water misdirection with more tracks that seem to go the right way, constantly moving, and finally a simple wrong choice at a fork only adding confusion as to which routes are most direct. in the road. Luckily, each time we guided ourselves back on track with the use of the GPS and the previously recorded track Navigating throughout the large mines is equally as difficult as from the previous day. the mining changes the rivers path, forms new rock mounds, and the inevitable traffic jams with heavy machinery constantly Arjin continues to amaze people from the roving Tibetan throws you off the route. Though it seems that navigating across Antelope herds to the sweeping landscapes. The trip there an open plain is easier as there are fewer bumps, is the clear also constantly changes, from ever developing mines to roads view disguises the difficulty of traveling without tracks or maps appearing and disappearing throughout the year. Much like how of holes. the Tibetan Antelope migrates each year, the road does as well. The road to Arjin could lead you anywhere, a vibrant mine, a The weather adds another element of distraction as snow can lonely valley, or a heard of antelope set against snow peaked rapidly make a seemingly quick trip into a blind voyage. This mountains. was the case as a snowstorm hit while trying to make it to the next mine to ask for a stove. Driving slowly to make out the road ahead, we got stuck and decided we had to turn around. Unlike TOP: Satellite mosaic of the Arjin Mountain and calving ground. getting lost in a major city, Arjin offers no tow trucks or gas BOTTOM FROM LEFT: Will Ruzek at base camp. Driving over trackless stations to ask for help. With very little traffic and no scheduled terrain. Crossing path with Tibetan Antelope.
PAGE 34 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY Education
What the CERS education program has meant to me Paul Buzzard, PhD
rankly, dealing with the students and interns was Teaching the students has been beneficial for me in that I have more annoying than anything at first. During gained more practice writing and giving lectures. In addition, my career I had chosen the research route over explaining your work forces one to rethink it, which can reveal teaching and academia, so as I tried to concentrate new directions for study. Questions from students can also on projects, literature searches, data analyses and stimulate new ideas. For example, during my lecture on yak theF like, I instead found myself dealing with students during I covered the taxonomic relation of yak to European/American the busy summer field season. However, it has overall been a bison and was asked about the potential to breed yak with these wonderful experience and an opportunity to get more comfortable species to save them from inbreeding deterioration, unrealistic interacting with students and giving lectures. for now but a compelling idea for the future.
Hands-on experiences have typified and will continue to The essence of a positive student experience is typified by recent highlight the student program at CERS. I was raised on a student Mao Sea Lee. Sea is of the Hmong minority group farm and spent much of childhood outside so I don’t always (known as the Miao in China) and was born in a refugee camp appreciate how out of the ordinary and how special it is for in Thailand. She grew up watching and loved Sun Wu Kong, students to hike in the forest or watch yak cows get milked or the monkey king so she particularly enjoyed my reference to the see majestic views of Kawagarpo sacred mountain or even to monkey king during my lecture, and I christened her “monkey see something as seemingly simple as a starry sky. Granted, king” much to her delight after her antics in group photos. She of some of these experiences have not always entirely enjoyable— course loved watching the snub-nosed monkeys and according to picking leeches off during Hainan hikes, picking and sampling her had one of the most incredible experiences of her life hiking lip-numbing hua jiao berries best known from Sichuan cuisine, in the forest around Wudi hu Lake near the yak cheese factory. or enduring arduous hikes up to Dengkong hu Lake, but these Coincidentally, I had been reading the book, The Ravens, about experiences were nonetheless memorable. America’s secret military operations in Laos during the Vietnam War and America’s despicable abandonment of the Hmong who Another important part of the curricula has been the opportunity were forced to refugee camps so it was especially meaningful for students to experience close views of endangered animals to me to help provide a memorable and hopefully inspirational like Yunnan snub-nosed monkeys or the recent presence of experience for Sea, the monkey king, and other students. endangered animals such as the dung pellets of musk deer and red muntjac deer. Students have also been able to gain an FROM TOP: Professors, teachers, staff and students at CERS Zhongdian appreciation for nature and its biodiversity through mounting Center. Dr Buzzard demonstrating insect specimen making. Students butterfly and moth specimens. learning to make specimens. Students attending Lisu bull fight festival.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 35 Education
My CERS Experience from student intern to staff Sharon Ko
t age 12, I left Taiwan for Los Angeles to seek an education system which suited me. In high school I met my first mentor, Mr. Baugher, who taught me about drafting and architecture for four years. I studied Architecture at Pasadena City College. Then switched to Interior Architecture when I transferred to Woodbury University, Awhere I fell in love with the details, color and interior spaces. My first semester I met my second mentor, Ildiko Choy, she was my Color Theory class teacher. That same semester she offered a trip to China as an intern for CERS. It was not going to Shanghai, Beijing, or any other major cities in China, but Shangri- la, Yunnan. It took some convincing on my parents to make the trip possible. It 2006 when I first came to CERS and assisted Ildiko on various projects, including the display system at the Lisu Village/Golden Monkey project, the Tibetan Mastiff site,
PAGE 36 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY LEFT FROM TOP: Hong Shui Village of Hainan Li minority. Students at Lisu village exhibit. Teaching interns at Zhongdian Center. Working with other student interns. TOP LEFT: Inventory of artifacts in Hainan. TOP RIGHT: Interns learning from professor. LEFT: Professor Ildiko Choy planning layout.
