[Leica] Birds & The Great Wall of China

[Wilbur Norman]

Jaya,

Alas, the mass slaughter of bird species in northern China has – and is, taking a major toll. 

Hundreds, probably thousands, of hunters annually kill millions of migratory birds for the marketplace. Additionally, with an increase in the number of people with money, sport hunters slaughter birds by the thousands/millions simply for sport. (Perhaps some of the same folks who are fueling the demand for elephant ivory and rhino horn.)

I remember last year reading that one group of sport hunters had killed one ton of birds on a single trip.

Ah, and don't even get me started on the horrible practice springing from an old belief that blood from a live bird will keep myriad sicknesses at bay. It's a terrible ritual you are better off not hearing the details about.

I could go on but… you get the idea.



********************

On Nov 24, 2014, at 12:18 AM, Jayanand Govindaraj wrote:

> So I come to the last day of our trip, with a visit to the Mu Tian Yu
> section of Great Wall of China which is 70 km from Beijing. It is a
> beautifully restored section of the wall running along a mountain ridge,
> and is accessed via a cable car. Why an Emperor, however paranoid, would
> build a huge defensive wall on top of a very steep mountain ridge is beyond
> me, but there it is! A last observation is that it makes sense to do the
> typical tourist circuit starting in Shanghai, and ending at Beijing,
> because the quality of  the experience of the places visited increases, and
> climaxes well in Xi'an followed by Beijing. The journey in the reverse
> direction would be an anticlimax, I feel.
> 
> On our way, we visited a cloisonne factory on the outskirts of Beijing, and
> had a tour of the place:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2828.jpg.html
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2821.jpg.html
> 
> The Great Wall of China, Mu Tian Yu Section. Even here, surprisingly, in
> the countryside, with all the greenery, there were no birds to be seen or
> heard:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2415.jpg.html
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2424.jpg.html
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2869.jpg.html
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2890.jpg.html
> 
> People on the wall:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2431.jpg.html
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2447.jpg.html
> 
> Two studies of a section of the wall - one a wider view than the other, and
> with human content as well:
> 
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2884.jpg.html
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/China/China-20141020-2456.jpg.html
> 
> Please see LARGE
> 
> Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome
> 
> Cheers
> Jayanand
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Leica Users Group.
> See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information
>