Han Kongque remembered that the authentic cloud-dragon-patterned fire chain set had its yellow silk flat ribbon worn, which showed that it might be the fire chain set used by Emperor Kangxi during his lifetime. It was similar to or slightly later than the ivory-carved fire sickle set, and there were two ivory-carved sea water sets.
Fire sickle set with cloud and dragon pattern.[[＜?[
The reason why he understood so clearly was because Han Peacock once carved ivory balls at that time. Carving ivory balls was more troublesome, so he used some simple ones to practice. And some classic ivory carving works naturally came into Han Peacock's eyes.
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Although the Manchu and Qing dynasties were decadent, it has to be said that they were the culmination of various arts in modern China, such as the ivory ball, which is a well-deserved craftsman ball.
It was not until the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty that ivory balls developed further.
At first, Yangcheng ivory carving artists drew on the carving form of a stone lion holding beads in its mouth. After careful design and study, as well as bold imagination and ingenious craftsmanship, they used ivory materials to create a new pattern of balls inside the ball.
The ivory ball started with one layer, developed to 14 layers during the Qianlong period of the Qing Dynasty, and reached 25 or 28 layers by the end of the Qing Dynasty. At present, it can be carved up to 60 layers. It is indeed a special technique in my country's ivory carving.
With skillful knife skills and fine carving, these works show various natural and elegant charms, as well as the clever talents of the technicians. It can be said that a craftsman ball fully expresses the high attainments of a carver.
"Where did you get these ivory?" Holding these ivory carvings, Han Peacock could even smell the smell of blood. They were new ivory, so he asked this question.
"What? I got this from the beauty. She said she bought it at a high price from the auction, so there should be no problem." Liu Xu said and quickly understood what Han Peacock meant.
"Sure enough, there is no killing without buying and selling." Han Peacock sighed, this kind of thing cannot be prevented.
According to statistics released by the Secretariat of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora, approximately 20,000 to 25,000 African elephants are hunted every year, while the total number of existing African elephants is only between 420,000 and 650,000.
Head left and right.
Among them, the endangered forest elephants decreased by 65% between 2002 and 2011.
Elephant tusks obtained from poaching are smuggled to Asia, with the illegal trade worth tens of billions of dollars.
In addition, the International Wildlife Trade Research Organization also stated in 2011 that 2011 was the year with the largest number of seizures of ivory since the ivory trade was banned in 1989, with tons of ivory seized throughout the year, representing
25oo elephants were hunted.
The increase in ivory trade in 2011 was due to increased demand in Asia and the increasingly sophisticated methods of criminal smuggling groups.
"These can't be contraband." LiuXu frowned.
Han Peacock sighed and said, "That's what makes it even scarier."
It is because of rampant smuggling that some people are advocating for the legalization of the ivory trade. In this way, the global illegal ivory trade has doubled since 2007.
For example, with the ivory photographed by Zhou Meiren, Han Peacock would not doubt the way Zhou Meiren bought the ivory, but he would suspect that the organization that sold the ivory obtained it illegally or resold it after they seized it.
In fact, corruption problems exist in the ivory trade networks of various countries around the world, but why is corruption and bribery so rampant?
"There are two reasons for this: low salaries for officials, and criminal networks with large amounts of money. It's a bad combination."
Han Peacock said.
"There is no way, the smuggling organization has money." Liu Xu said.
Han Kongque was also very helpless: "I really don't know what they are thinking. Once illegal ivory enters the scope of legal trade, it will be difficult or impossible for law enforcement officers to distinguish which ivory is legal and which is illegal."
"You think those people don't know? It's just that it's all caused by profit." Liu Xu said.
Some people believe that it may take decades to clean up the drug problems in the ivory trade network spread all over the world. But in Liu Xu’s view, if all countries have the same enthusiasm as the Philippines to ban drugs, it will not take ten years.
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Let those people die on the streets in a matter of minutes and teach them to start a new life.
Although the idea is good, it is difficult to implement. Judging from the current poaching situation, African elephants cannot wait that long.
No one knows how many elephants are left in Africa.
A report in 2007 gave a rough range: probably between 472,000 heads and 69,000 heads, but the actual number may be as low as 25,000 heads.
For example, the ivory purchased by Zhou Meiren was very problematic. Her auction was a so-called "one-time ivory sale" approved by the government, and such an auction occurred more than once.
