ABSTRACT
The illegal wildlife trade has become a global criminal enterprise, following in the footsteps of drugs and weapons. This chapter will focus on the organization of Chinese crime groups involved in the illegal trade of endangered species in traditional Chinese medicine. The role of ethnicity, family and cultural ties, the legal-illegal interface, and the diversification of organized crime into wildlife trafficking will be discussed. This chapter shows that illegal trade in traditional Chinese medicine has become a lucrative and corrupt black market that increasingly attracts transnational criminal organizations along the Silk Road.
