A NEWSLETTER TO INFORM AND ACKNOWLEDGE CERS’ FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS CHINA since 1986 EXPLORERS China Exploration and Research Society VOLUME 22 NO. 1 Spring ISSUE 2020

3 Rarest Among Books CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: 8 CERS Artist Residency and Agency Post boat being pulled up rapids of the Yangtze (see rope 13 Research Report on the Huangdi Dong in front of boat). Tibetan family in northern Myanmar. 18 Northern Myanmar Enclave Stamping of fussy-haired Einstein. 24 Forbidden Roads and Mysterious Beasts Fussy-haired Golden Langur spotted near Monpa village 27 The black pearl of Bhutan – first contact with in Bhutan. the Monpa people 32 The Balay House of Leh Old Town 34 CERS Mandalay House 35 News / CERS in the Media and Lectures 36 Thank You / Current Patrons Founder / President A NEWSLETTER TO INFORM AND ACKNOWLEDGE CERS' FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS WONG HOW MAN Directors: CHINA Dr William Fung, CERS Chairman, Chairman of Li & Fung Group Cheng Kai Ming EXPLORERS Professor at the University of Hong Kong CHRISTABEL LEE China Exploration and Research Society Managing Director, Toppan Vintage Limited VOLUME 22 NO.1 Spring ISSUE 2020 Vic Li, Co-founder Tencent AFONSO MA President’s Message Martin Ma OLIVER MOWRER SILSBY III Keep CERS healthy!” It seems like DERRICK PANG the right time to bring in a new tag CEO of Chun Wo Group line. Health suddenly dominates all Eliott Suen conversations in light of the global JANICE WANG pandemic. The world, naturally and CEO of Alvanon appropriately,“ shifts its priorities as well as its Gilbert Wong Founder Chairman of Bull Capital focus. China, while no darling to the West, is no WELLINGTON YEE longer in the front line of the smearing, except BILLY YUNG for some die-hard media outlets that set their Group Chairman, Shell Electric Holdings Ltd. conclusions before looking for stories to fulfill Advisory Council: their agenda. The sweet and praising articles of CYNTHIA D’ANJOU BROWN the western media a decade ago, however, have With Elvis one of our original Burmese cats Philanthropy Adviser been relegated to the dustbin. That will remain and Burmese art behind ERIC S. CHEN Vice Chairman, SAMPO Corporation the same for some time to come. James Chen goes, we might as well lay blame on the weak Managing Director, Legacy Advisors Ltd. CERS, however, is not China based, nor, for and despotic Qing Court that led China to where JUDITH-ANN CORRENTE over a decade, has it been China focused, it was in the 20th century”. Philanthropist, President of Met Opera despite that our headquarters is in Hong Kong, DANCHEN Enough political ranting. This issue of our Former Vice-Party Secretary of Tibet a part of China, though often ranked top in its RAREST AMONG BOOKS Vice-President, China Writer’s Federation freedom in the world. Today, we are truly an newsletter testifies to our shift to an Asian HANS MICHAEL JEBSEN Asian organization, making exploration and focus. Once again, as in many previous issues, Chairman of Jebsen & Co. Ltd. conservation efforts throughout the region. As we bring to our friends and supporters stories 20 copies made circa 1934 Barry Lam By Wong How Man Chairman, Quanta Computer, Taiwan our own Dr Bleisch quipped over tea with me, that are diverse, both in topics and in geography. David Mong “Exploration in China is not what it used to We share with you stories of our architectural Hong Kong Chairman, Shun Hing Education and Charity Fund be. These days, you have to pass traffic jams conservation project from Ladakh India, an Dr Michael J. Moser of tourists in SUVs travelling in caravan from anthropological study of a tiny ethnic group International Attorney Beijing to Lhasa. And teams from the Chinese from Bhutan, an exploration expedition to TUDENG NIMA Tibetan Scholar Academy of Sciences with an 18 wheeler truck the northern margin of Myanmar, and a very Go ahead take it home with you,” offered Captain Moon JOHN E. STRICKLAND or two just to carry all their fancy equipment. It’s historic piece on China’s postal system from a Retired Chairman, HSBC more fun to work in the rest of Asia, where there century ago. Chin casually. “Huh, are you sure?” I asked in return. CERS Field Staff: is still much to explore and conserve.” “Why not, I’m turning 106 in a few months,” Moon added. WILLIAM BLEISCH, PhD, Science Director Perhaps it may also be worth noting that Anyone would understand the high value of such a book, but CAO ZHONGYU, Logistics Support I found it hard not to concur with him. But practically all our staff are localized now, TSERING DROLMA, Education Officer few would appreciate it as much as I do. Now the burden is after a drink, I felt less inclined to mince my Tibetans in the Tibetan region of China, Burmese LI NA, Kunming Admin. Officer on me to become a good custodian of this extremely rare book, leather LIU HONG, Speleologist words, having worked in China since 1974 in Myanmar, Filipinos in the Philippines, and “ EI THANTAR MYINT @ Sandra, Country Manager, Myanmar and mused, “People are hung up about the Laotians in Lao. Our commitment will remain bound and with a name inscribed in gold on its cover. SU HLAING MYINT, CERS Field Biologist Chinese government, which undeniably made true to our mission, contributing to our region ASTOR WONG, Staff Anthropologist WANG JIAN, Kunming Director numerous mistakes, some deadly and hard-to- and our world at large. For that alone, “Stay This is not the first time Moon has given me something so valuable. ZHANG FAN, China Director forgive, generations ago. The leadership today, healthy, CERS!” Many years ago, he handed me a Dunhuang mural piece that was Headquarters Staff: however, are a totally different breed, much exchanged in 1946 for sale of his downstairs home with a garden in the BRENDA KAN, Office Manager better educated and far-sighted. As history XAVIER LEE, Filmmaker French Concession area of Shanghai. At that time, he had just founded TOP TO BOTTOM: TRACY MAN, Financial Controller his first airline, Central Air Transport Corp (CATC), and bought one Guizhou: Postal courier passing memorial chastity BERRY SIN, Logistics Director of the corner villas from Mayor Wu Tieh-cheng in the tony district on arches. Days saved by Air Mail compared to Service mail. Editor: Kang Ping Road for 185 gold bars. WILLIAM BLEISCH, PhD Design and Printer: TOPPAN VINTAGE LIMITED Wong How Man But for me, the most valuable gift has been our friendship, and the Founder/President CERS (852) 2973 8600 wonderful stories that he has recounted to me over the almost two decades that we have known each other. I visit Moon at least twice a HOW TO REACH CERS: With respect to the entire contents of this newsletter, including its photographs. Unit 7 & 8, 27/F, Tower B, SouthMark, year, staying at his home in San Francisco for a night or two. If I am

All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2020. @ China Exploration and Research Society. s 11 Yip Hing Street, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong phone (852) 2555 7776 fax (852) 2555 2661 Please contact CERS for reprint permission. pressed for time, I still make a day trip to spend time with him. e-mail: [email protected] Website: www.cers.org.hk

PAGE 2 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 3 Still, this book is precious. The name inscribed on the cover is Huang Kiang Chuan. At the time the book was produced, in 1934, only twenty copies were made, each with actual black & white prints meticulously set on pages with wax paper between, like an album. The one I received is labelled Number 11, handwritten on a space left for that purpose. Huang was the Chairman of China National Aviation Corp (CNAC), put in place by the Nationalist government for a joint venture with Pan American Airways. China’s government at the time held a 55% share, whereas Pan Am had 45%.

Since 1931, Moon had been a pilot and had quickly become the most experienced Chinese pilot for CNAC, flying until the end of the Second World War when he founded his own airline. During the latter part of the War, Moon pioneered the first flight across the Karakorum to open the western Hump route. It was a precaution in case the Japanese would take all of Burma, thus closing the Hump of the eastern Himalayas,the life-line to supply the Chinese forces resisting the Japanese advance. Later in 1951, he was to found another airline, Foshing Airlines in Taiwan. “High up in the mountains where the headwaters of the Yangtze lie. It seems natural that this book would be The packed snows thaw slowly in a warming spring sun. The waters passed down from CNAC’s Chairman to the begin to flow…slowly at first, then more and more swiftly. They Chinese Chief Pilot. But from Moon to me, it tumble, swirl and froth, and on reaching the narrow gorges, they is strictly through trust and friendship. become a mighty river. Tumultuous, whitecapped, roaring and echoing up the towering mountain sides, obliterating all other sound. The short introductory note that precedes the prints is titled “The Mail Must Go”. Some of Against this inferno of water a junk moves upstream. From her prow us may be familiar with the Disney song with the tow ropes stretch, taut as over lines, to curl around the shoulders a similar title, about how, against all odds, the and bodies of her trackers trudging the narrow tow path. Foot by foot mail must go through. Whereas this book was they fight their way forward. Hour after hour, undaunted, these hardy compiled through the courtesy and from the men toil on, till the great rapids are passed and another battle is won pictures of Mr. A.M. Chapelain, a Frenchman for transportation. who served as China’s Postal Commissioner in Shanghai over a period of three decades, In the great wastes of China’s farthest hinterland, plain and desert and from the late Qing Dynasty to the early rock – strewn foothills stretch out, far as the eye can reach, hot and Chinese Republic era. brilliant in the summer sun. Miles of wilderness lie between hamlet and village and towns. Between them are no roads, only a footpath The two-page eight paragraph description winding its tortuous way where the going seems least difficult. is so poetic, romantic and descriptive that quoting from it would not do it justice. Thus, Along this path a man moves at a brisk jogtrot alone in all the vast it is reproduced below as it appears in the terrain. Balanced on his shoulder is a pole, from either end of which

book: s TOP TO BOTTOM: are suspended bags of mail. He is one of the fast couriers of the TOP TO BOTTOM: First mail-carrying airplane Between Beijing and Jinan in Henan: Hauling a fast post courier over city wall. 1921. Guizhou: Caravan of heavy mail couriers. Stinson plane used on the Shanghai to Beijing postal route. Fujian: Rural postman on his round. Loening amphibian used on Yangtze River postal line.

