A NEWSLETTER TO INFORM AND ACKNOWLEDGE CERS’ FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS CHINA EXPLORERS China Exploration and Research Society VOLUME 11 NO. 1 SPRING 2009

3 Zoological Kingdom of the Underworld CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: 8 Backdoor into Burma’s Irrawaddy River A Lisu of the Kachin State in 14 Escapade In North Burma Myanmar, dresses up herself 18 Yaks Affect Economics and Ecology in Tibet for a festival Galali, boat Captain on the 23 Arjin Mountain Experiences Irrawaddy River 24 German Pilot Pictured China 75 Years Ago CERS team readying to trap 28 Looking on China from Above Black-necked Cranes for satellite 32 Forty Nine Turning Sixty tracking 34 Reflections of the Burmese Cat A school along the Irradwaddy 35 News/CERS in the Media River in Myanmar A NEWSLETTER TO INFORM AND ACKNOWLEDGE CERS' FRIENDS AND SUPPORTERS Directors: CHINA WONG HOW MAN, Founder/President MAGNUS BARTLETT, Director, Odyssey Publications EXPLORERS Dr WILLIAM BLEISCH, PhD, China Exploration and Research Society Science Director, CERS VOLUME 11 NO.1 SPRING 2009 CYNTHIA D’ANJOU BROWN, President’s Message Philanthropy Adviser, HSBC Private Bank JAMES CHEN, Managing Director, his is the Year of the Ox, or Year of the Yak for those of us who are even more stubborn than the ox. In this issue, we Legacy Advisors Ltd. include two articles, one I wrote and the other by our new ERIC CHEN, Chairman, Sampo Corporation Field Biologist Dr. Buzzard, about Yaks on the plateau. A BARRY LAM, Chairman, Quanta Computer, Taiwan third piece also touches on the character of those born during such year, myself included. DANIEL NG, Former Chairman, T McDonald’s Restaurants (HK) Ltd. China’s southwest region is one of the most important karst areas of the Dr MICHAEL J MOSER, Partner, world. However, little is known about the limestone landform except some historical caves turned tourist attraction. This year CERS would invest a O’Melveny & Myers lot of our time and resources into caving. Our caving team turns 20 since MARJORIE YANG, Chairman, The Esquel Group coming into being in 1988. Zhang Fan, our China Director, provides a report on a very important cave, called “Precious Ox Horn Cave”. Our ZOOLOGICAL CERS Field Staff: team recently explored this cave near Yunnan’s border with Laos, yielding several species new to science. Unfortunately such discovery is already being threatened as I witnessed during a visit there this Chinese New Dr WILLIAM BLEISCH PhD, Chief Biologist Year. KINGDOM OF THE Dr PAUL BUZZARD, Field Biologist CAO ZHONGYU, Logistics Support We also share with you archival photos taken over China from 1933 to 1936 by German pilot Graf zu Castell. UNDERWORLD CERS acquired these and many other images from the Munich Museum with the approval of Castell’s daughter. LIU HONG, Speleologist Matching satellite scenes of those areas revealed changes during a span of seventy-five years. Another piece QIJU QILIN, Tibetan Expert shows how we look at earth from space, allowing us to have a humbling experience when we reduce our larger- ver lunch, I raised my glass to toast Mengyuan villagers each day to deliver food inside the cave for us. For us MARTIN RUZEK, Earth System Scientist than-life ego back to scale. Village Chief Ayan, our host who is of Dai who lived in darkness all day long, such simple meal with rice and ZHANG FAN, Kunming Conservation Center Director A photo essay on cats add a final touch to our project which successfully reintroduced Burmese Cats to minority, after we completed exploring the roast pork surpassed any banquet. YAO XUE MEI, Education Officer Myanmar, their rightful home after almost eighty years of absence. cave. Four of us in our team started our CERS Office Staff: I cannot help but mention that an explorer’s mother passed away recently at the advanced age of 88. At the CERS exploration on August 29 soon after we arrived When the Chief heard that we had finished measuring the Bull BERRY SIN, Logistics Director annual dinner just a week before her death, she sat quietly at a corner table as she had done at all previous at the nature reserve of Xishuangbanna in southern Yunnan. In Cave, he lowered his glass and spoke with urgent sincerity, “This TRACY MAN, Accountant annual dinners of the Society. I hope she was proud of her creation when I spoke on stage, as I was proud of O all, we explored a series of four caves to map and identify the cannot be. You must have neglected a very long side branch. my creation of CERS. Editorial Director: biodiversity within these caves. Otherwise you cannot be this fast in finishing,” said the Chief. CATHY HILBORN FENG She was a fiercely independent lady who instilled in me that same quality, and never to become a liability to He caught me by surprise as I and Liu Hong have been exploring others. She would bid me goodbye on every expedition with such grace that I did not have to look back and “Bao Niu Jiao Dong”, or Precious Bull Horn Cave, is the largest caves for almost twenty years without fail. Most caves we covered worry about her well being. Ever supportive and permissive, she always urged me to move along every time Design: s she felt I showed any sign of impatience, even at family dinners. and took fully three days to explore. The other three caves took were far larger and more complicated than Bull Cave here. SNP VITE LIMITED (852) 2973 8600 an additional three days. For the last few days, Ayan send two The night she passed away at home in her sleep, I was making my first pilgrimage to Katmandu, learning to light my first buttered lamp while circumambulating the renowned Bodhnath Stupa of Nepal. Perhaps that is karma. Printer: At my side that evening was Lodi Gyari, Rinpoche and Special Envoy of the Dalai Lama. Lodi is very much like SNP VITE LIMITED a brother, though only one day older than I. I am glad he was on hand to console my loss and provided prayers (852) 2973 8600 for my mother to go in peace on her last journey.

HOW TO REACH CERS: Unit 7 & 8, 27/F, Tower B, SouthMark,

11 Yip Hing Street, Wong Chuk Hang, Hong Kong Zhang Fan l phone (852) 2555 7776 fax (852) 2555 2661 Translated by Wong How Man e-mail: [email protected] Wong How Man Website: www.cers.org.hk Founder/President, CERS Upper: Buddhist pagoda marking entrance to Precious Bull Horn Cave CERS TAI TAM RESEARCH CENTER With respect to the entire contents of this newsletter, including its photographs: Bottom: CERS caver inside the cave in (852) 2809 4181 All Rights Reserved. Copyright 2009. @ China Exploration and Research Society. Xishuangbanna Please contact CERS for reprint permission.

