Poachers' shame wrongly falls on all Chinese

But social media is doing a wonderful job of education on protecting wildlife

It is clear from reading Chinese social media that public awareness and education on wildlife conservation in China is markedly better now than it was a few years ago.

That would help explain the reaction since the Tanzanian government announced that it had confiscated 706 elephants tusks in a house in Dar es Salaam on Nov 2, and that three Chinese garlic traders had been arrested over the matter.

The Tourism Minister, Khamis Kagasheki, says "it means 353 elephants were killed to get all those tusks".

That headline news in the Tanzanian media unleashed anger among Africans over yet another case of alleged poaching and smuggling. However, Africans were not alone in the frustration they vented; many Chinese, particularly those working and living in Africa, seemed just as angry, or even angrier.

"I really have no idea what they are thinking about," a person calling himself Latte, and who says he is a Chinese businessman in Tanzania, wrote on Sina Weibo, the Chinese equivalent of Twitter.

"The image of the Chinese community is ruined by such people," he says.

Since the microblog became popular in China in 2009, it has turned into a significant platform for public discussion over many social issues and information dissemination. By the end of last year, more than 500 million users had registered for Sina Weibo.

Immediately after news of the ivory find in Dar es Salaam came out, it was translated into Chinese and posted on the Internet. The news was read by more than 10,000 users within a day, and many netizens left messages to express their anger over the smuggling.

Some of the messages were extreme, saying the teeth of the alleged culprits "should be taken away and put in the zoo", and some called for the alleged culprits to be treated similarly to a Chinese woman in Kenya in August who was sent to jail for smuggling ivory products.

One reason that the latest case so upset Chinese expatriates in Africa is that they cop the blame for the very small minority of Chinese who may be involved in the ivory trade.

I belong to an online chat group of Chinese expatriates in Kenya that has about 500 members, who are involved in all kinds of businesses.

They may disagree on many things, but one thing that seems to unite them is their abhorrence of poaching and the ivory trade. If anyone seriously raised the matter of buying an ivory product and how to take it back to China, they would immediately be expelled from the group.

The Internet does serve as a field of debate but it also serves as a wonderful platform for public education, and it is doing so admirably in China with regard to protecting wildlife, be it in China, Africa or anywhere else.

Influential celebrities such as former NBA player Yao Ming and actress Li Bingbing have visited Africa and seen first hand how serious the problem is. Their views, calling for people to stop buying ivory products, have been well publicized in Africa.

Weibo says more than 11.41 million messages have been generated in an online discussion on saving elephants.

It is not only Chinese expatriates in Africa who are helping raise awareness of anti-poaching efforts, but younger Chinese in China, too.

Zhuo Qiang, said to be the first Chinese involved in systematic wildlife conservation in Africa, says a lecture he gives on protecting wildlife is greatly received by college students in China, many of whom have helped establish campus associations focusing on wildlife protection and conservation.

Of course the fight against poaching necessarily involves many people, and the Eastern Africa Wildlife Society says African governments need to work with other governments, organizations and people worldwide to put a stop to the practice.

The author is China Daily's correspondent based in Nairobi.