Rural Chinese Hunter Turns to Wildlife Conservation

Fang was born in the Year of the Tiger 84 years ago, and needless to say, a lot has changed in China over the past eight-plus decades. In the grey winters, in the shadow of Huang Mountain in Anhui province, Fang spends his time wrapped in a blanket, bundled up to combat the penetrating cold.

He lives in a small cluster of houses nestled in a sheltered bamboo valley. To this day, the valley is Fang’s livelihood. After the civil war, he spent most of his life as a hunter, climbing the thickly forested sides of Huang Mountain in search of something to eat or sell.

At 84, his hunting days are behind him. Now he helps rangers from a nearby nature reserve catch poachers and conserves the biodiversity that remains in the area, including the monkeys who ransack his garden for vegetables.