PAGE 2 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 3 Left: Cave map of Precious Bull Horn Cave prepared by CERS team Middle: CERS cavers dining inside the cave Right: A Buddha statue worshipped by local Dai minority villagers

abandoned climbing through it. Upon this discovery, we decided perfect climate device of nature. Though we did not measure to move back inside the cave right after our meal. the air quality inside the cave, the cleanness and crisp air was evident to all. In Europe, a cave with such quality air would Soon we were inside the cave and arrived at that particular turning already be utilized as a “medical cave”. point. It was indeed a very long branch. By the time we finished and exited the cave, it was already night time and outside the cave At our official departure party, Mr Yang, head of the was almost as dark as inside. Xishuangbanna National Nature Reserve proudly introduced to us the huge biodiversity of the area. The vegetation coverage Bao Niu Jiao Cave is a very matured cave, more so than we is most diverse in Yunnan and the province is often called originally thought. Though the space is not too large, it is very “Botanical Kingdom” of China, whereas Xishuangbanna in well developed. The main cave is like the trunk of a tree with the southern region of the province is compared to being the many side caves like branches growing out in all direction. While crown of this kingdom. This is where the very limited tropical the main cave is only about one thousand meters in length, the rainforest of China is located. The Asiatic Elephant, the largest branches add up to be more than twice the length. Thus the entire land mammal indigenous to Asia, also exist right here. length of the cave is 3360 meters. While there are chances of omission, but to explore a cave for and forth trips we made. Liu Hong brought out his notebook and If one would identify Xishuangbanna on a model globe, it is three full days and were told we missed a large branch is a “first” searched to a page where he had noted down a sign of “?” upon The temperature inside the cave is 21.2°C which is the mean right along the Tropic of Cancer. Spin that globe along its axis and quite unthinkable. His claim made me felt embarrassed and it. “That could be the missing link as it was so small, barely one temperature of the area, whereas humidity is between 80-97%. and you would see that in the world along this imaginary line wished that I was still inside a cave to hide my brushing. meter crack on the walls. Maybe that is the entrance to this side One can imagine how this microclimate compares with the which lies approximately 23.5º north of the equator are mainly branch”, quipped Liu. outside temperature which is over 32ºC, this cave is extremely dessert regions. Rainforest like Xishuangbanna along such I quickly called my teammates Liu Hong and Ah So together. comfortable in temperature and humidity. As usual, cave latitude are few and far apart. For its uniqueness and immense They were in charge of mapping out the caves. Let’s scrutinize When he measured to that place, he simply pointed his flashlight temperature and humidity remains the same throughout the day as value, Xishuangbanna is designated with a national level s in our mind where we could have missed out with the many back inside and thought the crevice was too small to fit in thus well as throughout the four seasons of a year. It is indeed a most protected status.

PAGE 4 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 5 Barely four months after the CERS team completed exploration of the Bao Niu Jiao Cave, situation changed dramatically. Just as the scientific report and cave maps are being finished, I visited Xishuangbanna during Chinese New Year in the last days of January.

As the New Year of the Ox came into being, I thought it most auspicious to pay a visit to a cave by its namesake, especially I was born in the Year of the Ox. As Zhang Fan TOP LEFT TO RIGHT: A cave-dwelling transparent caterpillar which throws strings to catch insects noted to me, local Dai minority as well as A cave cricket with extraordinarily long feelers for moving in darkness those from across the national border pay pilgrimage to this cave as a tradition. This An all-white caterpillar inside the cave however may no longer be the case, at least LOWER: CERS team preparing their equipment for exploration not without a fee.

What was shocking was that the cave For both China and the world, this is an important nature reserve. In our exploration of only four caves in the Mengyuan area, As we lift this veil to a corner of darkness in this world, it also unveils a natural was closed with newly installed metal gate. Despite that it is considered within Many scientific researches have been conducted in the past. we have collected 120 specimens of cave dwellers. Preliminary instinct of mankind, our curiosity to knowledge. After all, we represent the spirit boundaries of a national nature reserve, the Published academic papers, books and manuscripts are like a identification provided us with 26 different species, including both of what we are known for, China Explorers. n development rights have been assigned to mountain archive of material. land and aquatic vertebrates and invertebrates. Out of these 26 some businessman from coastal Zhijiang Province. One caretaker told me that even species, initially we can only the key to the cave has been taken away But just as we finished exploring our caves here, we realized that positively identify 13 of them, and no one would return until after the long Chinese New Year holidays. our academic knowledge of Xishuangbanna, be it the zoological or a mere 50% of the total. The or botanical side, are very limited. This is because former studies remaining half would likely In fact, the cave would be closed to the and researches only focused on the “above ground” material. What reveal some species new to us public until April when it would again re- open as a sightseeing attraction. Outside, lives in the darkness of the under world has never been explored and to science. construction of two buildings to house or mentioned, creating a large void in our knowledge. This is just rolls of future shops were well underway. The entire landscape is going through a like how we missed out an important branch of the Bull Cave We are at the threshold a facelift with the entrance to the area built that we explored earlier, thus making our understanding of the totally new world, an unknown like entering a gated amusement park. Multiple flag poles were planted as future cave incomplete. Prior to our visit, no one has conducted scientific world of darkness. It seems visitors would look up toward the sky at this study of the underground cave systems and its biological survey we should be proud of our monumental entrance. The former natural in Xishuangbanna. pioneering work of caving in and cultural dignity of a very unique place has all been transformed. Xishuangbanna. But based In fact, such missing link in our knowledge is not only unique to on initial data we collected, I fear the worst for this very special cave as its fate is now another example of ill- Xishuangbanna. Throughout China, not one of our provinces or there are at least 24 caves in conceived development in pursuit of autonomous regions has made a more complete inventory of our Mengyuan alone and we have short-term financial gain. What we had in own underground biodiversity wealth. It is generally believed by begun work on only four of mind of contributing to exploration and conservation of our important natural and western scholars and scientists that biological forms within caves them. Much lay ahead for cultural heritage is again at stake! Has our of the world should be between 50,000 to 100,000 species. An us and future generation to discovery been a blessing or a curse for this wonderful cave? I think we the answer is exhaustive study of six karst regions in the United States alone complete. carved on the huge metal name plate now has yielded over 6,000 cave dwelling species. presiding over the entrance to Bao Niu Jiao Cave. n Wong How Man

PAGE 6 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 7 BACK DOOR INTO BURMA AND A l PERILOUS CRUISE ON THE IRRAWADDY

Wong How Man Myitkyina, Myanmar – January 10, 2009

he melodic call of the gibbons brought to mind the The same market also has other exotic animal parts on sale from crew from Hong Kong. We traveled by land to the nearest city FROM LEFT CLOCKWISE: Explorer leading his team into perilous Tang Dynasty poet Li Po’s renowned verse as he takin horns, to tiger teeth and elephant skin. Myitkyina and observed the once a year festival of the Kachin ground, our “camp” before the storm sailed the Yangtze gorges. But I was in no mood called Manoa, which is a week-long event of colorful parade at a A shop at the border selling animal parts to enjoy this symphony of nature. Here we are in The chill and the dew of the night woke me up around seven, fair ground. Having seen enough of this repeated drum and gong Galali, our boat Captain on the Irrawaddy the midst of the Irrawaddy River gorge, a section curled in my sleeping bag as darkness still embraced an almost festivity, I decided we must conduct some real exploration on our Horns of the protected Hornbill bird between the northern Kachin (Jinghpaw) capital of Myitkyina full moon, dwarfing the otherwise star-studded twilight. Just own, thus the hiring of a boat to go up and down the Irrawaddy. T How Man studying a map of the river and the city of Bhamo along the old Burma Road. moment before, the mist had just lifted as the sun showed itself Our filmmakers perched at the bow of the boat for yet another clear and cloudless winter day. The music of the Our boat captain, a young man of 32, took us on this adventurous The call began about nine in the morning local time, or 7:30 just gibbons is a stark contrast to what happened the evening before, cruise and we call him Tom as he has a striking resemblance to across the border in Yunnan on the China side. What sounded like dawn to dusk. Against advice of our guide, I hired a local long Tom Cruise except with darker complexion. His real name is push it out. The other assistant, an older man, was assigned with like a patriarchal male gibbon’s high-pitch howl would gradually boat as I wanted to explore a section of this much unknown and Galali, as Galaw is what the Burmese called people of Indian the special duty of using a dust pan to dish out water which kept reach a crescendo, soon to be joined by a chorus of female and most important of rivers in Burma, the mighty Irrawaddy. stock, which Tom’s features revealed to the fullest. He has two coming into our boat through leaks in the bottom. This remedial s minors as the jungle bustled to life. Other birds’ songs started boat hands to assist him. One stay perched on the bow looking out act was not very reassuring to our team of explorers. earlier in the morning and may have included squawking of the We had just entered Burma through a remote backdoor of Yunnan, for rocks in the river and used hand signal to inform the Captain Hornbills, highly endangered on the Chinese side of the border, posing ourselves as Chinese citizens living along the border. Our where to drive the boat during this low water season. Nonetheless, but apparently still quite prevalent in the Kachin hills as I saw permits were obtained through the Chinese side with a local we were grounded in shallow hidden sandbars many times over many dead specimens in the market at the border town of Lazai. address. With me is a team of eight, including a two-person film the next few days and these “deckhands” had to get off the boat to