the Exploration Museum, and others, On I’ve been with CERS for a little over three months now, that same trip, we also visited Hong Kong and I have experienced the yearly expedition and worked and Lahsa, Tibet. with other staff taking students and guests to our project sites. I believe that I’m in a small organization for a Many can still remember how bad the bigger cause. I remember the first time when I was here I economy was in 2009 and how it still has almost cried during one visit to one of our driver’s house not entirely recovered. That was the year I near the Mastiff site. It was how simple their life style graduated from Woodbury University with is, and the fact that they offered the best out of them a Bachelor of Fine Art Degree. This was the without asking for anything in return. A living room worst year to get out of school; many of my became their bedroom at night. The simiplicity of life classmates switched to non-design related here was unheard of in Los Angeles. I asked myself how jobs or chose to continue school. The worst profession to get into was much was modern life worth? real-estate in Los Angeles. People could barely afford housing therefore the same reflected for designers. Many reported bankruptcies, the more In our village where the CERS Zhongdian Centre is fortunate reported more cases of appraisals, mostly from banker clients. located, one of my co-workers, Jorma, she and her sister So, When Ildiko’s invitation to intern for CERS was opened again, I share one husband. This is their tradition and my first did not hesitate to take the opportunity. This time the focus was Hainan impression was “seriously? No kidding.” When I asked Island where we collected many artifacts from the villagers, and also her, she said “more the better”, She meant that between finished mapping the whole village. her and her sister they share the household work so the more sisters to share the workload with her the better. I’m At the end of 2009, I was lucky enough to find a job. It was at an still amazed by her answer. I have only seen happiness Architecture firm’s new interior design department, Bassenian Lagoni on her face. The only time I saw sadness on her face Architects (BLA), in Newport Beach. While I was there, I kept in touch was when her 7 years old daughter started the first grade. with How Man and Berry. On one of How Man’s visit to LA during First grade students are required to live on campus and breakfast with him and Ildiko, I promised them to be back in summer only visit home occasionally. 2011 as staff this time. Many people have asked me why I switched job rather than keep my good life in Newport Beach. CERS does not Lastly, it is to my advantage as designer to be able to offer me better pay or a better working environment compared to the travel, observe, and learn about different cultures and health benefits, 401k, and short distance to the beach. My answer was their architecture. It has been an eye opening experience. the difference between working in front of computer 24 hrs vs. the This is a very unique job, and unlike any other office opportunity to be working in the field. At CERS I’m contributing to the where I would be doing paper design, I am learning as community by designing exhibition spaces for different minority groups. I’m designing. In fact, we have just finished building I feel I am making an impact because with architecture preservation this initial design stage of new addition to the CERS projects, for example the Lisu Village, if CERS did not preserve their Zhongdian Centre, the “CERS Bar”. buildings they would’ve lost all their culture already.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 37 My time Education with CERS Zoe Kauder Nalebuff
Unlike most of my friends who are at college starting freshman year, I decided to come to China for a portion of my gap year before matriculating at the University of Chicago. When I approached Wong How Man after he gave a lecture at my boarding school last October about interning at CERS, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. Even a month ago when I got off the plane in Diqing, I still didn’t really know what I was getting myself into. Now I know why. Writing a job description would be impossible.
During my time with CERS, I’ve had the privilege of working on an eclectic range of projects: I translated for the 7th reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, been a part of the yak milking and artisanal cheese making process, interviewed carpenters, used my French to create English and Chinese movie subtitles, produced photo exhibits, hung tents from rafters, and much more. And all of this while just barely over my jet lag.
Even though I’m not, as one of my friends outlandishly predicted, living under a tarp and being chased by wild yaks, this is still an adventure where I’m discovering many new things about field work, native flora and fauna, cataloguing artifacts, creative thinking, as well as learning from people at one of the world’s leading exploration organizations. All along the way, I’ve had great help, particularly from my mentor Sharon Ko.