PAGE 4 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 5 railroads, steamboats… A vast organization criss-crossing the country Chinese Post Office, one of the thousands of men to whose courage, with a galvanic net of transportation. stamina and faithfulness are entrusted the mails along China’s 250,000 miles of overland fast courier service. The dash from marathon, the message to Garcia, the pony express… Brilliant feats though they are in man’s endless striving for swift He has come twenty miles. He has another twenty miles to go before communication…cannot compare with the panorama of China’s his day is done…before he turns his trust over to the next runner, sustained and magnificent efforts… Efforts that remain unrelaxed, day who jogtrots on through the night. Forests, uplands and wilderness, and night, through all the changing seasons, the entire year round.” the autumn night merges them into a blur of blackness. Only the mountains are half distinct as they bulk against the sky; across the Romanticism aside, we select below a number of the most dramatic landscape, a tiny glow of light bobs along unflagging, purposeful, it pictures depicting the ground mail service and how China transitioned is the lantern that the courier carries to light his footsteps through in the early air mail age, when passenger traffic was considered low the night. He carries a spear, too, protection against wolves, whose priority, subject-to-load only after mail cargo. While it allows us to howling he can hear in the dark. enjoy a glimpse into the past, we should also remember and appreciate the hardships of older generations. It is through their ingenuity and Oftentimes, it is “bandit – country he must traverse. Always he does perseverance that this new generation can start life from a much higher so in safety, for even the bandit respects the courier’s uniform; on and platform. For young adults today, please take stock and have higher on he goes, jogtrotting his forty miles, carrying now light-mail, now expectations of yourself, rather than discarding the older generations heavy, precious cargo that must be delivered. into the dustbins of history.

Then winter comes, with its biting winds and blinding snowstorms. Over the bleak country side, here snow covered and there frozen hard, the runners continue endlessly to ply their routes; not only foot- couriers, but mounted couriers, buffalo carts, mule and camel packs,

TOP TO BOTTOM: Hebei (Chihli): Heavy mail transported by camel between Zhangjiakou (Kalgan) and Ulaan Baatar (Urga). TOP TO BOTTOM: Henan: Heavy mail on wheel-barrows drawn by mule Henan: Tung Kwan Ting to Kwan Yin Tang fast courier and donkey. fording a stream. Hebei: Cart service transporting heavy mail. Hebei: Mounted postman delivering mail at Beidaihe. Jiangsu: Inland heavy mail courier.

PAGE 6 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 7 CERS ARTIST RESIDENCY AND AGENCY A new model in supporting and representing artists By Wong How Man Hong Kong

Speaking to Zwe, I hesitated and held back on the specifics to him. Zwe was made an orphan when both of his parents of why I was a bit upset. I am not a drinker, but in the passed away after he ran away to art school in Yangon. His I appreciate art, but I do not appreciate artists,” I said bluntly kitchen of the villa, I kept a fine selection of liquor; whisky, home was in Rakhine State, now made notorious for the to the impassive face of Zwe. He looked back at me blandly brandy, wine and Chinese fuel-grade white lightning, expulsion, or some say voluntary exodus, of the Rohingya as if I was talking to a wall. I double-majored in Journalism intended for visiting friends. They’ve been on the kitchen people, and continued fighting between the army and local and Art in college, and know well how artists are, or pretend counter for almost two decades. When I checked, they ethnic militias. to be. For me and most of us, we have the left brain to were all empty, the contents gone. Zwe is known to be a supplement the right. The better the artist, the more right-brain leaning good drinker, or a good drunk. But Zwe is also one hell of Zwe’s family was poor and could not support him through “ an artist that I would like to try to represent, and we are art school. He was known to share leftover lunch from he or she is, and the harder to manage her or him, if even at all possible. hosting him as our first-ever CERS artist in residence. fellow classmates, and went hungry during the weekends I elaborated on decades of knowing artists with right brain in surplus, when everyone else went home. It thus may have provided and left brain in deficit. In the early 1980s, through the University of Sandra, our Myanmar Country Manager, first approached fodder for his developing into someone who is used to Southern California where I worked, I even brought two Chinese artists him in Yangon, after I bought one of his paintings at Inle pilfering, a skillful scavenger. His chain-smoking habit also Lake. Zwe asked whether he could bring his sister who, he led to health problems, which has curtailed somewhat his to the US, resulting in their success and ultimate immigration into the s country. said, is also an artist. I said no problem, bring her along. active painting. Sister she wasn’t. Phyu turned out to be a skillful painter Zwe and a woman artist Phyu have been taking up my former residence in her own right, a friend of Zwe, who is forever catering on the hill here in Zhongdian. The wooden building is a three-story Clockwise from Left: villa looking down on pine forest and fish ponds, the scene descending Letter and stamps to Einsten. beyond to an ensemble of buildings, pavilions and kiosks, including General Aung San currency of a writer/composer residence, a multi-function main premises and a Lady Aung San Suu Kyi. museum. Altogether eleven buildings make up the CERS Zhongdian Renminbi of Mao portrait. Center on the outskirt of what today is known as Shangri-la. I have Phyu’s water-marked portrait. Phyu’s painting with biker and moved down to a small one-room abode which still provides enough car with hidden faces. sanctuary, but spares me from the ups and downs on the hill several Details of stamped young Aung times a day just for meals or meeting visitors. San Suu Kyi’s lips, eye, and full face.

PAGE 8 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 9 Zwe is known for using stamps or old withdrawn paper money to create his paintings. His earlier works are all inspired by social ills and injustice in his country, thus resulting in the somewhat progressive to radical themes of his paintings. However, it is not easy to find a ready buyer for such works of art. Luckily for CERS, the difficulties of this first attempt to host artists in residence was not too hard to surmount, despite their eating and sleeping at totally undefined odd hours. Later on, we were to host the two artists on our exploration boat in Myanmar, as well by the spirit of exploration, providing support to artists in as at our premises at Inle Lake. Phyu, as fortune would countries where CERS has projects and operations. A small have it, turned out to be quite a talented artist as well. and select list of emerging individual artists will be invited Her paintings of children are a joy to see, and her water- to stay and work as resident artists at CERS premises in marked paintings occasionally have surprises hidden to be China, Myanmar, the Philippines and Hong Kong. discovered gradually. These artists can produce their art in diverse media with What came as another nice surprise was Phyu’s family. Her results being exposed, and offered for sale, to high-end father and his three daughters are all artists. I visited her at CERS supporters. CERS will repatriate the regular agent’s her most humble home on a back street in Monywa, a city proceeds to the artist’s home country to support non- However, not all artists are as dedicated as Phyu’s family. some two hours west of Mandalay. Seeing her tiny bedroom profit conservation work. Pieces sold to CERS friends I have collected three pieces of Kyaw Zay Yar’s paintings, where she painted by squatting on her bed with a canvas will generally be made available to the artists for future admiring the surrealistic style of his landscapes, especially propped next to it was not a surprise. Nor was meeting exhibition as well. her sister Swe Zin Latt, who is now teaching sculpture the way he exaggerated figures of Buddhist monks, which he himself once was. He also occasionally applies gold leaf at Mandalay University. All along, I assumed the three Given that CERS has multiple facilities in serene locations, Left: Three surrealistic painting of landscape and monks by Kyaw into his art, reminiscent of early Buddhist mural art. By the Zay Yar. siblings must have gotten into art after being influenced by we have begun using these premises, when not fully utilized, Top: Phyu with her collection of children paintings. their father. Not so. time I took an interest to inviting him as our resident artist, to accommodate writers and composers. In 2019 we started Bottom: Phyu crawling through a window into her bedroom/studio. he had not painted for four years, with his family keeping a pilot program of invited resident artists, two at a time, him indoors. He had succumbed to the intensity of drugs, U Soe Tint the father had always wanted to become an beginning with the two visiting artists from Myanmar. artist. But such a vocation could hardly provide for the being surreally hooked on something that probably resulted in his somewhat psychedelic works of art. I decided to buy upbringing of three children. So, U Soe Tint maintained This program will in time include artists from Bhutan, the his last three remaining pieces for our collection. a regular job until the three girls were grown and had Philippines, Lao PDR and other neighboring countries where established themselves as working artists. Only then did CERS expects to have a long-term presence. Ultimately this As for CERS, our new experimental model was inspired their father, in turn, become an artist, the last in the family, format would also allow artists from different emerging

now making sculptures using natural gemstones. countries of Asia to interact with each other. Our focus s