PAGE 8 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 9 Xiao Dong, our guide/interpreter is a Kachin of only many wintering birds from the Tibetan plateau. Among them above us as if to prevent us from escaping up the hill into the 21 years old. He has been dreading our numerous were a flock of Cranes, Bar-headed Geese, Ruddy Shelducks, jungle. adventures and exploits, as everything he told me Goosesanders, Cormorants and even a species of black and white should not be done (officially disallowed) would Pied Kingfisher which is new to me. As the day wore on, we Apparently two senior officers were in charge and one disembarked quickly inspire me into action, the boat trip being the found an appropriate sandy beach and took to the bank to spend while the other gave order from the boat. Using their mobile phones epitome of it all. As if on cue, every time he warned the night on shore. with a long antenna, they appeared to be calling headquarters for me not to photograph will be followed by a clicking instructions. As their attempt in connection was futile, one other sound of the shutter. Nearby was a family panning for gold along the bank, as the dry soldier came off the boat carrying a plastic shopping bag, the type winter season exposed much new sand carried down during the used in a supermarket. As he struggled up the steep sandy slope, I contracted Tom for five days, commanding his summer’s rainy and high-water season. This activity is a major he took out of his bag a satellite phone. Raising the antenna, he boat for an up and down river journey, first heading economic preoccupation of many Burmese and Kachin along this attempted to call but again failed after numerous trials. downstream toward Bhamo. We were to camp out stretch of the Irrawaddy during the winter. A good day’s panning without tents or proper gear. Instead we speedily may yield up to three or four hundred Renminbi equivalent. It crossed my mind that perhaps I should dig out my much smaller procured eight blankets in the local market as our but more sophisticated satellite phone and offered to help, but make-shift overnight shelter. I am the only one who Instant noodles sufficed as a full meal and we bought a few fish soon thought better of it. In fact I did not dare to raise my camera came prepared with a sleeping bag. The boat journey from a passing-by boat. Soon a fire was started with dead tree once to record this episode of drama unfolding in front of us. to Bhamo would take all day, but due to a late start in branches and several wooden sticks were fashioned to grill our The pin-hole video our cameraman Afung had been bragging traditional tropical style, we were only two-third of fish. Just before night fell, two long boats suddenly appeared and and showing off to us stayed well hidden. He wisely shied away the way when the sky was already turning dark. approached us, plowing onto the sandy beach. It was like mini from his usually shutter-happy mode as we were facing a bunch of s Normandy on replay as several soldiers in camouflaged fatigue possibly trigger-happy soldiers. But this section of the river was most rewarding as I and submachine guns jumped onto the sand. Six of these soldiers saw not only local activities along the river, but also had semi-automatics and three formed a semi-circle behind and

Migrating Rudy Shelduck spend winter along the upper Irrawaddy River in Myanmar LEFT: Great Crested Grebe takes flight on the Irrawaddy River UPPER RIGHT: Buddhist temple at the confluence of the Mayhka and Malihka which merge to become the Irrawaddy LOWER RIGHT: A Lisu beautifying herself before heading for a festival

Xiao Dong timidly went up to the boat in answer to a gesture us tomorrow around 8 am in the morning. We all went to sleep to Xiao Dong that we must turn around and head back toward Undeterred by our earlier encounter, I would continue my river from the commanding officer. He tried to explain the reason of with a somewhat heavy mind and some apprehension of what to Myitkyina. journey for two more nights, spending one night sleeping over our being in such strange territory. Our paperwork only showed expect of our destiny. We have read stories about prisoners taken our luggage on the boat, and another night in a bamboo shed at a that we were allowed to visit Myitkyina. We all tried to put on as slaves or as army conscripts by the insurgent Kachin. But these From then on, every major village along the river bank seemed to Kachin village. At places with rapids, rocks were exposed mid- a dry smile of innocence which did not seem to work or much were regular Burmese troops we were dealing with, though their know of our coming and we had to register with each and every river during this dry water season. We could imagine that during appreciated. In a matter of about half an hour, the sky was getting uniforms seem a bit disorderly with a variety of styles. local authority until we reached Myitkyina. Once we got to the rainy season when the rocks are submerged, these could create darker and the army officer seemed getting impatient and shouted city, my exploration spirit bit me again and I was ready to turn major hazard for riverboats. Such journey of exploration can be a few orders at Xiao Dong. He then took away the folder with The next morning we waited anxiously for the soldiers to return. north into the wilderness again. This time however, I promised very dangerous even without the soldiers running amok after us. all our permits, and started their motors to take leave. They must Hour after hour passed as we saw the sun reaching overhead we would only go as far as the confluence of two upper rivers, have chased us without stopping for dinner! and we saw no sign of them. A few small boats passed us by the Mayhka (eastern branch) and the Malihka (western branch), As our adventure was coming to an end, this hairy fiasco must without stopping. It wasn’t until 1:30 pm before we saw a long together becoming the Irrawaddy. This junction is only about 40 make Xiao Dong grow old fast as I could see a white strain of hair We breathed an air of relief though now we were all without boat approaching us from downstream. As it got closer, we saw kilometers to the north of Myitkyina. The Mayhka would have its coming out of his messy and bushy head. Perhaps next time he proper identity. What if another band of soldiers arrive to no soldiers onboard and were just about giving up hope when one origin from Zayu of southeastern Tibet and should be the real and would think twice when his manager calls on him to accompany a check? Xiao Dong soon explained to us that the soldiers would of the boatmen raised his arm, waving our large pink folder in one longest source of the Irrawaddy River. seasoned explorer coming in from China. That could be me again go on to Bhamo to check with their superiors and get back to hand. Alas, we got back our identity and message was delivered knocking at the backdoor of Burma! n