When I start university next year, I’m confident I want to study ecology and environmental biology with the goal of going into conservation work. Being here has given me the opportunity to work alongside and learn from Dr. Bill Bleisch and Dr. Paul Buzzard, scientists who are both doing groundbreaking field work. They are giving me insight that I wouldn’t get anywhere else on the work and life that I hope to pursue.
My time with CERS has also been a chance to take my Chinese to a new level. I am so grateful TOP TO BOTTOM: that How Man allowed me to come and volunteer Listening to How Man’s lecture at Choate. Being an interpreter with the China Exploration and Research Society, on Buddhism for Tashi Rinpoche. Working with Teymour for this is an organization and adventure I will not Dajani from Eton at CERS Yak Cheese site. forget.
PAGE 38 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY Education
Uncompensated Morality Cherie Au
“Humane way”. Pinching their thorax, taking their life, poisoning them, torturous ways.
Taking them, pinning them, exhibitions on it’s way.
Scales of fur, hints of grey, all fluttering away.
Beauty Dedication Details Un-escaped.
Wings spread, antennas unfurled, TOP TO BOTTOM: treated as treasure Student interns preparing moth specimens. once they expire.
Death for them, Life for us. Always on this notion of what it takes to be us.
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 39 Education
PAGE 40 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY Golden Monkeys & Lisu Village Ingrid Ma
Slowly losing its traditions The Lisu Village Falls into the trap of modernization
From hunting to conservation From Lisu to tibetan style houses Who will put this to cessation
Not cessation, but balance The balance between culture and nature Admired, but always in silence
Close to extinction The Golden Monkeys Are now in protection
Rare and unique With human characteristics An unforgettable cloak of mystique
LEFT: Student interns listening to tales and folklores The balance between culture and nature at Lisu home exhibit house. Holds the mission of a conservationist RIGHT: Learning from Golden Monkey expert and And I wonder will it be my future reserve director Zhong Tai. To preserve these exquisite creatures
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 41 FROM JUNK TO JEWEL – Salvaging the last Lisu courtyard house Wong How Man
hile 19 high school students were following CERS Field Biologist Dr. Buzzard into the hills to observe the Yunnan Snub-nosed Golden Monkey at a CERS site, I made a detour to visit nearby Gehuaqing, another Lisu village. I arrived and Wtook a stroll inside the village. Village chief Feng Xuewen told me that every family has the same surname - Feng. This may have something to do with the heritage that every family is engaged in bee keeping, a major contributor to their financial subsistence. In Chinese, Feng is the word for bee. And the Lisu here use that same Chinese character as their name.
Recently, much concern has been focused on the disappearance of honey bees around the world. Echoing this problem, Gehuaqing is also hit by this unexplained epidemic. There is little honey to be collected this year. Even the annual blossoming of the much heralded rhododendrons did not flower. Feng Xuewen also noted that not a single bee hive has split into new ones, unlike previous years when some hives became three. He noticed an unusual phenomenon that freshly laid eggs by the queen bee were disposed outside the hive by worker bees, likely a measure to curtail the number of offspring when the honey supply became limited. Alarming as these signs are, no one can tell at this stage whether it is just cyclical, from adverse effect of human activities, or from changes to our global climate. However, the bees are not the only thing disappearing in Gehuaqing The community is also losing TOP TO BOTTOM: Lisu courtyard log house. Detail of important heritage. Lisu house. New and modern courtyard house. RIGHT: Bee hive and beep keeper collecting honey. When I first laid eyes on the village of Gehuaqing, a small crowded
PAGE 42 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY village of 14 Lisu families, it was just like quite unusual. While the latter’s home is usually made up of one main any half-way dilapidated rural community of house with a grain storage cabin, here at Guhuaqing, there are courtyard western China. But for every few old small homes made up of one large log house with up to five or six smaller log log cabins, there was one brand new brick cabins. The architecture style is very unique and beautiful. or cement house with a tiled roof and glazed walls. This modern section of each household However through recent government subsidy, new improvements to was constructed last year with funding from homes have effectively eclipsed all courtyard houses. That is, with one the government, carried out through the Nature exception. As I walked further into the village, I suddenly caught sight Reserve management, as Gehuaqing is situated of one last remaining courtyard house. Questioning Feng Xuewen, it within precinct of the reserve. turned out this home belonged to the poorest families within the village. Feng Juncai, at the age of 63, had been having trouble constructing his It was April 29 this