On December 4 evening, a documentary “Smiling Angel is Back” was broadcasted in the China Central Television (CCTV) News Probe programme. It told about the existing conditions of finless porpoises, and the achievements of ecological environment improvement in the Yangtze River Yueyang section. Xu Yaping, chairman of the Yueyang Finless Porpoise Protection Association, announced to the audiences that “I win the bet! The finless porpoises live their happy life!”

Finless porpoise, a local species in the Dongting Lake, is known as “panda in water” for its rareness. Dozens of years ago, there were only 80-odd finless porpoises in the lake area. An expert predicted that, finless porpoise would go extinct in the Dongting Lake in ten years. Hearing that, Xu made a bet on weather Chinese people would take efforts to protect a rare species in ten years.

In 2011, Xu founded the Yueyang Finless Porpoise Protection Association. He led volunteers to apply for shortlisting finless porpoise for first-class state protection; establish protection zone and organization; and, relocate finless porpoises for better protection. They launched four “battles” and 29 campaigns, including promoting environmental protection education; combatting with illegal behaviors in water; helping fishermen to get relocated and reemployed, and their children to go to school; and, rescuing and protecting wild animals and boosting scientific research. Since 2017, Yueyang has carried out Yangtze shoreline environmental remediation and Dongting Lake eco-environmental management projects, restored 7.24 km of Yangtze River shorelines, greened 19,700 mu (about 667 ha.) of shorelines. All quays have been greened.

In 2013, the CCTV News Probe programme crew filmed a documentary “Farewell in Smile” in Dongting Lake area, which set an alarm bell for ecological protection in the Dongting Lake and Yangtze River. This year, the reporters visited the Dongting Lake wetland again. They filmed at Xiangyin County, the Yunxi Green Chemical Engineering Industrial Park, and the Caprolactam (CPL) industrial chain relocation, upgrading, and extension project. They were shocked by the huge changes in the past eight years. 

At present, finless porpoise has been under first-class state protection, and the total number has increased to over 120. The number of elks rose to nearly 200. About 288,000 migrant birds overwinter in Dongting Lake area.

At the 8th CPC Yueyang Municipal Congress held on September 27, Wang Yi’ou, secretary of the CPC Yueyang Municipal Committee, noted that Yueyang has three new calling cards – “Merry Songs of Migrant Birds”; “Smile of Finless Porpoises”; and, “Pretty Images of Elks”. On November 18, Wang inspected the Yueyang Finless Porpoise Protection Association, and spoke highly of Xu’s contributions to protecting finless porpoises and the Dongting Lake wetland.

Source: en.yueyang.gov.cn