PAGE 12 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 13 UPPER: Lead performer of the ritualistic Manau Festival among Kachin people of Myitkyina LOWER: Children at a school house along the bank of the Irrawaddy between Myitkyina and Bhamo

here are many We traveled from Yingjiang in southwestern Yunnan and crossed border crossings the border at Lazai. The area is under control by the insurgent between China Kachin Army, also known as the KIA. These belong to the same and Burma ethnic group as what is called the Jingpo on the Chinese side. which are open In recent years, the KIA and the government have settled with a Tonly to traffic among local truce, after heavy fighting for decades produced no winner. residents living near the joint border. Chinese living further The drive to Myitkyina in three taxis took slightly over two hours inland are not allowed such and we got to the northern capital of the Kachin State after dark. privileges, let alone foreign In between, we passed through five check points, one belonging nationals or those of us from to the KIA with the rest being controlled by the Burmese Army. I Hong Kong. counted more real machine guns than toy guns in shops. Despite it is time for the once-a-year Manau Festival when many people Such restrictions however from the countryside flocked into the city, Myitkyina is still slow would not stop a determined paced and relaxing. explorer. Several times within the last two decades, I managed The Manau Festival is less tribal than the one I saw twenty years to pose myself as a temporary ago on China’s side. But the one I attended in 1988 was the first ESCAPADE IN resident along the border and revival after the Cultural Revolution. In the past, it was only l successfully crossed over to organized once-every-ten-years traditionally. Historically each NORTH BURMA have a glimpse on the Burmese Manau has a patron who has to be extremely resourceful in order side. Recently I repeated this to host such a large event with four days of parade, dancing, and feat as my first escapade for feasting. Wong How Man the New Year. Including me, Inle Lake, Myanmar – we were a team of eight. Xavier and Feng were my guests to The Kachin State takes up the northernmost part of the country, January 20, 2009 document my endeavor in film. Two friends, both security officers reaching to the foothills of the Himalayas. It also is home to a from China, were my escorts in case things get really out of hand. number of smaller minority groups like the Lisu, the Nung, the Zhang Fan, Wang Jian and Berry were CERS colleagues. Naga (related to the Teng people of southeastern Tibet) and the Duleng (related to the Dulong in Yunnan). Kachins are known to be some of the fiercest fighters. A regiment of Kachin in the former British colonial forces fought brilliantly during the First and Second World Wars in Europe. Their long sword, called Dah, can be used to cut through jungles like no one else could.

Different tribal chiefs have historically fought and defended their territories from any intruders. Feuds were known to last for generations, with battles lasting decades or even over a hundred UPPER: Reclining Buddha years. Vengeance however can be arbitrated by a third party, along the bank of the though the price of compensation can be exorbitant, at times in extreme cases including repayment of a life for a life by the Irrawaddy in Myitkyina offending party. LOWER: A Buddhist temple with many pagodas at the A list of 24 items in one case of murder cast some lights on such outskirt of Myitkyina arbitration process. Included in the list as repayment are a gong ten spans in circumference for the head, a viss (one viss equals s four pounds) of silver for the brain, eight hanks of wool for

PAGE 14 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 15 a Kachin girl who impersonated as a man in order to join the resistance army to avenge the killing of her parents.

Just as America was celebrating the inauguration of Obama as its first black President, the Myanmar Times this week published a front page story, reprinted from the Los Angeles Times, about the Stilwell Road. Built during the War mainly by Afro-Americans, it reminded readers of the sufferings under the Japanese and the united efforts which ended the War. People should certainly forgive and forget, but first history has to be respected. The persistence of some militarists in re-interpreting history in fraudulent ways is making the process of forgiving and forgetting difficult to attain.

After a few days, we left Myitkyina again in three taxis as we headed for the border at Lazai. Our drivers were following one another closely, speeding along a narrow and curvy cobble-stone road with many potholes. I was in the last car with a driver who was wearing the traditional Burmese longyi and rubber thongs. He would round each corner on its farthest edge, allowing the outside wheels to ride on the dirt as if trying to save some threads from his tires (there were hardly any threads to begin with). The car would slip sideways a bit as he accelerated through every curve as if he was racing in a rally. There were many times he came so close to UPPER LEFT: Locals panning for gold along the river the car in front that I saw him applying his brakes feverishly to LOWER LEFT: Primitive diving make or break a family fortune. Today, such stones are usually of construction. However what irked me most was a small park avoid crashing. cut off on the edges in order to reveal its content before prices are behind our hotel which housed a large Sleeping Buddha. A MIDDLE: Riverside temple in Myitkyina fixed. And the gambling urge of the traders are now satisfied by cement monument at the entrance revealed that the Buddha is a Just as I was I pondering in my mind that his slippery thongs may UPPER RIGHT: Vintage car along the Old Burma Road the many casinos blossoming along the border on the Burmese gift in 2001 from a Japanese die-hard militarist who used it to catch his skirt-like longyi and deliver us to another world, my LOWER RIGHT: Even older transport of Myanmar side. Complementary to gaming, other vices also thrived. immortalize soldiers killed in Myitkyina during the Second World worst fear became real. His car slipped and the car went into a tail War. spin while he frantically tried to correct it with his steering. It was Along the entire upper Irrawaddy River are superb sites for gold futile and within split seconds, we went off the road and dived hair, a pair of cymbals for the forehead, two small gongs for the panning along the river as well as mining in some other areas. Over 3,000 Japanese soldiers died in the battle of Myitkyina into the jungle as we hit a large bush of plants. I was sitting in cheeks, two plates for the ears, one plough for the nose, some Unfortunately some of the primitive ways of panning for gold and the tablet eulogized their courage and how they were the front seat with no seat belt, trying to brace myself against the precious stones for the eyes, thirty small cows for the teeth, nails by locals is polluting the environment with uncontrolled use of outnumbered by one to ten. Coward act of suicide by the Japanese crash. The windscreen broke in front of my eyes as the car came and toes, a silver coin for the tongue, a long silver pipe for the mercury and cyanide. We even witnessed crude ways of sending commander as Myitkyina fell to Allied Forces were glorified and to a stop. The impact was fierce but I managed to hold on, pushing neck, two guns for the arms, one viss of gold for blood, one silver men diving down into the river in order to direct a suction hose to praised as bravery. It was customary that Japanese commanders myself against the dashboard. cup for the heart, and one long spear for the male organ, etc. bring up sand from the bottom. Such method of pumping minimal who committed crimes and mistreated prisoners feared the same air for the divers are said to have adverse effect and health hazard consequences of humiliation and treatment for themselves as they My side of the door was stuck as it was crashed at an angle to the Many feuds and intrigues of murder were connected to the hidden appears after a couple months of extended dive, resulting in lose in battles. Such blatant disregard of Japan’s act of aggression bushes. I quickly looked behind and found that my companions treasures in or around the Kachin State. This is because the area breathing disorder, headaches and other body discomfort. by using money to purchase fake honor is totally deplorable. were alright and not injured, whereas they all worried about my of northern Burma is known for some of the most important condition in the front. The driver, in somewhat of a daze, got off precious stones and other rare minerals in the world. Mogok north One consolation in my recent visit to the border is that logging With the rise of Asia, in time countries and their nationals who with a little blood on his hands. I crawled and exited through his of Mandalay has the most famous ruby and sapphire deposits has almost completely stopped. What I saw in previous years of were down trodden would use their new-gain financial clout to side of the door. The two front taxis stopped about 200 meters whereas Hpakant west of Myitkyina is known for the best jade. uncontrolled logging of tropical hardwood forests have come to buy back truth. Burmese as well as governments of countries ahead and I could see my friends were running over to check on a halt. In the past, Chinese timber barons from the coastal area which suffered during the War should erect a proper monument to us. There used to be a unique fashion by which ruby and sapphire would buy up logging rights to entire mountains in Burma and remind the younger generation about atrocities of the past. While were traded. The buyer and seller would have their secret signals clear-cut its forest. Truckloads upon truckloads of timber would lingering on the subject, I recalled my good friend Moon Chin To make a long story short, we ended up squeezing ourselves into of bargaining conducted with their hands and fingers touching, but be continuously crossing the border into China. Such convoy (now 96 years old) who against advice landed his CNAC plane two taxis and continued our journey to the border. The skirted guy hidden under a cloth such that no one would know of the process lined the road throughout the region in western Yunnan. Upon in Myitkyina the day the city fell to the Japanese. With General was left behind to dig out his damaged vehicle. Perhaps next time or the final deal. Such secrecy has been part of the ancient trade of reports by visitors, adverse publicity and constant complaint Doolittle as a passenger after his famed Raid of Tokyo, Moon I would be careful to pick a taxi driver who wears proper trousers these precious stones, once the desired treasure or choicest gifts to the United Nations, China managed to put restrictions on all evacuated over 70 locals, children included, when his C-53 had a and shoes. Thus end my escapade into Burma’s northern region, for kings and queens all over the world. such activities. Today, only small scale logging can still be done maximum load for only 21 passengers. Today the runway Moon surviving the first car crash of my life. n with illegal timbers trickling through some of the porous and less landed is a boulevard along the Myitkyina University. Jade trading, on the other hand, has its own intrigues. As it is policed borders between Burma and China. usually hidden inside stone covered in any non-descript form, the The Kachin had played a decisive role in the winning of the War quality of its content can be anyone’s guess. The more experienced In Myitkyina I stayed at the Nanthi Da Riverside Hotel next in the China-Burma-India (CBI) Theater, as related in a book “In eyes are said to have a better chance of choosing the right stone to to the Irrawaddy River. It is a very quiet place with only 26 Quest of Greatness” published recently in Myitkyina by C.C. purchase. Historically, gambling or prospecting on unopened jade old-style rooms set within some villas. There are two nearby Naw Ja, a Kachin. In it were many stories about the bravery and stone became a practice in the border region of China which could Buddhist temples, one with a huge seated Buddha in final stage perseverance of the Kachin people. A moving story describes

