we decided to make a special on the
ivory trade after learning that last
year alone more than twelve percent of
the world’s elephants were killed for
their tusks we wanted to know why the
demand for ivory is as high now as
perhaps it’s ever been our production
team had just six weeks to answer this
question and so we split up while I
worked in East Africa teammates were
filming in China where we’d heard the
current demand is the greatest there we
worked with brian christie one of the
world’s top authorities on the ivory
trade brian investigated the problem for
three years and his work was about to be
published in a national geographic cover
story that added a serious deadline to
our work we knew our team had to be out
of china before the article hit the
newsstands why well Brian’s got some
pretty potent things to say by every
measure china is the world’s villain
when it comes to the illegal ivory trade
and the reasons are obvious China has a
long history of ivory consumption it has
a booming economy they are looking back
into their past for symbols that they
associate with their ancestors with core
values and they’re expressing those core
values in ivory ivory has been prized in
China for over 2,000 years as a status
symbol
perfect for depicting religious figures
and material like no other given the
circumstances
today the just obsession with wealth and
the momentum of the Chinese economy the
momentum of a modern Chinese life leaves
no time seems to me for thinking about
the elephant in Africa during production
ivory traders admitted they’d sell
poached ivory for $300 a pound but once
it’s carved even small pieces can go for
that much mr. Leung this is
extraordinary work how long have you
been carving ivory 58 yes
58 years yeah so you started as a boy
master Leung spent two years carving
this piece it is valued at over a
million dollars
when I see an older master carver at
work I can understand this is an art
form that is unique to China that
they’ve developed over thousands of
years and the Chinese government is
saying when you look at a master Harbor
this is what we want to preserve but
then we move to a factory our research
revealed that 83% of China’s huge middle
class intends to buy ivory products in
the future retail stores in China
receive their ivory from 33 government
registered carving factories you walk
through any of the major Chinese
factories and you see row upon row of
young people at work and you see in the
largest factory empty seats
these aren’t empty seats because people
have been fired these are empty seats
because people have not yet been hired
Chinese government intends to expand its
ivory market that could be fatal news
for the elephant the elephant population
is now at the lowest level ever recorded
and some people believe the elephant may
be almost extinct in the wild in just 10
years or so it’s for the world to choose
there’s this craft or this species more
valuable it was clear from what our team
was capturing in China that ivory demand
is expanding
but where was it coming from and how are
they moving it in the next episode we’ll
go undercover in East Africa with Aidan
Hartley to expose criminals selling
poach ivory house have a look at the
rest of them
[Music]
[Music]
ivory trade after learning that last
year alone more than twelve percent of
the world’s elephants were killed for
their tusks we wanted to know why the
demand for ivory is as high now as
perhaps it’s ever been our production
team had just six weeks to answer this
question and so we split up while I
worked in East Africa teammates were
filming in China where we’d heard the
current demand is the greatest there we
worked with brian christie one of the
world’s top authorities on the ivory
trade brian investigated the problem for
three years and his work was about to be
published in a national geographic cover
story that added a serious deadline to
our work we knew our team had to be out
of china before the article hit the
newsstands why well Brian’s got some
pretty potent things to say by every
measure china is the world’s villain
when it comes to the illegal ivory trade
and the reasons are obvious China has a
long history of ivory consumption it has
a booming economy they are looking back
into their past for symbols that they
associate with their ancestors with core
values and they’re expressing those core
values in ivory ivory has been prized in
China for over 2,000 years as a status
symbol
perfect for depicting religious figures
and material like no other given the
circumstances
today the just obsession with wealth and
the momentum of the Chinese economy the
momentum of a modern Chinese life leaves
no time seems to me for thinking about
the elephant in Africa during production
ivory traders admitted they’d sell
poached ivory for $300 a pound but once
it’s carved even small pieces can go for
that much mr. Leung this is
extraordinary work how long have you
been carving ivory 58 yes
58 years yeah so you started as a boy
master Leung spent two years carving
this piece it is valued at over a
million dollars
when I see an older master carver at
work I can understand this is an art
form that is unique to China that
they’ve developed over thousands of
years and the Chinese government is
saying when you look at a master Harbor
this is what we want to preserve but
then we move to a factory our research
revealed that 83% of China’s huge middle
class intends to buy ivory products in
the future retail stores in China
receive their ivory from 33 government
registered carving factories you walk
through any of the major Chinese
factories and you see row upon row of
young people at work and you see in the
largest factory empty seats
these aren’t empty seats because people
have been fired these are empty seats
because people have not yet been hired
Chinese government intends to expand its
ivory market that could be fatal news
for the elephant the elephant population
is now at the lowest level ever recorded
and some people believe the elephant may
be almost extinct in the wild in just 10
years or so it’s for the world to choose
there’s this craft or this species more
valuable it was clear from what our team
was capturing in China that ivory demand
is expanding
but where was it coming from and how are
they moving it in the next episode we’ll
go undercover in East Africa with Aidan
Hartley to expose criminals selling
poach ivory house have a look at the
rest of them
[Music]
[Music]
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