Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
youth, he treasures his grouse-hunting maturity. And a survey of Hong Kong residents
that suggested increasing support for wildlife conservation and concern for endangered
species revealed no particular compunction against using animals for human benefit,
simply an increased concern for the future of their populations. Interestingly, although
only a minority of polled Hong Kong residents reported having used animal products
medicinally, TCM users (including those who used only plant derivatives) expressed
higher levels of concern about species endangerment than did nonusers.
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Further, among
the roughly one-third of respondents who either occasionally or frequently consumed
such wild foods as snakes, civet cats, pangolins, muntjaks, and wild boars, consumption
rates correlated positively with educational level (rather than negatively, as might be
expected if such consumptive use reflected primarily rural traditions that would likely
decline with urbanization and “Westernization”). Among these Hong Kong Chinese
in the mid-1990s, it seemed that the primary obstacle to consuming expensive wild
delicacies was not awareness or attitude, but rather disposable income. It would thus
seem hasty to confuse the Hong Kong survey's optimistic findings of clear support for
saving wildlife with any substantial turning away from consumptive use on ethical or
moral grounds.
Some Western-based environmental NGOs include in their strategies public campaigns
to dissuade Chinese from using wildlife products in TCM, evidently hoping that as China
continues to modernize, this tradition will be left behind, seen as out of step with modern
values as bound feet. But while many educated people eschew TCM, I see no evidence that
Chinese culture is, in general, on a path toward renunciation of TCM (even those that include
animal parts). Beyond the large number of users and the inevitable economic interests of
TCM producers and retailers, policy statements by government officials show no sign of
disapproving traditional consumptive use. Does the official position support doing a better
job of conserving wild animals and more humane methods of using them? Yes. But abjure
traditional use entirely? No.
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Environmental awareness, and in particular concern for the plight of endangered spe-
cies, has undoubtedly increased spectacularly in China proper in recent decades: a poll
might be useful to quantify the extent of this change, but none is necessary to assert the
general trend. But it does not follow that the fundamental attitudes I describe above have
undergone a similar sea-change. The tendency for utilitarian, aesthetic, and dominionis-
tic values to dominate Chinese thinking, even today, is clear.
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The connection between
conservation (or, more precisely,
baohu
in Chinese) and mankind's ultimate betterment
is pervasive in both governmental proclamations and scientific writing. Plans, strategies,
and suggestions for the future, particularly in dealing with China's west, continue to jus-
tify environmental safeguards strictly from a utilitarian premise.
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The newest Chinese
university textbooks used for classes on conservation biology or wildlife conservation
include prefaces that begin with the importance of such endeavors for the needs of hu-
man societies.
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Even the Biodiversity Working Group of the State Council-directed
China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development listed
the need for biodiversity to earn economic returns as a higher priority than legal reforms
or additional research.
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