PAGE 16 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 17 HOW YAKS CAN CHANGE THE ECONOMIC AND ECOLOGICAL LANDSCAPE OF TIBET

Wong How Man September 28, 2008 – Tai Tam, Hong Kong There are over 13 million yaks on the Tibetan plateau, accounting Traditionally wealth and well being of a nomad family depended l for over 90% of the world’s yak population. This number provides heavily on the number of yaks they have. When the numbers for a ratio of 2.5 yaks to each Tibetan. of their herd grow, so does the family fortune. Every so often, perhaps once in a decade, a severe winter snow storm would istorically a Tibetan nomad family can subsists hit some part of the plateau and this wealth of the family would on a dozen or so yaks, providing the most basic be wiped out. Sometimes entire herd would be decimated. Other requirements for livelihood. The wool can be used to times, a few yaks were left which the nomad would begin the make their tents, knitted as sweaters, or weaved as slow pace to relative prosperity with the gradual addition to their rugs. The meat provides high protein low cholesterol herd. Those who lost their entire herd may have to borrow some beefH as food. The milk (no toxic melamine added in such remote livestock at huge interest repayment in order to survive, or even area!) is made into butter, key ingredient of the all-important descended to become literal slaves laboring for others who are Tibetan beverage called butter tea, as well as yogurt and cheese. more fortunate. Such were the course of history in the nomadic The yak also serves as a beast of burden. Even its dung, when area of the Tibetan plateau. s dried and hardened, provides a most useful fuel for cooking and heating.

A Yak caravan on the move high up on the plateau of Tibet

PAGE 18 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 19 CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT: - Yak dung piled like a wall with relieved motif A CERS expedition yak caravan on the move A domestic yak in the morning frost An angry Wild Yak give our Land Rover a good chase A coracle (raft) along the upper Yangtze utilizing a single yak skin to make Tibetan lady boiling yak milk inside a yak-hair tent

In contemporary times, the formula has changed. and medical services difficult to achieve given the Nomads who lost most or all of their livestock constant mobility of the nomad’s tent. (raising sheep has become also prevalent on the plateau) during winter storms can run for cover Within the last two decades, local governments on with the government. Not unlike today’s massive the plateau has successfully helped in curtailing government bailout of the financial world (without nomadic activities by promoting stable and fixed the fat CEOs who brought these institutions to homes for the nomads during the winter months. their brink), the Chinese government would always Such homes, usually closer to towns and community provide relief as well as restocking of animals centers, provide not only winter shelter, but abode should there be a natural disaster. This has become for the aged as well as opportunity of schooling an insurance against natural calamity. for the children. Adults, however, continue their nomadic circuit, especially during the summer Today, it is not unusual that nomads see their herd months by moving camp from one pasture to sizes grow to over 100 animals, or at times even another. Such measure however is not enough to several hundreds. This is particularly true for the help the Tibetans move into the 21st century. Other Amdo region of the plateau where there are large problems are looming. areas of pasture. Such numbers of livestock, when translated into market value, can mean tens of With the increase of yak as well as other livestock thousands of dollars. The nomadic lifestyle, despite herds during the last three decades since China rich in financial return, can become an impediment liberalize its economy, the pasture of the plateau to children education as school age students are has been going through major changes. The plateau locked into the vocation of being livestock herders. supports a very fragile ecology, more so the higher s The nomadic circuit also makes providing healthcare the land is. This sudden rise in livestock grazing

PAGE 20 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 21 BOTTOM: CERS expedition heading to the Yangtze source with a yak caravan

