ANIMALS - Wildlife Conservation in China: Preserving the Habitat of China's Wild West - page 80

I avoid using the word tame and focus instead on animals that are simply captive, for
two reasons. First, “tame” suggests that the animal presents little or no danger to people
in close proximity, but in reality some species that are raised in captivity in China remain
dangerous whereas others do not. 9 Second, the Chinese language contains no distinction
between the process of “taming” and that of “domesticating” an animal. There is a separate
Chinese word denoting “livestock,” but one cannot tell, from the Chinese verb xunhua ,
whether one has created a brand new domestic species or merely tamed an individual
animal. 10 I do not know if the conflating of tame and domestic in Chinese thinking arises
from the ambiguousness of the Chinese language or if the direction of causation runs the
other way, but the linguistic connection is surely not coincidental. The distinction between
wild and captive seems similarly soft in much of Chinese writing and policy.
CAPTIVE BREEDING IN CHINA
Given its rich history and civilization, it is not surprising that China has an impressive
tradition involving the taming and captive rearing of wildlife. As one of the originators
of agriculture, early Chinese civilization was heavily involved with some of the earliest
successful domestication of wild animals as well. The first domestic species, the dog,
was probably domesticated in China (albeit for meat rather than companionship) at a
similarly early time as its domestication in the Fertile Crescent and in North America.
Domestic pigs may also have originated in China, and we know that domestic chickens,
and of course working silkworms, were Chinese inventions. Captive rearing of species
we now think of as wild may have an almost equally long history. Interpretation of his-
torical records suggests that Pere David's deer, which later became extinct in the wild,
were raised in captivity about 4,000 years ago. While probably never bred in captivity,
Chinese may also have tamed elephants for work even earlier. 11 Of course, the mere fact
that captive rearing has an ancient lineage in Chinese culture does not in itself justify its
inclusion in a conservation system, even if one wishes to develop a truly Chinese system
of wildlife conservation. It does, however, show the depth to which such practices are
embedded in Chinese culture.
In contemporary China, captive specimens of nondomestic species can be encountered
in a multitude of settings beyond zoos. Visit a nature reserve and you are likely to see
some of the featured species live and in the flesh, albeit behind bars. Research institutes
where scientists work in laboratories or offices are often populated by captive primates,
cranes, or peacocks. Almost every species listed as “key” by China's state law has a
program, if not yet implemented at least in the planning stages, for captive propagation.
Peek behind the out-buildings at a tourist park and you are likely to encounter bears in
cages or pangolins in warehouses. Spend enough time among pastoralists in the western
regions and you will find tamed gazelles and imprisoned snow leopards. Wild animals
“rescued” from some calamity, natural or man-made (typically small wild cats or injured
raptors) are often housed for the remainder of their lives in centers within public parks.
Facilities specifically set up to raise wild species in captivity are afforded high status.
Commercial farms raise deer, bears, civets, snakes, and frogs.