ABSTRACT
Wildlife? Yes. China? Of course. But China and wildlife? Seems a strange match. In most minds, I suspect there isn’t much of a connection. Most Westerners who have visited China-indeed, I suspect most Chinese themselves-have never seen a wild animal there beyond the common pigeons and sparrows that inhabit cities and farmyards, or perhaps a few bats flitting about at dusk over irrigation canals. China’s environmental problems have recently loomed large, both within China and elsewhere, and nobody seriously disputes that a stable future cannot be built on a deteriorating environment. As is appropriate, most investigations into China’s environmental problems have focused on pollution, energy use, water, and land degradation; wildlife per se has generally been an afterthought.1 Does China have much interesting wildlife, and does its conservation mean much for China or the world?