PAGE 10 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 11 Research xxxx. Report on the Huangdi Dong in Qiantie Village, Wang Xia, Hainan Province By CERS (Hong Kong) - Zhang Fan, Zhou Chensu & Wang Jian and Yunnan Geographic Research Institute - Karst Research and Survey Center

ituated in the southeast coastal of China, three phase diagram, one engineering graphics, one three Hainan Province is an island 18 km from the dimensional diagram, and one three dimensional animation Chinese Mainland. In 2008, CERS (Hong were produced. Natural and cultural heritage around the will be on emerging artists little-known except in their Kong) launched a cultural protection project cave region were also studied and this also produced results native land, yet with artistic skills and interpretation that in the Hong Shui Village, Wang Xia District containing useful research and educational values. can be appreciated by a larger audience, be they collectors of the province’s Changjiang County. In the course of or exhibition visitors. S the project, CERS helped rebuild/repair 20 traditional The exploration team was made up of the following persons: thatched roofed houses to their original shapes. These boat We do not expect to represent such artists for a long period shape thatched roofed houses were the traditional type of Team Leader - of time, but to be the catalyst to make their work known accommodations for the native Li people who had been Zhou Chensu, CERS Cave Explorer and Researcher of the to a wider public. For our next round, I’ve been checking living in the region for many centuries. The rebuilt/repaired Karst Research and Survey Centre, Yunnan Geographic on artists from Bhutan. Further down the road, I also hope houses were used as library, museum, classroom and Research Institute. to include more primitive types of art, created by shaman accommodation in relation to CERS’ educational programs or other members of the three-hundred strong Batak tribe under the project. Team members - whom we are now working with in the jungles of Palawan William V. Bleisch, PhD, CERS Zoologist; Wang Jian, Manager of CERS Kunming Center; in the southern Philippines. Since 2012, CERS organized annual study and excursion camps to this project site for its students. In the course Chen Zhima, Deputy Manager (Education), CERS of this, explorations and researches were conducted on Zhongdian Center; TOP TO BOTTOM: The Batak are also heavy drinkers, but it would not be my subjects including the region’s cultural heritage, wild life William Ruzek, CERS Geologist and Specialist (Remote Zwe finishing painting on HM Explorer as Phyu watches. wine they consume. Their alcoholic beverage is not from Zwe painting at CERS Center in Shangri-la Yunnan. and plants, landforms and hydrogeology. Many useful Sensing & Mapping); bottle but from nature, fermented liquor produced directly results were obtained. from, and on the top of, the coconut palm. Of those we have Students - plenty, as our Palawan site hosts over one thousand coconut One of these study and excursions activities was a cave Huang Xihua (Hong Kong, China); palms! exploration on a cave system comprising two linked Huang Houhua (Hong Kong, China); cavities in the Qiantie Village. This was conducted between Zhang Yingxi (Hong Kong, China); July 22 to 25, 2014. Suo Lang Dong Zuo (China); Audrey Chan (USA); s Laser range finder was used in the exploration. The total Shean Laluani (India); length of the cave system was found to be 461.9 meters. One

PAGE 12 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 13 I. Some Backgrounds on Hainan Island dominated the Yanshanian magmatic activities and this made it easy for the rocks to turn calc-alkaline. The source of magma was relatively i. Geology deep. From the above, it is reasonable to assume that the island belongs to the cathayrian tectonic domain. Situated on the south-most end of China’s territories. Hainan Island is the nation’s second largest island. The The spread of Precambrian meta basic blocks along the north side of island’s stratum was formed as a result of Mesozoic the east-west fracture belt is Changjiang and Qianghai is enormous. The and Cenozoic magma activities. About 18% of them are chemical properties of these rock blocks and of the rare earth condrites exposed to the sky. The oldest exposed stratum, found in which they contained are similar to the ophiolites in the south Qinling west Changjiang and in Dongfang County, was formed in Mountains, Mian Lue, and Western Yunnan’s Shuanggou and Babu. This the Mesoproterozoic period and its body is a mixture of suggests that these meta basic blocks might be remnants of the Paleo gneiss and rock tablets formed by metamorphic action on Tethys oceanic crust which separated China into the North China plate deep water clastic turbidities, mafic volcanic rocks and and the South China plate. The shilu group and the Tai Mao formation amphibolites. This mixture body is also the crystalline may also be indications that there is some kinship between these blocks basement of the entire island. The Isotope ages of Ziron and the Australian land mass. and UPb are 1 billion 751 million years and 1 billion 463 million years respectively. ii. Hydrogeology, landforms and climate

The stratum is unevenly covered by iron bearing shilu The Changjiang Li People’s Autonomous County is situated in Hainan rocks. Shilu rocks are similar in structure and properties to Island’s north west. It has alternate wet and dry and tropical monsoon the Australian jasper hematites, which are used as iron ore. climate. The County’s area is 1,596 square kilometers. It connects the Above the shilu rocks is a layer of mixture of calcareous Baisha County on the east, Ledong County on the south, Beibu Gulf rocks and moraine bearing conglomerates. on the west, and the city of Dongbang and Changhua River on the south-west. The County’s mountainous, hill, and plain areas are 547.43 On the south of the island, Sanya, the situation is covered km²,188.33 km² and 332.49 km² respectively. It has a population of by Cambrian and Ordovician clastic rocks and carbonate 254,700, of which 151,303 are engaged in farming work. The County is rocks formed by basin sedimentation. These are conodont high on its south-east which in its mountaineers region. It then gradually and phosphorus bearing rocks, similar to the Clant group descends towards the north-west to the hill, platform, terrace and plain, in Queensland, Australia. These conodont rocks are often landforms. Areas of the mountaineers, hills, valley, platform, terrace, found in shallow sections of a continental shelf, consistent beach, and water source regions are 34.3%; 11.8%; 6%; 20.7% ; 22.6%; with Sanya’s geographic location. 2.8%; and 1.8% respectively of the county’s total area.

In the area to the south of the Wuzhi Mountain, the stratum Average annual rainfall for the County is 1,427 mm. The years with is covered by Silurian clastic rocks and limestone slates the highest and lowest rainfall rewards were 1973 and 1972, when containing coral, brachiopods and trilobites. The constituent 2,416.8 mm and 1,106.1 mm of rainfall, were rewarded respectively. elements Eospirifer and Coronocephalus of these creatures May to October is the rainy season. Rainfall in this period accounts had also been found in socks on the Yangtze Platform. for 90% of the total rainfall of the year. November to April is the dry season, amount of rainfall is only 10% of the year’s total. Rainfall in the On other parts of the island, the stratum is covered by County’s south-east mountainous regions in higher, usually more than Counter clockwise from left: Silurian deep water turbidities without Devonian mud 1,600 mm per year. In the lower regions in the north-west, the rainfall Millipede. basins, substances of the Upper Paleozoic period, in the is usually between 902.6 to 1,017.4 mm per year. Average annual Spider. form of sand and mudstone rocks, limestones, siliceous evaporation rate is between 1,500 to 1,900mm. The rate is lower in the Bats. rocks, actinolite rocks, were found in the Wuzhi Mountain mountainous regions and higher in region’s near the sea. The Changjiang Government listed the Emperor Cave as a key nature reserve of the Paleolithic period. area. Brachipod, bivalve and plant fossils were often found A stone wall of the Emperor Cave was constructed at in stones and rocks in this area. Substances of the lower three Extremely low and high evaporation rates (594.4 mm and 2,048.5 mm the entrance of the Cave. Permian periods that were found were molasses. Substances were recorded in the years 1953 and 1969 respectively. Average annual of the upper and middle Permian and the Jurassic periods temperature is 24.4 ˚C. Extreme high and low temperature ranges are were not found. Substances of the lower cretaceous period 37.5 to 41.5 ˚C, and 1.5 to 4.2 ˚C respectively. Average annual sun light that were found were red clasolites embedded in volcanic hours are between 2,000 to 2,600. Average wind speed in 3m per hour, rocks. Thickness of faulted basin areas formed in the north-easterly if in winter. Average number of typhoons in 3.3per year, Cenozoic period are over 3,000 meters. Quaternary period highest grade 12, wind speed 33m per hour. multilayer basalt was found on the north side of the island. Distribution of magmatic rocks on the island is extensive, iii. Creatures in the Cave covering 53% of the island’s area. These are mainly in the form of acidic intrusive rock bodies of the shell source or Observing and studying cave creatures in Karst regions has become a S types. They were transformed from mafic rocks in the hot topic both in the tourism and scientific sectors. The former’s focus Hercynian and Indosinian periods. Fractural movements is on advancing the tourist industry through promoting tourists’ s

PAGE 14 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 15 continue to defend but were finally killed.

Map showing the location of the Emperor Cave, a country road runs between the cave entrance and the river. Scenery in the vicinity in good.

II. Findings of the Exploration

This is a cave system of two caves.

i. Location map of the Emperor Cave.

ii. Three-phrase Diagram of the Emperor Cave interest in these observations and studies. The latter, on the other hand, are concerned how these creatures and the environment in which they live can be better preserved and protected.

Preliminary investigations in the Emperor Cave (Huangdi Dong) show that it has got bats, furnarius, spiders, millepedes and carps and grass carps (in the streams outside the cave).

iv. A trail with natural steps on an upboard rocky slope leads to the entrance of the Emperor Cave where a stone wall was constructed just in front. In 1932, a German anthropologist entered the cave. He wrote in his exploration diary these in length and 33m in height. Cave B is situated lines: “There are beautiful stalactites, stalagmites and 29.4m higher than Cave A. The wildest part of stalactitic platforms inside the caves. There might be many iii. Three-dimensional Diagram of the Emperor Cave Cave A is its entrance, measuring 46.9m. That bats too. A stone wall was built just in front of the cave of Cave B is near the middle of its interior, entrance to block it off. Just wonder when was this wall measuring 33m. built and who built it.”

