Shanghai Daily news

Animal conservationists fighting to save the Tibetan antelope from being wiped out by poachers were joined three years ago by two young women from Shanghai. Zhao Feifei talks to the women who left their comfortable jobs for the hardships of life in China's high country.
It's almost a cliche to say that Shanghainese girls are spoilt, materialistic and emotionally high-maintenance. However, this generalization certainly doesn't apply to Yao Kai and Ai Lin, two young women who gave up a comfortable life in Shanghai for the wilds of northwestern Qinghai Province as volunteers in a war against poachers in Hoh Xil (Kekexili) where they worked to save an endangered species of antelope.
Their stories were included in a recently published book, ``Up Close and Personal with Hoh Xil,'' put out by the Joint Publishing House (in Chinese, 28 yuan). Part of the book's sales proceeds will go to a wildlife preservation project. Hoh Xil, which means ``Beautiful Maid'' in Mongolian, is 4,600 meters above sea level and is famous for its pristine ecological environment and extremely rugged landscape. It is the main habitat of the Tibetan antelope which has been pushed to the edge of extinction by illegal hunting. To protect the last virgin wilderness in China and its endangered fauna, a non-governmental environmental group named Greenriver has established a protection station and formed volunteer patrols to fight the poachers. Volunteers from all over the country come to join the project every month. Yao, 28, put her promising career as a lawyer specializing in real estate on hold when she ventured into Hoh Xil three years ago. Ai, 30, an architect, also signed up for the expedition and they were the only two women from Shanghai who volunteered. They were also the first single women ever to take part in the animal preservation project in Hoh Xil. ``Hoh Xil is beyond what the average person can imagine,'' says Yao. ``Most people don't understand why I went there. They think it's a remote place, so far away that it could be none of our business. ``In fact, Hoh Xil is the source of the Yellow and the Yangtze rivers so it's silly to think that way. Protecting the area benefits not only people in China's west but also people in the east.'' An outdoor type, Yao had been longing to visit Qinghai-Tibet Plateau. Four years ago she watched a TV documentary called ``Balance,'' in which the pictures of Hoh Xil captured her imagination. She also learned that Hoh Xil needed help in protecting its wildlife. ``I was thinking about donating money at first,'' says Yao. ``But then I had a second thought. You never know if the money you give really goes to the place you want to help. So I thought I should go there myself and help personally.'' Yao's parents understood and supported her and her mission. But Ai's mother has always been over-protective and would even stop her daughter from going out on ordinary sight-seeing trips. She called Greenriver's founder and director Yang Xin in an effort to stop Ai from going and then Ai's employer refused to allow her to take leave of absence. ``I was driven by the thought that if I didn't go when I was young, I would never go,'' Ai says. ``And I love animals and I wanted to see the Tibetan antelope.'' After one-year of lobbying and pleading with both her company and her mother, Ai got the green light to go. Yao and Ai signed up with Greenriver and in May 2002 they set out for Hoh Xil. Even though they were prepared for the hardships they knew they were going to face, they were still overwhelmed when they first arrived. The average temperature on the plateau is minus 20 degrees Celsius and they suffered from altitude sickness because the thin air contains only half the oxygen found at sea level. They also could not bathe because of a scarcity of water. ``The people working up there lead a primitive kind of life. For example, when they patrol the mountains, the only food available is cold steamed buns. Naturally the buns are as hard as stone at temperatures below minus 20,'' says Ai. ``When they are thirsty, they can only drink snow water and sometimes, when they are out of bread, the people on patrol have to eat raw mutton.'' But the hardest job is the fight against the poachers. A piece of shawl made from the hide of a Tibetan antelope can sell for tens of thousands of US dollars in Europe or America. To exploit the lucrative Western market for much sought-after pashmina wool, impoverished Tibetans began poaching antelopes. Today, the antelope population has shrunk from several million at the start of the 20th century to fewer than 70,000 by the late-1990s. Not being professionally trained, Yao and Ai were not involved in any actual gun battles with poachers. They were given the job of distributing environmental protection handbooks to passers-by on the Qinghai-Tibet Highway, observing and documenting the wildlife around them and joining patrols to protect the local fauna. When not working, they were taking in the beautiful natural wonders of Hoh Xil. ``In big cities, the sky is grey and it's impossible to see stars at night,'' says Yao. ``You're trapped in traffic, mobile phones ring and you have all the modern facilities at hand. You just feel life is moving too fast to enjoy it. ``But when I was in Hoh Xil, standing alone on the plateau, looking at the azure sky, snowy mountain and the vast plain, I couldn't help feeling so amazed that tears rolled down my face. This was nature and you have to respect it.'' Ai says of her trip: ``I'm was much moved by the actions of some of the local people in the fight against poachers. Some have even sacrificed their lives.'' The volunteering stint on the plateau passed quickly for Yao and Ai but when they returned to city life, they found they were not the same persons who had left. ``They say you'll come out of it a different person than when you went in. Now I believe it,'' says Yao. ``Hoh Xil has become a permanent fixture in my mind.'' Ai says she feels the same way. They had both wanted to do something for people whose lives they and the rest of the world knew nothing about. ``No matter how hard and difficult it may be, we volunteers are only allowed to stay out there for one month at a time. The local patrols have to spend months, years and for some, even an entire lifetime in that desolate land,'' says Ai. They are using their own experiences in Hoh Xil to raise awareness about the plight of the Tibetan antelope by holding photographic exhibitions and giving lectures in local universities and colleges. Yao has persuaded travel and camping supply companies to donate water-proof jackets and sleeping bags to the Hoh Xil environmental protection station. And last year Hoh Xil and the endangered antelopes became better known to the world thanks to ``Hoh Xil: Mountain Patrol,'' an award-winning film by Shanghai-born director Lu Chuan. However, there is still a long way to go before the war against the poachers is won.