activity is bearing down on the pasture, reflecting in the gradual, branded products are now able to provide a much higher margin and at times sudden, degradation of the land. In other words the of return for the nomads who sold their wool. Compounded by grassland of the plateau cannot provide the carrying capacity other future products like yak jerky (marketed as from pristine commensurate with the increase in livestock numbers. It is not region and natural foraging with no supplement of animal feed), recovering to its original state each season. Everywhere we can yak wool carpet and rug (in Tibetan design which is much sought witness the plateau in an advancing state of desertification. This after in the West), or even compressed and specially packaged LEFT: Tibetan Antelope during is further impacted by the loss of surface water due to global yak dung, the future additional value of the yak can be assured. ARJIN rutting season in the winter MIDDLE: A male Tibetan warming which shrinks the over 20,000 glaciers of the plateau at Take the last item as a case scenario. Yak dung when dried does l an alarming rate. not smell and is quite clean as an alternative fuel for burning in Antelope on the sprint MOUNTAIN RIGHT: Wild Yak herd during fireplaces. It may even become in vogue as our new age generation winter To counter this trend, livestock numbers must be curtailed. In may even acquire carbon credits for using it. order not to affect the economic growth of the nomads, higher EXPERIENCES value must be delivered for their livestock or livestock products. Other scholars and bureaucrats had even gone as far asking for Paul Buzzard, Ph.D The China Exploration & Research Society (CERS), in partnership relocation of the nomads outside of the plateau or from area of While planning next year’s surveys in Arjin Mountain Nature write a manuscript describing the calving ground and population with a social enterprise Ventures in Development (ViD), are doing massive desertification. I believe that is not a practical or the right Reserve (AMNR), Xinjiang and preparing a presentation for the recovery for the journal, Oryx. just that in a pilot project. Today yak milk is used to produce strategy. Only by providing higher value for yak products can Society for Conservation Biology (SCB) conference, I have put a high quality cheese (after three years of experiment and trial we implement an overall policy that limits herd sizes without a lot thought towards my prior work at AMNR. My first trip was in As noted, in summer 2006 we were forced to leave early and production led by a professor from the University of Wisconsin wholesale sell-out of the nomad’s economic interest. Indeed, with 2005 while I worked for Fauna & Flora International (FFI). Bill forgo a trip to the center of AMNR. On expeditions it is essential Bleisch, CERS science director, suggested that I go to AMNR to to plan for contingencies especially with the harsh conditions on at River Falls) which can be sold at many times the price of yak the livestock numbers under control, the nomads’ children may study chiru (Tibetan antelope) mating behavior, and I jumped at the plateau. In this case, our plan was to drive north so afflicted butter. Indeed even yak butter is going through modification to finally have a real chance to attend school, rather than growing the opportunity. AMNR is very interesting biologically because it members could get off the plateau and then continue on to the make it more palatable than the rancid taste before. up as another generation of shepherd in a beautiful but otherwise is an ecological transition zone from the plateau to the Gobi desert. northeast of the reserve to look for antelope males. Chiru migrations gradually degrading land. n It has all the hoofed mammals of the plateau (chiru, Tibetan wild are unique because the males do not join the females, and it is still ass, Tibetan gazelle, blue sheep, and argali sheep); plus, goitered unknown where the majority of males go. On the way back from Another project pioneered by ViD is producing high-end yak gazelles (a more desert adapted species) range onto the northern the calving grounds, we saw a herd of eleven adult and sub-adult wool products for markets both in China and in the West. These edge of AMNR. Moreover, wild camels could historically be males, but we saw nothing like the herd of 300 males seen by found on the northern edge of the AMNR, and they can still be other researchers in the center of AMNR in 1987. We suspected found in the valleys to the north leading to the Turpan basin. that males might also be in the northeast based on an early report by Peter Fleming. Peter Fleming was the lesser known brother of December 2005, I traveled to the traditional chiru mating grounds Ian Fleming, the author who created James Bond, and in Peter in the northeast of AMNR. I was even more excited to go after Fleming’s 1936 book News from Tartary: A journey from Peking Bill and I discussed the possibility that chiru might be lekking. to Kashmir, he mentions seeing male antelope in an area we judged Lekking is a mating system where males maintain small clustered to be just over the Qinghai border northeast of the reserve. We territories at traditional mating grounds or leks. Lekking is were curious to see if large groups of male antelope still travel to widespread across the animal kingdom but very rare in mammals. this area. Plus, admittedly it gave a certain pleasure to be picking At an academic level, lekking is important for theories on the up the trail of an early foreign explorer. Unfortunately, we did evolution of mating systems, and we were able to publish our not see any antelope males. Mining operations on the other side evidence for chiru lekking in the December 2008 issue of the of the border may have affected antelope ranging or the antelope Journal of Zoology (276: 330-335). that Fleming saw may have been part of a resident population that has since gone extinct. We did find a wolf den with three cubs, Summer 2006, I had the chance to return to AMNR and join a however, which made the trip a success. CERS expedition to a chiru calving ground, and I again jumped at the opportunity. Chiru migrations characterize the plateau Although the summer movements of chiru males are still a ecosystem much like wildebeest migrations characterize the mystery, wild yak are the next focus for CERS at AMNR. Wild yak Serengeti. Female chiru migrate up to 350 km to desolate have decreased drastically over the plateau primarily from over- uplands to give birth and return soon thereafter. In 1998, CERS hunting. Another serious threat is interbreeding with domestic and AMNR officials made the first discovery of a chiru calving yak, and AMNR is very important for wild yak conservation ground, and in subsequent years they stopped poaching incidents because Uigher herders around AMNR do not have a tradition of and demonstrated the disastrous effects of the poaching. AMNR keeping domestic yak. Thus, the AMNR wild yak population is officials did not encounter any poaching after 2000, but there had especially pure. In 2009-2011 plans are set to census the northeast not been systematic surveys since 2001. So in 2006 we were happy and center of AMNR to understand population trends and ranging. to find evidence of population recovery for chiru. Unfortunately, Hopefully, in the future the pure wild yak of AMNR can also be we had to leave early because an expedition member had acute used to enhance domestic yak herds. n mountain sickness, but we were still able to gather enough data to

PAGE 22 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 23 75 YEARS AGO GERMAN PILOT GRAF ZU CASTELL PHOTOGRAPHED CHINA FROM ABOVE Wong How Man December 14, 2008 – Hong Kong

l

Shanghai from the air taken in 1933

PAGE 24 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 25 etween 1933 to1936, German pilot that “the peasants are fined for growing opium, but Graf zu Castell flew for Eurasia, an it is still more profitable for them to pay the fine than airline founded in 1930 between giving up the practice, since the various governors the Chinese government and (warlords) needed the money to pay for retaining Germany’s Lufthansa Airlines. the soldiers in order to maintain their power in their TheB purpose of this airline was to provide aerial provinces.” Air crashes seemed mundane affair as access and service to remote areas of China. The he described landing at a rice field near Chengdu cooperation was very successful and a route was and proceeded to organize a dig-out of his plane, opened between many cities during its first year, using people and buffalo power. connecting Shanghai, Nanjing, Jinan, Beijing, Linxi and Manzhouli. Later more connections were Most interesting of all, he once saw below him opened from Shanghai to Nanjing and Loyang, “bandit army” or “Ta Tufe” on the march, with a and onward to Xian, Lanzhou, Suzhou (in Gansu), single file of perhaps 20,000 men stretching 20-30 Hami, Urumqi, reaching as far as Chuguchak at the kilometers. Castell most likely was describing Russian-Mongolian border. advances of the Red Army during their historic Long March, seen by him first hand from the sky. After Castell’s first few flights, he wrote that he was Should a picture survive in his archival record, it “so overwhelmed by the uniqueness of the Chinese would be a most important historic image. Today landscape that I decided to capture its special these unique images were bequeathed by Castell’s features and characteristics through photography. daughter to the Munich Museum in Germany. In doing so, I was interested not only in taking beautiful pictures, but also in selecting examples All photographs in this collection were made worthy of documentation – examples which truly with a Leica camera. The advantage of this small show the character of the landscape, geological camera was that the slit shutter runs from right to formations, agricultural features, human settlement, left. Because the pilot seat is located on the left and constructions of historical significance.” side of the cockpit, the pilot could lean out of the window of the airplane towards the left. During Two weeks after Graf zu Castell’s arrival and on a low level flights, a shutter speed of 1/200 second flight to Xian delivering aircraft parts for relaying was sufficient despite the high speed of the aircraft onward to Lanzhou, his onboard mechanic assured at 200km/hour, since the shutter runs against the him that he knew the route well. Soon they were lost direction of the landscape moving below. and ran out of gas, warranting an emergency crash landing in a valley near Xining. It turned out that the pilot had flown passed their target city by almost Eurasia Airline was one of two airlines (the other 200 kilometers. To get the airplane flying again, a is China National Aviation Corp or CNAC) the temporary runway had to be constructed. government of the Republic of China co-owned and operated in the 1930s. It was later converted into During a later flight in 1934 from Nanjing to Beijing, CATC when war broke out in the early 1940s when Graf zu Castell had the honor of taking as passenger China joined hands with the Allied Forces. n the Panchen Lama on his first flight, together with the now defamed Wang Ching Wei, then President of the puppet Republic installed by the invading Japanese. The pilot recorded in pictures the historic flooding of Huanghe in 1934, which successfully stopped the advances of the Japanese. He also described the burning and depletion of forests by local inhabitants almost everywhere along the Yangtze River, in order to flush out the wild animals, or at times by soldiers driving out enemies among the independent minority tribes. He noted, long ahead of today’s popular theory, that “the lack of forests has very large climatic consequences and should be seen as one of the causes behind the flood LEFT: Swatow with a bridge near completion in 1933 catastrophes which occur in China so often”. TOP TO BOTTOM: Eurasia Airline flying over Beijing’s He also photographed desert scenes over the Ordos Imperial Palace of Inner Mongolia, the ancient city walls of Xian as Waterfront of Wuhan along the Yangtze River seen from the sky, and poppy growing throughout Old city wall of Xian as seen from the air the land as far north as Lanzhou. Castell recounted Refueling and maintenance of an Eurasian Airplane

