Shanghai woman Dai Wenjing overcomes difficulties in non-man land to witness the tragic state of the Tibetan Antelope.

At first, Dai Wenjing thought the trip to Kekexili would be a leisure trip like those she had gone on previously to the plateaus of Yunnan and Sichuan. But after staying there for a month, she found it was a voyage full of hardship and discovery.

Dai, a 25-year-old Shanghai woman without any exploration experience, went to Kekexili with the first batch of volunteers at the invitation of the Kekexili Conservation Area Administrative Bureau.

The trip lasted from May 7 to June 13. She used up 39 films and a diary to record her days in the wild place.

No-man's Land

"When I first saw Kekexili, it was totally different from what I had imagined before. It is not romantic at all," she said.

The vast, chilly and still uninhabited area is called the "Forbidden Zone" for human beings. From the flourishing city of Shanghai to a no-man's land, Dai said she couldn't adjust at first.

"To be honest, Kekexili is a very boring place to see. It is not a scenic spot at all," she said.

"The scenery is always yellow land. Sometimes, after driving for a whole day, you won't see a tree but land and more land."

The dull environment makes people excited when they see the tiniest change such as a small animal or a plant.

The most exciting project is the five-day police patrol from Budong Quan Protection Station between May 22 and 26. They drove over 2,000 kilometers in the forbidden area.

Dirty Skin

At first, when they launched the patrol, they met a big snowstorm and lost their way. After driving for a whole day, they found that they had returned to the starting point.

The most dangerous thing Dai ever met was when their jeep almost fell down the mountain because of the steep slopes.

The only food they had during the five days was instant noodles. They prepared a spray gun at the beginning, which helped them to boil the snow into hot water.

But before long it went wrong. In the last few days, all they could eat was dry noodles.

Because of the shortage of water, Dai didn't bathe for two weeks. "In Kekexili, with strong ultraviolet rays, if you wash yourself too clean, it will be harmful," Dai explained. "Dirt on the skin will protect you from the sun."

Another thing that no one can avoid in the plateau is headaches. Generally speaking, people will experience bad effects at 3,000 meters above sea level. Not to mention the average height in Kekexili, which is 4,600 meters.

All the difficulties mentioned above were not a serious problem for Dai. What she found unendurable were the sleepless nights.

After driving for a day, women could have the priority in the jeep, while men could only sleep outside.

"But it is hard to sleep though with the priority to sit on the seat," Dai said. "At that time, daylight was the thing I wished to see more than anything every day."

Poaching Tragedy

Of course, the volunteers wanted to see the Tibetan Antelope. Dai said she saw them several times, but from far away.

"The director of Kekexili Conservation Area Administrative Bureau said Tibetan Antelopes were very tame with people when he was a farmer about 20 years ago. But now the animals flee quickly when they see people," she said. "It's the result of all the poaching."

The number of Tibetan Antelopes living in Kekexili has decreased from 100,000 ten years ago to 50,000 today. Every year, about 20,000 are killed.

Poachers are after the coat and underwood of Tibetan Antelope, Dai said. Its underwood is called "soft gold" to make Shahtoosh, which is a kind of beautiful and glorious shawl.

Though there is no demand for shahtoosh in the domestic market, and Chinese customs never export any underwood, the trade in the international market reaches over US$10 million every year.

Since 1996, a Shahtoosh has been priced at 3,500 pounds. To produce a Shahtoosh you have to kill at least three Tibetan Antelopes.

"Illegal hunting and trade has contributed to the sharp decline in the population of the Tibetan Antelope, and if these activities continue, the Tibetan Antelope will become extinct," Dai said.

China reaffirmed its commitment to Tibetan Antelope conservation at the International Workshop on Conservation and Control of Trade in the Tibetan Antelope. As a result of this, poaching has become less of a menace.

During the five-day patrol, Dai only heard of one incident of poaching in Kekexili. But they didn't meet, which made her a little regretful.

(Shanghai Star July 24, 2002)