There are five entrances to this cave system, There is another cave, The Qiantie Cave, near the Emperor A1, A2, A3 and B1, B2. Caves A and B which Cave, near the Emperor Cave. This Qiantie Cave is the are 35.5m apart. Collapsion had occurred in first Paleolithic period cave discovered on Hainan Island. four locations inside the cave system and these It has existed for over twenty thousand years, just like are the rubble areas in the system. the Zhoukondian Cave in Beijing. It’s discovery will have important meanings in studies and researches on ancient Cave A is spacious with a relatively flat and human activities on Hainan Island. even floor. The space between A1 and A3 has signs of repair works. The space near A3 is On December 19, 1986, the Changjiang Government listed comparatively larger and has got some medium the Emperor Cave as a key nature reserve of the Paleolithic to large size, nicely shaped, but vandalized Clockwise from Left: period. sedimental objects. Their value for viewing The Huangdi Cave is located on the south bank of the junction of the Nanhua and appreciation is therefore low. River and the Hongshui River, tributaries of the Changhua River. Among the local Li people, there are many legends The entrance of the cave faces northwest and is about 20 meters high from the concerning the Emperor Cave and other caves around. One river bed. Cave B is likewise spacious and with a of these was an ancient Emperor dreamed in his dream Cave A has a large space and the terrain at the bottom of the cave is gentle; the iv. Measurements relatively flat and even floor. Comfortable inside temperature of the cave is mild with an average of 25.6 . that the headman of the Li people was plotting to start a ℃ temperature inside. Collapsion had occurred Some large and medium-sized sediment landscapes have been developed in rebellion and to take over him as the nation’s Emperor. He large space section at the cave entrance, which are beautiful in shape and Total length 461.9m, all the way dry. Average temperature near B2 so the location has a lot of rubbles. was so raged that he immediately sent a large army to attack relatively concentrated. However, there are some signs of man-made destruction 25.6 ˚C, and humidity 90%. GPS coordinates E18˚57’46.25”, Cave B’s interior has a large stone mantle and the headman and his people. The headman and his people on the walls and stone pillars inside the cave, and the destruction history can be N109˚8’28.64”. Altitude 259m. a small number of stalactites and stalagmites. was very much out-numbered and very poorly equipped traced back to years ago. But all have stopped growing. Graffiti and so they lost the battle after suffering heavy casualty. The The cave system was formed by collapsion and it comprises vandalism are serious. Again the value for headman and his mother retreated into the Emperor Cave to two caves, A and B, as shown in the diagram. Cave A is viewing and appreciation is low. 140.3m in length and 36.8m in height; Cave B is 321.6m

PAGE 16 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 17 Clockwise from Left: Huruq’s high country products. Golden Cordyceps. Cheaper Cordyceps. A second Tibetan home. Lady selling Cordyceps.

the Mergui Archipelagos when word arrived by satellite mountains westward, and to Tibet, a six-day journey north, phone that my ageing father had taken a fall and I must turn as well as crossing into Yunnan, an eight-day trek crossing back and rush to the hospital. A year later now and I’m in six mountains to the east. His most recent expedition Putao, the northernmost region of Myanmar, exploring a was last November - a trek to the Dulong (Drung) River valley surrounded by mountains, India to the west, China’s valley, trading for his family. They sell to China musk, NORTHERN MYANMAR Yunnan to the east, and Tibet to the north. cordyceps and at times bear gall, returning with more fashionable clothes and shoes. A musk pod, the dried scent The left or west tributary of the Irrawaddy, called the gland of the male musk deer, can fetch five to six thousand ENCLAVE Malikha, flows through the valley. Hkakabo Razi, known Renminbi depending on its size. Ram Sengh used as point By Wong How Man as the highest peak (5742 meters) in Myanmar until a recent of departure Dazung Dam, his birth home, which is at an Putao, Myanmar contender peak Gamlang Razi knocked it out of the top elevation of 1300 meters above sea level and a week’s trek spot, appears on the GPS app map. Both peaks are part of north of Putao. the eastern Himalayas, weeks away by trek through jungle and mountains. His crossing point into China was exactly where I also Relatives from Sawalong (Cawarong) invited us to visit. So, crossed in 2016, though heading in the opposite direction, four years ago, I and six others took the 18-day trek across Several attempts were made to summit Hkakapo Razi, with a at Border Post 41 where the upper Irrawaddy, called Drung six mountains to reach the distant town in Tibet,” said Huruq Japanese and a Tibetan making the first successful ascent in locally, flows from China into Myanmar. We compared who is one of two Tibetan families now living in Sanlum Dam 1996. Subsequent climbs resulted in death of two Burmese our pictures of the final crossing and they corresponded village on the eastern edge of Putao. expedition members who disappeared during their descent. perfectly. On the Myanmar side, the ethnic group called “ Mark Jenkins, a correspondent friend from Wyoming who Rawang is the same as China’s Dulong nationality. Story The long hike must have been exhausting for Huruq who is now seventy was a member of one of the assaults, is seeking permission had it that when representatives of China’s minority and was born in Myanmar. His father had moved approximately a to climb it again in order to verify its height. nationalities converged in Beijing in the 1950s, they got to century ago from Sawalong to northernmost Myanmar where there are meet with Chairman Mao. When a local from the Drung now four Tibetan villages, Tawundam, Samdam, MaDein and Htaondam Putao during WWII was known to Hump pilots as Fort River saw Mao, the Chairman asked where he was from. He with about 200 Tibetan inhabitants in total. They say they are of the Hertz, no doubt named by a former British colonialist. It answered Drung and from then on the group became known Drolpa tribe, historically living close to Sawalong. was here that a radio station was set up, providing crucial as the Dulong, a transliteration of Drung. radio signal for flyers with bearings to navigate across “By car we all went to Kunming, and our relatives then took us all the the hazardous eastern Himalayas, bringing equipment and A visit to the Putao Rawang Museum (spelled Rvwang way to Beijing,” Huruq spoke with sparkles in his eyes, while his long supplies for wartime China. Over 600 airplanes (dubious locally) showed a migration map of its people from the face and deep features revealed his Tibetan heritage. The trip must have reports boasted 2,000) were lost during a period of slightly northern Tibetan plateau, across the entire high country been quite an eye-opener for someone from one of the remotest corners over three years. CERS is fortunate to retain in our and eastward to Kham and then southward between the of the world. collection rare sheets of double-sided silk maps of Burma Mekong and Salween River, eventually crossing westward and the Hump - very finely printed dating from the War into northern Myanmar. Their language is the same as that His daughter Sana Lamu and son-in-law Dorji had moved down the hill years in 1942 and 1944. I have brought them along as my of the Dulong of Yunnan, and has about thirty percent of to the plain some four years ago. But during the spring and summer, guide. words in common with that of the Nu nationality of the they go back to high country. While we were chatting, Dorji was busy upper Salween valley. TOP TO BOTTOM: preparing some salted butter tea for us, using a plastic churner rather My other guide for the last few days is Ram Sengh of Tibetan home of Dorji and Lamu. than the traditional wooden cylinder churner. Rawang ethnicity. They are the main ethnic group of Putao While the migration of the Rawang had taken them from Huruq, Tibetan of Myanmar. valley. Though only 28 years of age, he has trekked to the their historic home on a journey of thousands of kilometers, Dorji churning tea and wife Lamu. A year ago, I was island-hopping at the southern tip of Myanmar in border with India, a thirteen-day hike crossing as many the more recent exodus of the Lisu following their s

PAGE 18 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 19 Clockwise from Left: divides precipitated ethnic strife, which continues to this Kryzi at her new home. day as insurgent struggles in this part of the country. The Marta and May at mother’s home. Kachin Independence Army (KIA) is still active after 70 Rawang hunter with takin head. years, and much feared once people leave the main roads CERS acquisitions. and head into the hills. Pongbur with hat & crossbow. I visited the dilapidated church and home of the Morses in Muladi. The ruins with rusted roofs tell a tale of a church community that lasted barely 15 years before the family left the scene. The parish however continued to flourish, as most of the Lisu who departed with the Morses eventually decided to turn back. Their church was pure and pristine, like the nearby turquoise water of the upper Irrawaddy, until the year 2000 when there came a split of the group into two separate churches, one of which wanted to expand and further their work, while the other was determined to keep their parish only among the local community.

