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FOUNDER'S STORY

Hongxiang Huang

  • BA in Journalism, Fudan University

  • MA in international development, Columbia University

  • Global Ambassador for Development Practice, Columbia University

  • Conservation Ambassador, Shanghai Pudong

  • Researcher for international organizations such as IIED, WWF

  • Forbes China 30under30 under “social enterprise”

  • Wildlife conservation activist featured by Oscar-shortlisted Netflix documentary the Ivory Game

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The story behind

In 2013, a young Chinese graduate student from Columbia University decided to give up every opportunites in New York and join a fellowship program in southern Africa to work on wildlife protection.

 

At the beginning, he did not know why the fellowship program was specifically looking for Chinese candidates, and he did not know exactly what he would do. He responed to the call just because going to Africa and protecting animals has been his childhood dream and he wanted to seize this moment.

 

But after he arrived the "ivory market" in Maputo, Mozambique, he understood why.

 

"We have ivory! We have rhino horn! Cheap!" The Mozambican traffickers cheered in Chinese language.

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​The black market in Momzambique, in 2013.

 

He learned about the ivory trade; he learned that 1/3 of ivory is in the skull of elephants and you need to chop their heads off to get ivory; he learned that a lot of ivory is heading to far east; he learned that many people in Africa think all Chinese people buy ivory and therefore it is much easier for Chinese people to conduct investigation --- that was the reason he was chosen.

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Brutal killing of an elephant

 

This Chinese young man used his "special advantage" to conduct undercover investigatioms, to expose the criminal network, to help police arrest the traffickers.

Arrest

Hong during his undercover investigation in Vietnam, in traffickers' homes in the "Wildlife Village" and the center of the black market.

 

In 2016, a Netflix documentary "the Ivory Game" produced by Leonardo Dicaprio captured his story. UN Messenger for Peace Dr. Jane Goodall called him "my hero".

Trailer of the Ivory Game

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Dr. Jane Goodall & Hong

 

His name is Hongxiang Huang. People call him: Hong.

 

Hong did not think one single investigator could make enough difference to saving endangered animals. He believes "A team of invesigators can".

 

After learning Chinese investigators could make unique contribution and they are extremely rare, Hong started a slow but important process: cultivating a new generation of young Chinese people who love wildlife, share global citizenship, understand professional NGO works, and have strong investigation skills.

One and another, Chinese investigators were cultivated from his works. Over the past 10 years, they have worked with many NGOs in many places of the world. Many famous and important investigations have them in the shadow.

 

Apart from investigations, using the knowledge obtained from investigations, Hong and his team also tried to engage Chinese communites in Africa, South America and so on regarding wildlife conservation.

They convinced the richest Chinese business leader in South Africa to donate for pangolin conservation, which was the first time Chinese people supported pangolin conservation in Africa.

They organized "Walk for Elephants" in Tanzania, engaging the Chinese embassy, and it became the first ever Chinese-led conservation walk in Africa.

Walk for Elephants

They organized desnaring volunteering activities in Kenya, involving Chinese community members living in Kenya as volunteers for the first time.

Desnaring volunteering activity in Kenya

They organized the first wildlife conservation campaigns within the Chinese community in Suriname.

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First wildlife conservation campaigns within the Chinese community in Suriname

 

10 years have passed since Hong started his personal investigation and training new investigators. Today, seeing there are already enough qualified Chinese investigators, Hong believes it is time to take this work to the next level, to form a professional team of them, to collaborate with global partners and to put an end on the illegal wildlife trade.

 

He calls such Chinese investigaors "Agent C".

 

"C" stands for "China", but also stands for "Conservation" and "Change".

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