PAGE 26 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 27 In April, 1981, during the first flight of the Space Wall even with a powerful telescope, let alone with LOOKING Shuttle Columbia, astronauts took hand-held naked eyes. pictures focused on many interesting features of the ON CHINA Earth. Among these were images of China as the Between 1933–35, Lufthansa pilot Graf zu Castell spacecraft was orbiting 240 kilometers (the moon flew for the joint venture Eurasian Airlines all over FROM ABOVE is, instead, 370,000 kilometers from earth) above China in an effort to help the Nationalist government the surface of the Earth. Subsequent images from identify sites as future aerodromes. With a Leica Wong How Man a variety of sensors, including the Large Format camera, he took many pictures of geographical Flight over Pacific, September 6, 2008 l Camera, high-resolution satellite imagery and features and cities, from Canton (Guangzhou) several generations of imaging radar flown aboard to Peiping (Beijing), and as far away as Dihwa the Space Shuttles, have provided scientists as well (Urumqi) to Lanchow (Lanzhou). as lay people with an extraordinary view of China from above. It was said that military surveillance He even described in his book a scene when in 1934 satellites can identify tiny objects as small as several he saw from his plane long file of over ten thousand centimeters in Tian An Men Square. “bandit” army on the march along the empty quarters of northern Sichuan. This, most likely, is In 2004, astronaut Yang Liwei was first to orbit the the famous and historical Long March of the Red Earth in a Chinese launched spacecraft. While he was Army as it retreated from southern China to their able to see much of China from space, he claimed new base in the northwest. Castell must be the only that the Great Wall was not visible to the naked eye. person ever to have seen it from the air. His rare It is only a matter of time when a Chinese would be aerial photos, over two thousand in all, are now kept standing on the moon looking down at China. But in the archive of the Munich Museum in Germany. by then, perhaps our industrial waste and exhaust Comparing his photographs with space images of s would forever obliterate any chances of seeing the today allow us to see the huge differences, and a

LEFT: Looking on the Himalayas from an upturned Space Shuttle, India to the left and the Tibetan plateau with its many lakes to the right RIGHT: Glaciers and lakes of the Himalaya region

t was widely rumored and hotly disputed for many to be seen with unaided eyes, as scientists familiar with space years that the Great Wall of China was the only man- imagery will attest. In a recent meeting, I asked Gene Cernan, last made feature on the surface of the Earth that could be man on the moon, about this much believed notion. He chuckled seen from the Moon with naked eye (Ripley’s Believe and told me instead about his experience of driving his lunar rover It or Not). Neil Armstrong, first man on the moon, was on the Great Wall during one of his visits to Beijing. If indeed the Irumored to have radioed back to Mission Control in Houston this Great Wall could be seen from space, it would be in competition observation during Apollo 11’s lunar landing in July, 1969. This with any interstate freeways crisscrossing America which are was three years before President Nixon’s historic visit to Beijing just as long and much wider in scale. But the fact remains that in 1972, when he saw the Great Wall close-up. America, as well as much of the world, was eager to take a secret glimpse from high above at China, a country long closed to the Indeed, the purported statement by Armstrong is the stuff of urban outside world. legend. Earth is too distant from the moon for any man made object

PAGE 28 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 29 LEFT: A pair of satellite images comparing the Pearl River Delta region thirty years apart UPPER: A pair of satellite images comparing the Sichuan basin before and after the devastating 2008 earthquake RIGHT BOTTOM: A satellite image showing dried-up Lop Nor of the Taklimakan Desert in Xinjiang LEFT BOTTOM: Image of Hong Kong as seen from the Space Shuttle

few similarities, of these urban cities of China in the eighty years While some physical features of the earth remain unchanged, country in the armchair of his home before he takes his first step communities or nations can become rather trivial when we adopt that lapsed. today’s images from space allow us to look at our urban out the door on an expedition. an enlightening perspective as viewed from outer space. Perhaps neighborhood with a new and elevated perspective. By next time two parties are engaged in hostility, be it within a family, Today, almost a century after the first aircraft flight over China, an poring through such images, we are much better aware of the My sojourn as an explorer in the vast wilderness of China is a very a neighborhood, or a continent, they should turn to their computer array of space missions, man and unmanned, constantly fly over environmental and even social changes surrounding us. From liberating and humbling experience when my usually huge ego and click on Google Earth. Taking an elevated view may help us a country whose vastness remains fascinating to people from all macro to micro images, urban planners can assess current situation is diminished into small fractions, or even totally disappeared. I minimize some of our most immediate problems into mundane over the world. Unlike my early peeks of China through satellite and project future direction for our cities, making better sense in can just imagine how Neil Armstrong felt when he beheld our insignificance. With luck, we may even be able to see the Great images from the 1970s, Google Earth has brought unobstructed strategic planning for our future generations. Even an explorer of planet earth as a tiny speck as seen from the moon. What we Wall, if the images were taken during the two weeks window of views through computers into any home. remote China can pore over images of the farthest corner of the considered as major squabbles among our immediate households, the Beijing Olympics when the air was crisp. n

PAGE 30 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 31 FORTY NINE TURNING SIXTY Wong How Man Xishuangbanna, Yunnan – January 26, 2009

oday ushers in another New Year races at the Olympics. This year, to commemorate of the Ox. For over a decade when the 60th year of this invention, they are coming out anyone asked about my age, I always with a special Museum Collection edition named said I am a 49er. It refers to my year 1949. To commemorate this special year in my life, of birth, in 1949, but with the hope I have ordered serial number 826, as my birthday thatT the answer would confuse others that I am only falls on August 26. 49. This used to camouflage my age quite well for many years, until now that I am turning 60. With 1949 was indeed a very special year, particularly more silver than black hair over my head, the trick for Chinese all over the world. This was the year can no longer defy my age. when the People’s Republic was founded under Communist rule, and when the Republic of China Just a few days ago, I visited Inle Lake in the Shan founded in 1911 moved its government to Taiwan. State of Burma. At my friend Ohn Maung’s Inle Thus began six decades of division between two Princess Resort, I got my hands on his vintage opposing governments, both being Chinese. In Willy’s Jeep, circa 1949. This post-war machine China, sixty years mark one “Ja Zi” or a complete was still in fine shape, having the original engine cycle of five rounds of the 12 zodiacs. Would this and gear box. I took it for a spin in the jungle and the special year offer any major breakthroughs in the three forward gears worked very well, better than many disputed areas around the world? One can my limps which were wearing out over long years only hope for the best when the stars were lined up of expeditions. One thing we shared in common - for synchronizing uniformity, or unity. both the Jeep’s leaf springs and my joints squeaked. One real, the other imagined. Many of my very best friends were born in 1949. Just to name a few among my stern supporters and When I drove the Willy’s into the nearby town of friends are Lodi, Barry, Chip, Edward, Victor and Nyaung Shwe, it looked its part as the surroundings William, whereas CH, K and V may be a little more were like a time machine going back 60 years. An age sensitive (apology for any omission as not all old and twisted wooden bridge presented a most my best friends reveal to me their age). Perhaps complementary setting in crossing a river, with a together we should start a 49er club, including a Buddhist pagoda as a backdrop. category of anonymous members. Defying age or not, members should consider this special 60th The majority of us born in 1949 are from the Year year, our 5th Year of the Ox, an important milestone of the Ox, with the exception of those born in in our life. n January or before the Lunar New Year. Oxen are supposed to be industrious and stubborn (especially for the yak type like me). Those born during the early months, or as we call them Spring Oxen, are believed to have a hardy life, working like cows and oxen do in plowing the field in the spring. Those of us born later in the year, like for me in late August, are Autumn Oxen, and tend to enjoy a little leisure, leading a less strenuous life. Indeed I know of one Winter Ox that stubbornly did not work for the last twenty years.