As for the Morses, today descendants of the family have missionary leaders in 1965 had taken them across from Putao later on. Thus the mass migration began, as portrayed started anew in Chiangmai of northern Thailand, continuing Putao to the border of India – a distance of only a couple in Eugene Morse’s book Exodus to a Hidden Valley. their forefather’s unfinished evangelizing work, calling hundred kilometers. Yet the Lisu migration was written up themselves the North Burma Christian Mission, a somewhat in contemporary times as a great religious drama. True to form of such work of religious zeal, the Lisu as outdated and diehard colonialist name. well as the family members were portrayed in the book as In 1926, the Morse family left the Batang Mission in brave, selfless and resourceful, whereas the pursuing army It was barely 6:30am and I am strolling the street market western Sichuan after five years of contract service and were timid, cowardly and clumsy. Even the Indian border in heavy fog near the center of Putao. Experience tells me moved west into the upper Salween River, continuing officer was depicted in rather condescending fashion while that once the fog lifts, the sky will be clear with the winter their preaching among the Lisu and Rawang of the area the Morses were hoping for graciousness and permission sun shining. Three long lines of venders are selling local as independent missionaries, working on both sides of to enter the country. The author described crossings of vegetables, fruits, meat, smoked and freshly caught fish, the China/Burma border. During the War, the Morses did ravines and hazardous terrain, finally arriving at their new and forest products like game meat and honey in bottles. A service for the Allies in attempting to rescue survivors of homestead settlement for the next five years. The narrative woman with a large woven basket brought out a huge native crashed planes as well as accounting for human losses and of survival against nature, though brutal are nonetheless carp, perhaps five feet long, freshly caught from the nearby burial services for those flight pilots and crew. beautiful and more palatable, including a very informative Malikha River, the left tributary of the upper Irrawaddy. account about the native’s honey collecting expeditions. Two hornbill heads caught my eyes, two different species. I had been following much of the missionary work along the upper Mekong and Salween, including taking Swiss Later, the army caught up with them and sent them on a Momentarily, a lady squatting held up in front of me a priest Fr Savioz back to his church in Tibet. Besides, forced march to final deportation. Not surprisingly, the small plastic bottle with a red cap. I took a closer look – we documented much work of the Hump pilots including communists in China, which Morse had left some fifteen cordyceps. There was a bundle of the precious caterpillar creating a small theme museum. I had taken 70-year-old Dr. years before, were also featured as being godless and cold- fungus inside. Much valued for its supposed medicinal William Hardy back to his place of birth in Batang in 1987. blooded. It seems natural and obvious that the clear divide properties, this is the treasure of the high plateau that He was born in 1916 in Batang, where his father, also a Dr. between good and bad is straightly along religious lines. has enriched many Tibetan communities over the last few William Hardy, had taken over the mission clinic from Dr. decades. Suddenly, I started seeing many more of these red TOP TO BOTTOM: Albert Shelton, who founded the Batang Mission after being I stopped for a moment reading the book and became a cap bottles sitting at the feet of several venders. inspired by Canadian missionary doctor Susie Rihnhart’s bit cynical, wondering how the Morses would feel had Jingpo Church. Rawang Sunday service. work in Tibet. In Pomona California I had met Dorothy, the they been born as Native Americans sent on an exodus Apparently, this is the most-prized merchandise among Multi-purpose watermill. daughter of Dr. Shelton. with the calvary in hot pursuit, driven finally into the everything else on sale for a pittance. Sandra our Myanmar squalid paradise of latter-day Indian reservations. One Country Manager helped me ask the price. They ranged After the Communists took hold of China in 1949, the of the Morses, Robert, went on to teach English at Lhasa from 5,000 Kyat (US$3.5) per piece for the golden fungus, Morse family moved further west in 1950 into northern University in the 1980s, for the cold-blooded communists! to 2,000 Kyat for the dark black type, depending on the size Myanmar, finally settling in Muladi some ten kilometers Convenience and opportunities often help people change and look. Small packets of three tiny pieces with a long tail south of Putao by a branch of the Malikha River. In 1965, sides in the calling of a higher cause. and a printed description in Burmese, would sell for around under the military government of Ne Win, the family were 5,000 Kyat. given very short notice and asked to leave the country. For much of the ethnic region in northern Myanmar, the Instead of abiding to the country’s new rules, the Morses once largely independent Jingpo, Rawang, Lisu, Zaiwa, Collecting caterpillar fungus has become the preoccupation decided to head off on foot toward India, hoping to gain Lachik and Lawngwaw were suddenly enmeshed into of the locals, and they hike for days from the plain of Putao entry across the border and perhaps find a new settlement to a generalized group called the Kachin, designated as to the high snow mountains to the north, east and west. continue their missionary work. Thousands of Lisu, about residents of a state of the same name when a new nation was Over the last three decades, prices have gone up thirty to a quarter of the population of the Putao plain, decided to born in 1947 upon exit of the British. Such high-handed fifty times depending on the grade of the harvest, thanks to s follow them, though the majority of them turned back to geographical integration with little consideration for ethnic an escalating demand on the Chinese side. News of such

PAGE 20 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 21 distant markets has been relayed over the high mountains After a bowl of noodles next door to Kyrzi’s home, we People began filing in from the village. Soon the all of by Ram Sengh’s advice and boarded a long-tail boat. of Tibet to a tiny community of some 200 Tibetans who visited neighboring Shangkaung village. Pongbur, sixty- the church’s benches were filled, with women seated to the migrated from the plateau to northern Myanmar almost a four-years of age, is the best-known Rawang hunter, and he left and men to the right. There must have been a total of A few exciting runs through some whitewater rapids hundred years ago. has three sets of crossbow, all well used. He proudly shows 150 Christians gathered as service began with the assistant and we cruised the river with much of the pristine water me a flintlock gun he uses for hunting larger game. On the pastor, wearing a traditional Rawang coat, reading from glistening and reflecting from stones on the bottom. As Not far from the market in Putao live around fifteen Chinese pillar of his house is a Takin trophy head. These animals, the bible. There were plenty of young women with babies we travelled further, the rocks on both sides were carved merchant families. They have been here for generations. somewhat resembling mix of a cow and a goat, roam the in the church, some singing from their hymn books while smooth like sculptures that made Henry Moore’s creations Ms. Cun, sixty years old, was born in Putao and now foothills and lower slopes of the eastern Himalayas. We nursing their infants. As Pastor M was giving a long seem rather miniscule. This was dry water season and we runs the biggest variety store, covering merchandise from wanted to acquire it for display, but Pongbur brought out a sermon, we rose to leave. could imagine the vast current running through the Malikha clothes, dry food, motorcycles, and farm equipment, to much nicer specimen for us to take home. during the monsoon season. Before we turned around, at cement and other construction materials. She has six grown We had heard that nearby across the river was a Jingpo a Buddhist pagoda set in the middle of the river, we saw children, five of them married and living in other cities. We also procured one of his sets of crossbows with arrow village where another church service has begun. The many waterfowl, no doubt spending their winter here, down Her two-story mansion of a house is a stone’s throw away. pouch, poison arrows included. The tiny root he gave us is Jingpo are another tribe that made up the core of the KIA. from the high plateau. There were Ruddy Shelducks and Her father came from Heshun of Tengchong in western what the Rawang use to make their primitive hunting arrows Using a dug-out canoe, we paddled and poled ourselves cormorants, sandpipers and a few egrets. Though the locals Yunnan. She has visited her families ancestral home five lethal. We were warned to wash our hands after touching across the shallow river and walked for ten minutes to reach said there were hornbills around, I did not get to see them. times. She should be thrilled to hear that President Xi it. It took a bit of negotiation before we managed to acquire Nambuyun village. We arrived barely in time to observe Just before we reached shore again, I saw a most colorful Jinping stopped at her hometown of Heshun right after his a traditional ceremonial Rawang hat. Finely woven from four Jingpo singing their hymns in chorus with a young man and beautiful White-breasted Kingfisher that made my day. state visit to Myanmar these past two days. bamboo, it has many boar tusks attached around the rim. standing behind playing percussion guitar. As my five-day sojourn to Putao was coming to an end, I At Upper Sankhaung, a Rawang village west of Putao, a A traditional blouse made from hemp became yet another Just as they filed out of their rather spartan church, we thought for a moment that perhaps the missionaries had left road is being built to reach the Indian border, probably prized item for our gradually growing Rawang collection. managed to find a man living adjacent to the church to some redeeming value behind in their trail. Almost all the someday to be connected eastward to China as part of the Hemp is not allowed to be grown openly since the 1970s, show us his watermill. His is the only one in the village, Rawang, Lisu and Jingpo are now Christians, as evidenced transport web of the Belt and Road Initiative. Here I meet when the government decreed such plants may be used as so everyone bring their grains to him for grinding. Each by the many churches dotting the entire valley. As religious 50-year-old Kyrzi. She had immigrated to Australia twelve drugs, not recognizing that biologically there is a different bushel would cost 200 Kyat for his service. The watermill, practitioners, they refrain from drinking and smoking. But years ago but returned to Putao for ten years to be near her strain used for marijuana smoking. Drugs are indeed said taller than a person’s height in diameter, is ingeniously then, when I think further, their simple living and animistic mother, who is 84 years of age. Kyrzi wanted to turn her to be a major problem among young people of the Putao connected to three different machines, one for grinding rice past also had few vices to begin with. new house into a Bed & Breakfast. A clear stream flows in plain, but something more potent is used, in the form of an into flour, another for husking, and a third for crushing front of her house and she managed to install a small hydro injection. rape seed for oil. Certainly, those of us in a modern society Obviously, mobile phones and the internet age, which arrived generator for electricity, a game-changer given that the advocating clean energy and efficiency have something to some five years ago to Putao, will initiate more dramatic town’s power is certainly uncertain. She said her father was We stayed overnight sleeping on the floor at the home of learn here. changes to these people than any missionary had ever done the first Rawang pastor after the departure of the Morses. another Rawang hunter in Malikhong village to the east, in the past. Yet, we are all part of that current of our time, by the bank of a tributary that flows into the Malikha. The Besides all the cultural discovery in Putao, one highlight like the never-ending water of the Malikha River flowing Two of her sisters, Marta and May are also in town visiting next morning was Sunday and we headed to the local church was a boat ride down the Malikha River. At Nutkyun near us, with tributaries that converge to become the mighty from Yangon and Australia. May is living in Perth and before the services were to begin at 10am. The young village, we were told not to speak any outside languages so Irrawaddy. In the same way, all of us will soon become married to a Chinese, a Wong like myself. Later we were pastor U Maritdizi was very hospitable while his wife as to pretend to be locals. The boatman may not want to homogeneous in a world of the future, connected through to camp out at the yard of Marta, the eldest sister’s home. was hurriedly making popcorn over the hearth to entertain take foreigners on such a joy ride, as there are government clouds in the internet and clouds in heaven, Amen. Cold and humid with night dew, the warmth of my bivy us. At ten, Pastor M went out on the balcony and struck regulations prohibiting outsiders on the river. We abided tent attracted a slug that crawled over the tent to reach my the bell, calling his community to service. The bell was head. In the summer monsoon season, this would likely be actually a long metal gas cylinder hung on a string. a swarm of leeches instead.

Clockwise from left: Sculpted rock with pagoda. Nature’s sculpture. Rock art. Clockwise from bottom left: Hazardous border. Dr Hardy in Batang, Fr Savioz in Tibet, Kingfisher, Putao morning market, Rafting near Muladi, Old house of Morses. China/Myanmar at border crossing.

