TROPHY HUNTING - Wildlife Conservation in China: Preserving the Habitat of China's Wild West - page 178

dry, with elevations varying from 3,100 meters on the Kharteng River to 5,668 meters on
the highest peak. Livestock raising (primarily sheep and goats, secondarily camels) has
been the principal economic activity in and near KIHA. Aksai Kazak Autonomous County
itself was created from portions of Gansu, Qinghai, and Xinjiang provinces in 1953 to
provide grazing and administrative services for Kazaks who had fled persecution from a
local warlord in Xinjiang during the 1930s. 35 Prior to the arrival of Kazaks, the area was
very sparsely populated by semi-nomadic ethnic Mongol pastoralists. The county is one
of China's largest in area (approximately 33,500 km 2 , almost entirely desert and mountain
grasslands), but smallest in population (according to the 1993 census, 7,229, of which
roughly half were ethnic Kazaks). Most hunters come to KIHA in Aksai for argali, but
many also kill blue sheep, and some also kill Tibetan or goitered gazelles.
Hashiha'er (Subei, Gansu)
Located just north of KIHA, in adjacent Subei County, the Hashiha'er hunting area was
China's first to focus on argali. It is similar in size and topography to KIHA, shares one
mountain range (and possibly an argali herd) with it, and has a similar assemblage of
wildlife. Unlike Aksai, Subei County is a predominately Mongol area, and these pastoral-
ists maintain a somewhat more traditional lifestyle than had become true in Jianshe by
the late 1990s, herding yaks in addition to domestic sheep and goats. Yanchiwan Town-
ship, which is essentially synonymous with the Hashiha'er hunting area, benefits from
a broad belt of subirrigated pasture courtesy of the Dang River, and thus may provide
slightly more favorable grazing for domestic livestock than Jianshe to its south. As with
KIHA, argali is the prime species of interest and blue sheep an important second. Unlike
in KIHA, however, white-lipped deer are present in sufficient numbers for an occasional
bull to be taken. Also unlike KIHA, most of Hashiha'er is also—nominally at least—part
of a nature reserve, the Yanchiwan provincial-level nature reserve.
Dulan (Qinghai)
Easily the largest Chinese international hunting area in terms of hunters, trophies taken,
and staff employed, the Dulan area sprawls over two separate townships, Balong and
Gouli, and hunters are occasionally led to other portions of the Burhan Buda Shan (itself
a subrange within the Kunlun Shan) within the county. Dulan was initially conceived as
providing a replacement economic activity for commercial hunting in the area, after that
was discontinued (and then made illegal by the 1988 Wildlife Protection Law ) . Located
in a relatively mesic section of the Kunlun, both Dulan areas feature much more produc-
tive vegetation than exists in either Aksai or Subei, and this, combined with favorable
topography, makes it a veritable paradise for blue sheep. Tibetan gazelles are the second
most sought-after trophy, and white-lipped deer are sometimes taken in Balong and red
deer in Gouli. Argali are present as well, but through the year 2000 only five had been
taken in Dulan. Both areas are grazed year-round, Balong by Mongol herders, Gouli by
Tibetan herders.