UPPER: Crossing a wavy old bridge at Inle Lake Omega, one of CERS’ most important partners, BOTTOM: A 1949-vintage Ford Jeep invented a photo-finish camera in 1949, solving the RIGHT: National Emblem bearing 1949 of the problem of grouped arrivals at finish lines, including People’s Republic of China

PAGE 32 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY PAGE 33 n CERS, in collaboration with the Kunming Institute of Zoology, began capturing of Black-necked Cranes at Napahai for satellite tracking these endangered birds.

n Land Rover Club Hong Kong made a visit to CERS sites in Yunnan. The entourage included 28 cars with many off-road and 4x4 enthusiasts.

n CERS launched an excursion trip into Myanmar’s upper Irrawaddy River around Myitkyina. A short documentary film of that trip will be completed.

n How Man met with the Karmapa Trinley Thaye Dorje in Hong Kong. This follows his presence at the enthronement of the other Karmapa Ogyen Drodul Trinley Dorje at Tsurphu Monastery of Tibet in 1992. The religious as well as political controversy began with the two differing choices by two rivaling heads of the Kagyu Sect of Tibetan Buddhism.

n CERS and Rockefeller Philanthropic Advisers launch services for our U.S. tax paying donors.

n CERS Burmese Cat Project enters the final stage as our partner the Inle Princess Resort is building a Burmese Cat Café to exhibit the cats.

n CERS completed first stage of preservation to a REFLECTIONS OF traditional village in Hainan Island with first six of twenty houses restored. THE BURMESE CAT n CERS hosted Tenzin, Vice Party Secretary of Yunnan Province, at Tai Tam Center during their delegation’s visit to Hong Kong.

n Feasibility study of integrating power generator into traditional watermill at Tibetan Village. n Chris Dickinson completed editing of three CERS half-hour documentaries; The Yellow River Source Expedition, Burmese n CERS support of Paddy Booz’s research on Tea Cat’s Long Journey Home, and Father Savioz and the Swiss Trade in Tibet enters a third and final year. Mission to Tibet. n How Man made a circuit trip around Taiwan to explore more NEWS NEWS NEWS NEWS n Field Biologist Dr Paul Buzzard begins his Wild Yak research at the Arjin Mountain Nature Reserve in distant locations. Xinjiang.

n CERS Associate Gang Wei on November 22, 2008 UPPER: CERS team ready to catch Black-necked dived successfully at Erhai Lake of Dali and recovered Crane for satellite tracking sections of a Second World War airplane. LOWER: Fleet of Land Rover visiting CERS at Identification of the plane is pending. Napahai of Shangri-la

CERS IN THE MEDIA l CCTV Channel One produced a four- l Global View of Taiwan continues How about CERS' exploration of the Mekong part series “Three River Sources” aired Man's monthly column. Recent stories Source in 2007. during Chinese New Year. It included are on Sun Yat-sen's Red House in major interview with Wong How Man. Hong Kong, contemporary Chinese art l Asian Geographic published an article and fall-out of the financial market. about Islamic frontiers of China, tracing l Yunnan Daily published a feature on the spread of Islam through the Silk How Man's presentation at the Political l A special issue of the China National Road. Consultative Council Meeting which he Geographic published an article by emphasized the importance of cave Wong How Man on the history of the l Dr William Bleisch published an arti- conservation. Yangtze source discovery. Another arti- cle on wildlife of the Arjin Mountain in cle in the same issue by Zhang Fan the Asian Geographic Magazine.

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

Xavier Lee in commando outfit braces for cold night of camping Xavier Lee perching for the best shot

n CERS welcome our new n SNP Vite Limited is providing n Patrick Barlerin provided for Luxasia (HK) Ltd, Oregon patrons Christabel and Ricky, printing for CERS newsletters as CERS staff custom-made knitted Scientific, Sandra d’Auriol, Shun Richard Eu of Eu Yang Sang. well as other printing needs. wool sweaters, scarves, gloves Hing Group, Shanghai Tang, and hats. Shokay International Group, n We thank Lady McNeice of n Barry Lam and Quanta Tiffany & Co., UBS, William E Singapore and Don Conlan of the Computers donated several Acer, n Kevin Lo and Y.S. Lau sup- Conner & Associates, Yan Seng U.S. for their renewed support. Macbook and MacAir for CERS ported feasibility study of inte- Factory Limited. Omega gener- use. grating power generator with tra- ously provided a limited edition n Xavier Lee and Ng Yuet Fung ditional watermills in Tibetan vil- watch (James Bond 007 volunteered their time and pro- n The Jebsen Company donated lages. Collector’s Piece) for auction. We fessional skill to assist CERS in several latest Pentax W60 water- also thank Cathy Hilborn, who making a documentary film in proof cameras for use by our n CERS thank all supporters of was the Master of Ceremonies Myanmar. caving team. 12th Dinner who provided table for our 12th Dinner and thank gifts and lucky draw items. They those who volunteered their serv- n Eufung Hwang provided her n Land Rover UK continues to include Coca-Cola China, Esquel ices before and during the din- expert design service to our provide specialty clothing gear to Group, Grand Hyatt Hong Kong, ner. project site in Hainan Island. CERS. Land Rover Taiwan pro- Jebsen & Co., Land Over Hong vided a Discovery 3 for our Kong, Lee Kum Kee Co Ltd, excursion around the island.

CURRENT PATRONS HONG KONG OVERSEAS CORPORATE lGigi Arnoux lDanny & Eva Patterson lEric Chen lCity Developments Limited lKevin Chau lStephen Suen lScott & Signe Cook lCathay Pacific Airways lBen Chang lHamilton Tang lJudith-Ann Corrente lCoca-Cola lJames Chen lJames & Mary Tien lEster Goelkel lDragonair lWilliam E. Connor lMichael Tien lJoel Horowitz lEu Yan Sang Int'l Ltd lWilliam Fung lNissim Tse lBarry Lam lIDS Group lHans Michael Jebsen lKenneth & Linda Wang lLady McNeice lLand Rover lThomas & Linda Lau lPatrick Wang lElsa Peretti lOmega lSammy & Wendy Lee lDora Wu lOliver Silsby lSampo Group lAudrey Lo lMarjorie Yang lTumi, Inc. lKevin Lo lWellington & Virginia Yee lUBS lDavid Mong lLulu Yu lDaniel Ng lBilly Yung

A subscription to this newsletter is US$100 for three issues. CERS’ MISSION: All proceeds support CERS projects. The mission of CERS is to EXPLORE remote regions Please contact us directly if you are interested in signing up. of China, conduct multi-disciplinary RESEARCH, CONSERVE See the bottom of page two for contact details. nature and culture, and EDUCATE through dissemination of results in popular channels.

The production of China Explorers is made possible through the generous contributions of SNP Vite Limited

PAGE 36 CHINA EXPLORATION AND RESEARCH SOCIETY