PAGE 22 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 23 own. But he just broke into a broad smile and told us, “Well you won’t know until you try, now will you?”

As the sun rose over the mountains the next morning, we were already on the road north out of Myitkyina. And it was of surprisingly good quality, built by the Chinese to link to a dam they had been building on the river a few kilometres north, until the Myanmar government suspended the project due to local opposition. After we passed that point however, the wide concrete road narrowed to a potholed ribbon of tarmac, but the views more than compensated as we were offered sweeping vistas across the Malikha river, the occasional wooden fishing canoe gliding serenely over its surface and, now and again, clusters of small shelters sprouting up on its sandbanks, home to optimistic gold miners. We were convinced that around every corner there would be a checkpoint where we’d be pulled up. But, amazingly, we just continued on, mile after mile, unimpeded. In the first three hours, we passed just a couple of other vehicles and one or two tiny villages of bamboo huts. What was by now a muddy track through thick jungle pushed Lucy’s half century old engine and suspension to the limit. But in some areas Forbidden Roads new construction was underway and a few sections had actually been finished so we had the surreal experience of crossing a fifty-year-old rickety wooden bridge, gunning up a steep rocky incline, and rounding and Mysterious a bend to find a two lane concrete highway suddenly materialise in front of us. Which would last for a glorious ten minutes or so before we were Beasts ejected unceremoniously back onto a jungle track. By Andrew Benfield & Richard Horsey Some thirteen hours after we’d left Myitkyina, and under the cover of darkness, we arrived on the outskirts of Putao. We hadn’t been stopped at all or even seen a single soldier - apart from Lucy, who had endured Just make sure you come back with a good story.” There everything that had been thrown at her like an absolute trooper. are few people in the world who would lend you their vehicle with that alone as a condition, but then again Wong Over the next week in Putao, we visited hunters and travellers who had How Man is cut from a different cloth than most. He’d just wandered far and wide in this vast region of the eastern Himalayas. agreed to lend us Lucy, his beautiful 1962 Land Rover, once Stories of the nya bi bi were not hard to come by. It was said to stand again.“ The first time had been a few months earlier in order for us to about a metre high, be covered in hair, emit a rather unfortunate odour, accompany the Last Overland expedition for the Myanmar leg of their and have a penchant for raiding remote villages in search of food and epic Singapore to London journey (featured in the Autumn 2019 edition local alcohol. We showed the storytellers photos of gibbons and other of this Newsletter). This time though we had an even more challenging apes but heads were vehemently shaken, no this was something very expedition in mind – to travel on Myanmar’s toughest road to Putao, its different. We gathered multiple consistent accounts but unfortunately most northerly town, something we’d been told no foreigner had ever no-one ever seemed to have a bone or hair sample for us. done before. If we reached this remote area, we wanted to research local stories of the nya bi bi, a diminutive bipedal ape-like creature with a Then, in an amazing stroke of serendipity for our wider research, two humanoid face said to live in the deep forests. This was part of our wider other foreigners showed up at our guest house who were ex-British search across the region for the truth behind the yeti legends that have military mountaineers and told us of a spine-chilling experience they’d long persisted among the mountain peoples of the Himalayas. had near Everest a few years back. High up in the snows they had found a blood trail from a recent animal kill leading down into a crevasse and We picked up Lucy from her base at Inle Lake in Myanmar’s Shan State then, on the opposite slope, seen a huge man-like ape gambolling along a couple of weeks later. In two days, we reached Myitkyina, the capital on two legs, like no other creature they knew off. The Sherpas who were of Kachin State, along bumpy but not-too-challenging roads that wound with them insisted most vehemently that what they had just witnessed through small villages, golden pagodas and parched scrubland. As we was the legendary yeti. pulled up to our hotel, we found How Man himself waiting for us, sitting Pictures enroute to Putao. beaming in the lobby, having just got back from his own trip to the north. We were brought back to more prosaic concerns as the local authorities Over dinner we soaked up his latest adventures and asked his advice on called us in and told us that they most definitely could not permit us our next day’s attempt to drive from Myitkyina to Putao. We confessed to drive back the way we had come as it was far too dangerous. This that, though some sources had told us it might be doable, others had said presented us with a bit of a conundrum as we really didn’t want to tell that the “road” which passed through dense jungle and mountains was How Man that Lucy had now permanently emigrated north and that he absolutely not passable and that, in any case, any foreigner attempting it would have to go to Putao any time he wished to see her. We had a bright was sure to be detained at the first military checkpoint. We felt a little idea and decided to ask our guide to drive her back to Myitkyina for us s uneasy about making such an attempt in a vehicle that wasn’t even our instead while we took the flight down. He readily agreed and we set

PAGE 24 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 25 The black pearl of Bhutan – first contact with the Monpa people By Astor Wong Hong Kong

he first thing that came into view after the plane soared through layers of thick cloud was the snowcapped mountains. Traces of snow sprawled from the top of the about showing him her idiosyncrasies. As he started out on his first test hills to the foothills, eventually melting into rivers - the drive though we realised that he didn’t seem to have much, if indeed arteries and veins of the country running through and any, prior driving experience. Over the next three days we took him on a nourishing the land. Welcomed by a gust of cold wind after a few hours’ crash course, or rather a how-not-to-crash course, until we felt confident T flight, I wrapped myself in a thick scarf to keep warm. It was early that he had the basics of road driving mastered. How he was going to December, the prologue to a few months of bleak cold winter in Bhutan. fare on the slippery tracks through the jungle though was another matter. This was my first visit to the land of the thunder dragon, but my trip was not quite the ordinary one that a regular tourist would expect. With As we flew from Putao back to Myitkyina a couple of days later, the blessings of Her Majesty the Royal Grandmother of Bhutan, I was covering in 30 minutes on the way down what had taken us 13 hours given the extraordinary opportunity to conduct field study in the remote on the way up, we wondered if we’d ever see Lucy again. But the next hinterland inhabited by the Monpa community alongside an esteemed morning the call came in, our guide had made it through and everyone professor, Dr. Seeta Giri, who was one of the only scholars who had was alive and well. We started to relax, knowing the challenging parts done in-depth research in that region. My objective for the trip was dual: TOP TO BOTTOM: of our adventure were now behind us. It would just be two days’ fairly to assist with Dr. Seeta’s research to renew her book and to make a quick Putao plain with snow mountains in background. easy drive back to Inle Lake to get Lucy home. survey on the Monpa communities to appraise the prospects of a future Lucy, 1962 Series 2, Land Rover. project for CERS. But it wasn’t to be. On what should have been our final day, Lucy decided to stop obeying all orders on a highway just outside Mandalay, Our 11-day field trip has been very fruitful and fulfilling. Not only did her steering suddenly giving up completely, the wheel spinning we visit all three Monpa villages, interviewing the local villagers and impotently as she refused to do anything in response. With a roadside conducting surveys, we also participated in the Monpa Day festival repair proving impossible and a towing attempt snapping the rope after when the community showcased their vast traditional knowledge and TOP TO BOTTOM: a couple of seconds, we had no choice but to leave the poor old girl out cultural repertoire. The Monpa proved themselves to be the nation’s Snowcapped mountains of Bhutan. in the open overnight. The next day, we hired a truck with a winch and precious gem, yet to be explored and studied. Wangling village. hoisted her into its cargo bed. And there she sat, sulking silently, for the A Monpa foraging rattan in the farm field. next eight hours as we chugged slowly over the Shan hills to get her back Hidden in the depths of the Mangdue and Wangdue valleys in Central to base. Lucy was clearly in no mood to be cooped up again - it seemed Bhutan lie three obscure villages little known to outsiders – Jangbi, the spirit of adventure could possess a fifty-year-old Land Rover almost Wangling and Phumzur. These remote villages are inhabited by the s as easily as it had possessed two 45-year-old Englishmen. Monpa people, who are considered one of the first inhabitants of

PAGE 26 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 27 Bhutan. Veiled by the dense forests of Black Mountain, this indigenous group remained self-sufficient and intact, isolated from the 2000- year dominant Bhutanese culture. That is, until the early 21st century when, under the umbrella of developmental initiatives of the Royal Government Bhutan, the Monpa community started assimilating into mainstream society.

The etymology of ‘Monpa’ is quite complex and messy, referred by different people to different groups at different times of history. Historically, Tibetans referred to Bhutan as ‘Lho Mon,’ which literally translates into the ‘Southern Land of Darkness.’ The term ‘Mon’ in historic Tibetan texts from the 8th and 9th century denoted the non- Buddhist ‘barbarians’ dwelling in the southern or western mountains between Tibet and India. It is not difficult to detect the condescending and discriminating connotation of the terminology – the ‘civilized’ and ‘enlightened’ Tibetans vis-à-vis the ‘uncultivated’ Mons that ‘remained in darkness.’ Although it remains unclear whether the Monpa nowadays are the same group designated Mon by Tibetans in ancient times, one thing is certain – the group has inherited the inferiority laden rhetoric in the label of ‘Mon’ - ‘dark’ and ‘uncivilized’.