year when I went to new house even with government help. So he decided to build it at a inspect what CERS has been supporting, a small adjacent lot slowly while still living place I had never seen but rendered assistance based on my trust in the new nature reserve in his old and dilapidated courtyard house. Once his new home was director Zhongtai. Zhongtai has been a friend complete and he could move over, then he would gradually dismantle of CERS for many years, being a leading the courtyard house. expert on the Yunnan Snub-nosed Golden Monkey. In the past we had funded his field This situation offered us an unmatched opportunity to save the last research on these rare monkeys inside Tibet. vestige of a unique architecture type of the Lisu minority. A quick His plight to alleviate the poverty stricken decision was made to find out how much it would cost to purchase the villagers came to my attention and CERS property, standing on slightly over one Mu of land. The timber itself decided to support his cause. Many of those would cost a lot in today’s market price. When Zhongtai came back to programs were realized within a short time, me within days that the owner wanted only Rmb 60,000 for the entire thus my visit to review the results. premises, I jumped at the opportunity. The issue was brought up at a recent CERS Directors’ meeting and a resolution was passed to purchase Since establishment of the nature reserve in the courtyard house as a gift to the nature reserve, with restricted use 2002 to protect the Golden Monkey, the Lisu for future education about forestry and wildlife government policies. traditional hunters were compelled to alter much of their lifestyle, changing from hunting Within a short time, a deal was struck and the family moved out, as mainstay activity, subsidized by collecting allowing us to clean up the premises. Today, within three months of and farming, to strictly regulated collecting of when I first set eyes on this courtyard house, I return to inspect a rare a few forest products and subsistence farming. piece of property that CERS had decisively acquired, again for the benefit of the future generation of a special indigenous minority group Gehuaqing is only fifteen kilometers from of China. Soon we will also implement a program to collect relics of the Xiangguqing, another Lisu village where Lisu within the community, to be displayed as a small exhibit within CERS has been preserving an ensemble of the buildings. I can already foresee the day when future researchers and traditional architecture since 2003. However, students can use the courtyard house to promote both nature and culture the housing style and layout of the home diversity and their conservation within this region. between the two villages is significantly different. In fact, even their language and (On CERS - It is a pleasure to support this highly effective group which dialect, just a couple hills away, is almost always seems to be doing the right thing at the right time, sometimes fifty percent different. Such diversity of the just in time – Don Conlan, Retired President, Capital Group) same ethnic group within a short distance is
CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 43 THANK YOU THANK YOU
It may seem strange to start this newsletter with my President’s Message thanking others, and again end the pages with another thank you note. But it is appropriate in this case. Without all the names below who are CERS patrons, and many others who worked quietly behind the scene, or faraway in the field with little recognition, we would not have gone so far in our exploration and accomplished so many project results we can now be proud of.
With 25 years of friends and supporters to thank, the list would go on and on, let alone omissions. But any friend or supporter, now or in the future, reading these lines should know in their hearts that they have contributed to that process, from infancy to adulthood, of CERS.
CURRENT PATRONS Hong Kong l James & Mary Tien l Joel Horowitz l Gigi Ma Arnoux l Nissim Tse l Barry Lam l Dr Joseph Chan l Betty Tsui l Lady McNeice l Kevin Chau l Patrick Wang l Arvind Narula l James Chen l Dora Wu l Derrick Quek l William E. Connor l Marjorie Yang l Oliver Silsby l William Fung l Sonny Yau l Chote Sophonpanich l Victor Hsu l Wellington & Virginia Yee l Hans Michael Jebsen l Billy Yung Corporate l Christabel & Ricky Lau l City Developments Limited l Anish Lalvani Overseas l Cathay Pacific Airways/ Dragonair l Audrey Lo l Ingrid Ehrenberg & Joe Chan l Coca-Cola l David Mong l Eric Chen l Eu Yan Sang Int’l Ltd l Daniel Ng l Don Conlan l Land Rover l Albert Ma l Scott & Signe Cook l Omega l Patrick Ma l Judith-Ann Corrente l Sampo Group l Stephen Suen l Ester Goelkel l Hamilton Tang l Francesca von Habsburg
A subscription to this newsletter is US$100 for three issues. CERS’ MISSION: All proceeds support CERS projects. The mission of the China Exploration and Research Please contact us directly if you are interested in signing up. Society is to enrich the understanding of our cultural and See the bottom of page two for contact details. natural heritage.
The production of China Explorers is made possible through the generous contributions of Toppan Vite Limited
PAGE 44 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY