China - Comparing Environmental Policies in 16 Countries - page 257

participated in the 1972 Stockholm environmental summit. This was an
aberration because China really did not have much interest in nature, and
was doing so to counter the Soviets and to denounce US nuclear weapons.
While most countries around the world were weaving a tighter net of envi-
ronmental exchange and cooperation during the 1970s, China did little.
China signed the Convention on International Trade in Endangered
Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) in 1981. This international treaty
of nearly 180 countries restricts trade to protect endangered animals and
plants. Its biggest success has been the control of the ivory trade that
has achieved protection for African and Indian elephants. For China
two animals have been contentious: tigers and rhinos. Traditional folk
medicine attributes healing properties to nearly every part of the tiger:
bones, teeth, whiskers, eyes, and the penis. Taken in wine, pills, balms and
powders, the potions relieve rheumatism, arthritis, malaria, burns, pain,
aging, and impotency. To supply these demands, there are 5000 tigers
in captivity being raised for their body parts. Other members of CITES,
particularly India, object because supplying some tiger parts encourages
the demand for more. It maintains that this leads to shooting wild tigers
in India that are then exported to China. Officially, China banned trade
in tiger parts in 1993, but other countries believed this was not effective.
Rhino are similarly endangered. Many believe that powder made from
the horn can treat fevers, convulsions, and delirium. At present only 5000
to 7000 rhinos survive in the wild in Africa and Asia. None have lived
in China since ancient times. Traditional medicine is not confined to the
countryside or to the uneducated. Hundreds of millions use it. Physicians
have modern hospitals in all cities. They advocate holistic treatment of the
patient with plants like ginseng and techniques of massage and acupunc-
ture. Recently, the national association of traditional physicians has voted
to not use extracts from tigers, rhinos, and other endangered species.
Over the past two millennia, China has had a number of capital cities.
They display clear evidence of orderly planning. Orientation toward the
cardinal points of the compass is standard. Important buildings face
south, the most auspicious direction. Xi'an, for example, is laid out as
a square with its stone walls and streets oriented north-south and
east-west, and a bell tower at the center. Beijing centers on the Imperial
Palace, known as the Forbidden City because the public was forbidden to
enter. Within the palace proper, a series of buildings, such as the Hall of
Supreme Harmony and the Hall of Heavenly Purity, all face south toward
Tiananmen Square. Next to the northern wall is a traditional scholar's