Secluded in the backwoods of the country, which might be deemed by outsiders as uninhabitable, the Monpa used to subsist on hunting and gathering and swidden cultivation. Prior to the arrival of Buddhism in the region, their reliance on the natural environment for livelihood made them faithful adherents of Bonism and worship of nature. Looking up to their fellow Bhutanese, who are educated, well-composed and devoted to Buddhist doctrines instead of ‘savage’ practices, the Monpa regard themselves as lesser than their Bhutanese counterparts. cooking the best local delicacies for us with vegetables freshly harvested from the family’s home garden. It was a ‘farm-to-table’ experience that This is reflected in the Monpa tale of origin1: Guru Rimpoche once would fit the new urban gastronomic trend. I quickly learned that the roamed the land of the Monpa and asked the people to take care of his Monpa are immensely knowledgeable when it comes to local geography sacred vase. However, the Monpa ancestors breached the vows and and biology, capable of recognizing and using over 270 species of local traded his holiness’s vase for banchang (a local alcoholic drink). As they plants for food, medicinal purposes, household or ceremonial needs. had forsaken the sacred principles of the Rimpoche, the descendants of They were also true advocates of environmental conservation even the Monpa were cursed to work hard throughout life yet remain poor and before it became a global hot topic, as their religion has taught them to destitute forever. The intrinsic sense of inferiority buried deep down in interact with nature with respect and humility. their indigenous ethos translates into a strong drive for impersonation – to conform with the rest of the nationals through adapting their I used to be a skeptic when it came to ethnic-tourism, having doubts cultural behavior and religion. In conjunction with the development regarding authenticity versus performance under the enticement of program of the Royal Government of Bhutan: the introduction of commercialization, as well as the complexities of local power politics. modern agriculture, establishment of local schools, and environmental But here I must say I might have become more appreciative of the conservation efforts like the prohibition of swidden cultivation and prospects of ethnic-tourism after attending the Monpa Day held on foraging for forestry resources, the Monpa’s daily livelihood has December 10. Monpa Day is not a traditional ritual inherited per se, but undergone drastic transformation. The community has arguably attained an innovative event started a few years ago in an attempt to showcase better living standards and security, yet, on the other hand, they have indigenous cultural practices to attract potential clientele for local become more and more homogenized with the rest of the nation; their tourism. The full-day program began with an elaborate performance culture is rapidly fading away in the face of modernization and poverty of traditional folksongs and dances, followed by demonstrations of alleviation initiatives. From what I have experienced, however, they are traditional knowledge and skills, like pottery making and weaving. anything but inferior. Having interacted with the Monpa community, Next there was a visit to the local museum (remodeled from indigenous one would come to know them as modest – self-deprecating even – but architecture, curation still in progress). Although this was the first year TOP TO BOTTOM: remarkably diligent. that foreign guests were invited to Monpa Day, with the help of the Monpa museum. Tourism Authority of Bhutan and staff from the Folk Heritage Museum, Monpa folk dance performance. TOP TO BOTTOM: Sangay’s house was our home for eleven days; her family had been the event was very well organized and vividly demonstrated vibrant Monpa children performing ‘Muen gi muen ji. Sangay making us milk tea. extremely hospitable and kind to us, serving us tea and changke (a cultural characteristics of the Monpa. Fresh vegetables from home garden. cereal-based local alcoholic beverage) to keep us warm all the time and Ritual Demonstration by bonpo (shaman). First thing in the morning, after a cup of sizzling milk tea that warmed Weaving demonstration. my body, I got dressed in the Monpa traditional dress, the pagay, Golden langur spotted in the Monpa neighborhood. 1 s Seeta Giri, 2014. The Vital Link: Monpas and Their Forests. Thimphu: handwoven on a traditional loom with fibers extracted from kulima, Centre for Bhutan Studies.

PAGE 28 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 29 a local species of nettle plant. The garment was sturdy and wind-resistant; I thought of adding a piece of lightweight time, they may learn that their idiosyncrasy is not frailty not enough to revitalize the culture in real life situations, down vest underneath, but in the end I was glad I did not, as but an essential beauty that contributes to a multi-cultural but at the very least, the Monpa Day performance enabled it was totally unnecessary – I was already sweating. For the and dynamic nation. After the show, the local government a social remembrance of the Monpa culture and decelerated Monpa, the pagay was no longer a customary daily costume. officials even invited the performers to the town of Trongsa the distancing and externalization of the people from their The national dress for Bhutan, the kira, and modern casual to dance in the National Day celebration. Such acts are own culture under the tsunami of modernization. attire, like t-shirts and jeans, had been gradually gaining crucial in reinstating Monpa identity and pride. It is only if popularity locally with access to a road, and thus to the they can re-establish their self-worth that they will be able This is not to say, however, that the perks of tourism ‘outside world,’ making shopping much more convenient. to get more involved in and passionate about preserving development will come without any shortcomings. For Even for Monpa Day, most Monpa opted for kiras over the their own culture. one, how the Monpa community might benefit in economic pagay, leaving the latter only for performers. When offered terms definitely deserves further discussion. Equitable a choice, I insisted on wearing the traditional pagay of On a more pragmatic note, through daily rehearsals for development will not be attained without liaison with local the Monpa people instead of the national kira, despite the the performance, the Monpa have finally gotten in touch tourism operations and government units. Hopefully, Monpa foreseeable difficulty in locomotion. I did so for one simple with their own cultural practices and language once again. Day will become the first step for inviting meaningful reason – to show my utmost appreciation and respect to Monkha is an archaic Bodish language spoken among dialogues and promoting indigenous cultural appreciation their unique wealth of culture and indigenous knowledge. the Monpa people since time immemorial. However, the among both natives and foreigners. language is now on the brink of extinction due to the fall I could see it in their eyes – the sense of pride when they in colloquial usage among younger generations, since only In Cantonese, ‘covering a pearl with hay’ is a saying used to see foreigners, who they tend to look up to as being more English and the Bhutanese dzongka are taught in school describe something valuable that is hidden in mundanities. ‘advanced’ and ‘cultivated,’ dressed in their traditional curriculums. To engage the youngsters, the local school After visiting the Monpa villages, the first thought that pagay. Seeing their confidence was why I regard the Monpa students were taught to sing the traditional folksong ‘Muen came to my mind was that Monpa culture is the black pearl Day as a success. Despite its tourist-oriented nature, the gi muen ji’ for performance. Sung in Monkha, the song of Bhutan; it is the precious gem that we tend to neglect at event allowed an opportunity for the Monpa to renew their delineates the origins of the Monpa people. For some of the first glance, yet with time we might realize how it radiates identity, and to re-explore their personhood and the meaning Monpa children, this was the first time they had heard about and shines. It is not only about Monpa ethnicity and of being a Monpa aboriginal in the process. In the past two their ancestry and oral history, a fundamental part of their culture alone, but also their temperament, hospitality, and decades, they have tried so hard to assimilate into the identity development. Another instance to illustrate the innocence that make them unique and precious. Like the mainstream and ‘modernize,’ as they perceived themselves point was the tseri dance. Tseri is a traditional agricultural different streams flowing from the snowcapped mountains as innately ‘inferior,’ hence in need of improvement. activity, a form of swidden cultivation that is now banned and merging into a cohering river, their very existence bears CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: Through Monpa Day, with local government officials and due to environmental concerns. Rituals and other cultural immense weight in Bhutanese culture and history. Under Government officials at Monpa Day. foreign tourists, attentive audiences who traveled a long practices that stemmed from tseri agriculture are also the haystack, there is a lot more treasure hidden within the Monpa lady selling handicrafts. way just to understand more about them, the Monpa can With Dr. Seeta. abandoned. Fortunately, the tseri dance came back to life Monpa awaiting discovery. realize the gravity of their traditional inheritance. With Me in pagay, with Aap Nidu. once again through the demonstration on Monpa Day. It was

PAGE 30 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 31 The house is made of stone, adobe and timber and is built in Ladakh The Balay House of traditional building style. The condition of the building is very poor and is in urgent need of restoration.

Leh Old Town Some years ago the grandson of Abdul Masjid, Danish (a young man By Pimpim Karpo in his late teens at the time) attended a meeting on the conservation of Hong Kong Leh old town organized by THF, and after he approached us to discuss the restoration of his house. He told us that he did not want to build a new house as many Ladakhi were doing, but to restore his house and preserve his heritage. We were moved by his interest in preserving his ancestral home. In 2019, we had the opportunity to restore this house thanks to the kindness of Mr. How Man Wong and Mrs Virginia Yee and Mr Wellington Yee.

We approached the family and discussed with them if they were interested in restoring the house and let Mr. Wong and Mrs and Mr Yee and THF use the house for a number of years. The elderly couple said yes, but told us that we needed to discuss this with their children as they were old and the house was passed on to their daughter the mother of Danish.. At that time Mr. Abdul Majid told us that when he was young he was caught by the Chinese army, and kept as prisoner. Later he manage to get free, but he said he could not tell anyone how he was liberated as it was a secret. Mr. Abdul died few months later in the arms of his wife after he returned from a visit to Nubra valley and took his secret with him.

