Tigers Lǎohǔ 老虎

◀ Tibetans (Zang) Comprehensive index starts in volume 5, page 2667.

Tigers Lǎohǔ 老虎

Once a royal symbol of war, tigers have be- the emperor and empress. The Asian equivalent of the come a casualty of both traditional Chinese lion as the “king of the jungle,” the strong and elegant medicine and environmental destruction in tiger has also been an important icon as the White Tiger modern China, fading into extinction. The of the West, one of the Four Constellations of Chinese astronomy, and a prevalent image in Buddhist lore and most endangered species of tiger, the South martial arts such as Shaolin. China Tiger, has not been spotted in the wild Although the Indochinese tiger (Panthera tigris cor- since the 1960s, and only a few dozen survive in betti) is found in China, Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar captivity, making it “functionally extinct.” (Burma), Thailand, and Vietnam (the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources esti- mates that only 630 survive), the South China or Amoy eeply ingrained in Chinese culture as a fierce Tiger (Panthera tigris amoyensis), is the indigenous spe- symbol of war, tigers were, for millennia, the cies with which most Chinese relate. With no official emblems of the highest ministers of defense sighting since 1964, the Amoy has faded into “functional in China, second only to the dragon and the phoenix of extinction” since the 1950s, when at least four thousand

A paper cut- out depicting Wu Sung, the folk hero from the famous Chinese novel Water Margin, who was revered for killing the tiger that had terrified the people living on Mount Ching Yang.

2291 D © 2009 by Berkshire Publishing Group LLC 2292 Berkshire Encyclopedia of China 宝库山中华全书 remained in the wild forests and grasslands of central and suggests that all of these captive tigers are descended from southeastern China. Now one of the world’s ten most en- only a few animals, making the genetic pool too small to dangered animals, the dilemma of the South China tiger is prevent eventual attrition from inbreeding. three-fold: first, the dried bone of the tiger has been a cov- The South China Tiger Panthera( tigris amoyensis) is eted ingredient in Chinese traditional medicine (TCM) thought to be the original “stem” tiger from which all tiger for thousands of years; second, agricultural expansion subspecies evolved, and it is considerably smaller than its has put it at odds with farmers and herders upon whose Siberian cousins. In addition to wild populations which cattle, pigs and goats it naturally preys, qualifying it as some scientists and farmers insist still exist, it is as en- an official “pest” in the anti-pest campaigns of the 1950s dangered as the panda and even more of an historic cul- and 1960s; and third, China’s burgeoning population has tural symbol. Yesterday the tiger embodied China’s fierce converted much of its wooded habitat and previous range. power of conquest, and today it is an emblem of China’s By 1982 it was estimated that only 200–300 of these ti- modern environmental controversy. gers remained; domestic trade of traditional medicines Nicole MUCHMORE and “tiger wines” made from tiger bones was outlawed in China in 1993. Other preservation efforts have included the establishment of nature reserves by China’s State For- Further Reading estry Administration in the 1990s. Nevertheless, by 1996 Alderton, D., & Tanner, B. (1998). Wild cats of the world. the Amoy tiger population had been reduced to less than New York: Sterling. one hundred animals, with less than fifty in the wild. Thapar, V. (1992). The tiger’s destiny. London: Kyle Cathie. Today, about sixty-five individuals live in zoos and on IUCN-World Conservation Union. (2000). The 2000 breeding preserves, all located within China. However, IUCN red list of threatened species. Retrieved Janu- since 2002 an organization called Save China’s Tigers has ary 18, 2009, from http: //www.redlist.org sponsored a project in coordination with the Chinese gov- World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). (6 December, ernment in which several Amoy have been exported to a 2006). Traditional Chinese medicine experts speak South African preserve, with some breeding success. The against captive breeding of tigers. Retrieved Febru- hope is that a wild population can be developed there for ary 25, 2009 from http://www.wwfchina.org/english/ eventual repatriation to China. But some genetic research loca.php?loca=416

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