The first auctions took place in 1999 and 2008, and the stockpiles of ivory were sold to designated trading partners.
In the first auction, ivory from Botswana, Namibia, and Zimbabwe was bought by Japan.
The auction sold 5,446 tusks and earned $5 million, with officials reporting that the funds were used for "elephant conservation activities."
Of course, the country is not immune. Years ago, the customs seized 57 ivory tusks suspected of being smuggled and hidden in a batch of sandalwood declared for import, weighing 118.8 kilograms. This case was the largest ivory smuggling case seized by the national customs this year.
In the second auction, ivory from the above-mentioned countries and South Africa was sold to certified Chinese and Japanese businessmen.
"The sale of 102 tons of ivory stock has raised more than $1.5 million to protect local communities and African elephants."
These are of course the official languages.
Some environmentalists believe that the consequences of these two auctions are disastrous: they stimulated the current poaching frenzy and kept the ivory market active; they confused consumers about which ivory is legal and which is illegal, and also confused consumers.
It provides a way for illegal ivory to enter the market.
Of course, it’s not stopping in the United States. In February 2014, the Japanese government announced the “National Strategy to Combat Wildlife Trafficking,” which was developed to solve the “global wildlife trafficking crisis.”
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Additionally, the White House announced a commercial trade ban on ivory prohibiting “the import, export, and domestic sale of ivory, with limited exceptions.”
While the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FS) is working to enforce the ban, it is not welcomed by some, including the National Rifle Association (NRA), the largest gun lobby group in the United States.
The National Rifle Association declared that the ivory ban was a questionable decision that "overextended government power."
Because the ban stipulates that "all firearms, firearm accessories, or knives, as long as they contain ivory, regardless of size, are prohibited from being sold in the United States unless they are more than 100 years old."
Hunters are still allowed to kill elephants in Africa, but the ban limits the amount of trophies that can be brought into the United States. Those restrictions are why the National Rifle Association is protesting the ban.
Who are the hunters? At least they are rich people. If they don’t have money, can they get wings and fly to Africa to hunt?
If that were the case, African lions and elephants would definitely be willing to teach them how to be human again.
Therefore, for the sake of money, those arms dealers in the United States have no bottom line. In order to sell weapons, they are not just lions, but also elephants. Even people can watch them disappear en masse.
Therefore, some people have proposed a bill to legalize the ivory trade for the sake of this hobby of wealthy people.
Just like the international law of the sea, the United States is willful when it is strong. People do not participate, but they can use it to make irresponsible remarks to others. The ivory trade can also let people know the bottom line of Americans. This is similar to the Japanese hunting of whales.
Not much different.
In July 2014, Republican Senator Lamar Alexander of Tennessee submitted a bill called the "Legal Ivory Protection Act of 2014" in the Senate.
Republican Rep. Steve Dennis of Montana has introduced an identical bill in the House.
The bills are supported by the NRA because they "protect gun owners and sportsmen from the federal ban on the sale and trade of items containing legally imported ivory."
Both bills have now been submitted to the legislative committee. Of course, there are not all bad people in the United States. At the same time, New York and New Jersey passed state bans on the sale and import of ivory at the end of 2014.
"Given the current poaching crisis and the scale of the illegal trade, it is unlikely that the United States will support a one-time sale," the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service notes on its website.
Therefore, it is impossible for the Americans to just watch the Chinese take care of themselves, so China, which is just laughing at the joke, is ready to take action again.
Americans believe that the problem with the 2008 auction was that the Chinese government controlled the purchase of ivory and put the ivory on the market at a premium, which prompted ivory users to seek raw materials from illegal channels.
Americans never thought that the legalization of the ivory trade would encourage illegal shops to sell ivory without a license, and legal shops to mix legal ivory with illegal ivory for sale.
In theory, legal international ivory trade can exist, but in practice it is very difficult to implement, as evidenced by the experience of one-off sales that it is difficult to manage.
Take China's good neighbor Thailand, for example. In fact, a large part of the ivory smuggled into China is transported from Thailand. Thailand is a transit country for the ivory trade, and its domestic ivory market is not regulated, so it is easier to operate.
Of course, in fact, there are many more countries in the world, and we can’t just complain about Thailand. In 2010, China and Zambia submitted proposals to sell ivory stocks, requesting that these two countries
The protection level of elephants in several countries has been lowered from Appendix I (the highest level) of the Convention to Appendix II (the lower level). (To be continued.) 8