The restoration of Baley house started well, with the signing of a contract and the preparation of the necessary building materials. As we started the restoration work we observed that the extent of the damage he Baley Masjid house is one of the historic house in Leh was greater that we had expected. Some of the walls were weaker and old town, located in Stalam (horse road), the main street empty in the inside and needed to be rebuilt, this was unexpected work. leading to the Leh Palace, once the seat of the Ladakh Furthermore, the neighbor located to the south side told us that there Kings. Baley house was bought in 19th century by Mr. was a big crack and water leakage in her shared wall. We need to open Gulam Mohammad a trader in timber and supplier to the that wall also and repair it. Also, some of the supporting timber was palace and other officials of the King. Later the house was passed down resting on the sharing walls of the neighboring house on the North side. T This created a great deal of trouble, as the neighbor objected to sharing to his son, Abdul Masjid and he gave the house to his son. His son named after his father, was born in the house in 1935 and lived in the house the wall, which took a long time to solve. They need to request legal until 2000, after which he shifted to a house in a new part of Leh. papers for the houses and define the area of each house. In the end the Baley house owner agreed to build a new wall where it was shared with The family is a related to Ghulam Rassul Galwan the famous Ladakhi the neighbor. The new wall has changed the size of the room and the explorer and caravan leader on numerous expeditions to Central Asia restoration plan too as we planned a light well on this room. After this and Tibet in the early 20th Century. Later Mr. Galwan became Aksakal, issue was solved the restoration continued. the chief of the trader office of Leh, he wrote a memoir of his life and TOP TO BOTTOM: expeditions called “ the Servants of the Sahibs” with an introduction by Another challenge was to bring more natural light into the middle floor, for that we built skylight in the courtyard above the kitchen. For the On top of the ‘taloo’ a straw mat and layers of soil Sir Francis Younghusband. are applied to seal the roof. other room we opened a window in the middle floor and we will make The restoration work started by removing the soil on a light well from inside of a room in the top floor to the middle floor. the top floor to start repairing the structure (walls TOP TO BOTTOM: The Baley house is well planned and spacious, with a traditional big In 2019 most of the structural restoration was completed. In 2020, the and timber). The Balay house is located in the heart of Leh old kitchen on the middle floor and on the top floor two rooms and a THF’s architect, Yutaka Hirako checking the position restoration work will continue with the plastering of walls and finishing town with magnificent view of Leh Palace from its courtyard with a gallery. The house has two entrances, one on the ground of the stone pillars on the traditional kitchen. courtyard. floor accessed from Stalam and the other from the top floor with access work on the roof, parapets, and the construction of the toilet area. The condition of Balay house was in very poor, and The pillars, beams and rafter have been lay in their to a motor road at the back. in dangerous conditions. The roof was in the verge of original position. collapse and most of its walls were very damaged. Artisans are placing willow twigs (taloo) between the Interior view of the kitchen before starting the rafter to make the ceiling.. restoration work.

PAGE 32 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 33 Clockwise from left: CERS Ernie Yim on CERS expedition. CERS team on upper Mandalay Irrawaddy at Putao. Anaur Abdullah with field camp in House background. HKU team in Myanmar. Along a tributary of the Irrawaddy HKU students and By Wong How Man professors in Tibetan area Yunnan. Mandalay Gilbert and Derrick with HM in Shangri-la. lmost seven years ago, CERS launched the HM Explorer, a 106- foot explorer vessel with seven air-conditioned guest cabins. This purpose-built boat allowed CERS to explore waterways of Myanmar, in particular the upper Irrawaddy and its main n CERS mourns the passing of our islands with Anuar Abdullah, founder one professor from HKU stayed on tributary the Chindwin River. To date, many river trips have friend and renowned architect/ of Ocean Quest. board of the HM Explorer along the designer Mr Ernie Yim. Ernie had Irrawaddy River in Myanmar and also been conducted each year, including several cruises involving students and joined CERS on several expeditions n Gilbert Wong and Derrick Pang, visited our site at Inle Lake. A and had provided assistance at our both CERS directors, visited our guests. conservation sites in Yunnan and Zhongdian Center and nearby sites in n Two HKU professors, Hayson Liu Hainan. Shangri-la. and Parry Leung, visited CERS in All along, since 2013 when the boat was first commissioned into service, I have Myanmar as reconnaissance for future n n wanted to find a permanent home to moor this very important CERS exploration CERS launched an expedition to Astor Wong, CERS staff experiential learning for student explore the northernmost Kachin State anthropologist, joined Dr Seeta in groups. boat. Numerous trips were taken just to locate an ideal piece of land as our in Myanmar. Bhutan to study the Monpa tribe.

home and center near Mandalay. Finally, an affordable lot was identified and NEWS n HM paid a visit to several friends n At the invitation of CERS patron n 15 students and two professors of and supporters in the US, including purchased, and a three-story house built to accommodate several functions for Serge Pun, HM with three CERS staff Hong Kong University (HKU) visited 106-years Captain Moon Chin in San the organization, beyond being only a boat base. visited Kawthaung and Awei Pila CERS in Yunnan for a two-week stay, Francisco, Judith Corrente and Wim island of the Mergui Archipelagos at covering several CERS project sites. Kooyker in New York, Professor Barry the southernmost tip of the country Nalebuff at New Haven, and Don The new CERS Mandalay House is located in Thapatetan Village on the and discussed future potential of the n Another group of 11 students and Conlan in Los Angeles. Dokhtawaddy River,, less than thirty minutes by car from the airport and a mere five minutes cruise down to the main channel of the Irrawaddy River. This is where the two train and car bridges connect neighboring Sagaing Division to Mandalay, second largest city of Myanmar. The village has around 80 families, predominantly involved in pottery making and weaving of longyi, the daily CERS IN THE MEDIA AND LECTURES costume of traditional Burmese people. and a segment on visit to the Monpa hill merly supported by CERS when working tribe village. on his PhD thesis.

From today, this new house begins to function as the main CERS office in l Rhythm Magazine published a cover l Xueyou Li, William V. Bleisch, Xinwu Liu story on Palawan focusing on CERS oper- and Xuelong Jiang h(2020) Camera trap Myanmar, with accommodations for our country manager, field scientist, local ations in the Philippines, and two separate surveys reveal high diversity of endan- staff and visiting colleagues. Much of our expedition and scientific equipment stories by HM on Bhutan. gered fauna in Medog, Tibet. Oryx, Published online by Cambridge University l HM published a second book in his new have now been relocated from our boat to this new house. Front balconies on Press: 14 April 2020 https://doi. series “Enlightened Sojourn” in Taiwan in each floor offer an unobstructed view of the beautiful Mandalay sunset, and a org/10.1017/S0030605319001467 (A revisit December. back deck graces our morning wake up with a perfect sunrise. to the Great Gorge region of south-eastern l Dr Narayan Prasad Koju, a CERS asso- Tibet after 27 years reveals the continued ciate, together with Dr Bleisch, CERS presence of Bengal Tiger and many other Birds and squirrels are plentiful as the house is surrounded by tall mango trees. Science Director, published a paper in the endangered mammals. The lead article in Clockwise from left: the issue.) The songs of birds and the rhythm of the weaving machines create a most journal Oryx on the First Discovery of Snow Leopard (Panthera uncia) at Lapchi BBC production on CCTV9. l Zhang Fan and CERS caving team pub- beautiful symphony to accompany us as we write or work over a map to plan Village of Gaurishankar Conservation Area Cover story on Batak and Palawan. lished a report on the Carsologica Sinica of Nepal in a key corridor on the border our next expedition into the vast natural and cultural diversity of this wonderful Zhang Fan lecturing to large student group. Journal on the Gem Stone Caving in Fumin between Nepal and China. ancient country. Taiwan Dai Ai TV interview. County Yunnan, about its geological fea- l Xueyou Li, William V. Bleisch, and tures and scenic valuation. l HM was featured in the opening seg- Xuelong Jiang (2020) Human disturbance ment of a BBC produced series on China l Zhang Fan, CERS China Director, gave a and prey occupancy as predictors of car- shown also on CCTV 9. The shoot took lecture on caving in Yunnan to over 350 nivore richness and biomass in a place in Hua Shan with BBC history pre- primary school students followed by active Himalayan hotspot. Animal Conservation, senter Alastair Sooke. Q&A session. in press. (Using a new technique to ask l Taiwan’s DaAi TV channel broadcasted what determines the diversity and abun- l HM gave a half-day lecture including a a two-part feature on CERS work in dance of predators, including Tigers, in a walk-through of the CERS Shek O Exhibit Bhutan, including a meeting with the King remote region of SE Tibet) *Dr Li was for- House in Hong Kong with 11 HKU students.

PAGE 34 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 35 THANK YOU THANK YOU

n Barry Lam, CERS former Chairman, made a major donation n The SahanDaywi Foundation continues its annual donation to CERS. to CERS.

n David Mong and the Shun Hing Education and Charity Fund n The Lady Yuen Peng McNeice Charitable Foundation made another two-year major commitment in support of CERS. continues their two-year support to CERS for our work in Laos.

n Adrian Fu, long-time CERS friend, joined as patron in n Wendy O’Neill continues her annual support of CERS. support of our new Tibetan scholar staff. n The Stephen and Margaret Gill Family Foundation continue n Nancy Lee joined as our patron. their annual support to CERS in support of wildlife conservation. n We thank the following long-time patrons for renewing their support, Gigi Ma Arnoux, Charlie Brown, Dr Joseph Chan, n We thank the David/Araceli Barclay Charitable Fund for their Hans Michael Jebsen, John Hsu, Rick Kroos, Vic Lee, Afonso donation. Ma, Martin Ma, Derrick Pang & Family, Thomas Pritzker, Serge Pun, Betty Tsui, Gilbert Wong, Conrad Wong, Dora Wu, n Barry Nalebuff and Helen Kauder made a donation to CERS. Wellington & Virginia Yee, and Billy Yung.

CURRENT PATRONS

HONG KONG / OVERSEAS l Gigi Ma Arnoux l Rick Kroos l Chote Sophonpanich l Charles Brown l Barry Lam l Dr William So l Dr Joseph Chan l Christabel & Ricky Lau l James & Mary Tien l Eric Chen l Nancy Lee l Betty Tsui l James Chen l Vic Lee l Patrick Wang l Choy So Yuk l Afonso Ma l Conrad Wong l Betsy Cohen l Albert Ma l Gilbert Wong l William E. Connor l Martin Ma l Dora Wu l Judith Ann Corrente l David Mong l Sonny Yau l Ester Goelkel l Pang Family l Wellington & Virginia Yee l William Fung l Thomas Pritzker l Jack Yeung l Adrian Fu l Serge Pun l Billy Yung l Victor Hsu l The SahanDaywi Foundation l Hans Michael Jebsen l Oliver Silsby

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.

PAGE 36 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY