Discussion keeps the world turning.
This is Roundtable.
You're listening to Roundtable.
I'm Niu Honglin, joined by Steve and Yunqi.
Coming up soon, free the fish, save your soul, right?
Not if it wrecks the ecosystem.
China's cracking down on chaotic animal release rituals.
We will talk about why and how.
Before that. What happens when good intentions lead to bad outcomes?
That is the dilemma facing China's traditional animal release practice, fang sheng.
Once rooted in spiritual mercy, it can be a threat to native species, public safety and even the animals themselves.
Late June, China unveils tough new rules.
Well, we can talk about what they mean and exactly what rules are we talking about.
Yeah, these are new guidelines to strengthen the oversight related to animal release activities to curb illegal activities, illegal practices that could really threaten biodiversity and public health.
So they called on local authorities under the three agencies.
Those would be the National Forestry and Grasslands Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs and the National Religious Affairs Administration.
They called on those three agencies to conduct thorough investigations to determine what species have been released in their jurisdictions, how often these types of things have been happening, and then local customs involving animal release.
The authorities, they were also told to evaluate the survival status of non -native species already released, the ones that were already in the environment, along with their ecological impact and then potential epidemic risks to the surrounding areas.
They also said that efforts should be made to remove both deceased and living alien species to reduce, again, the risks of biological invasion and disease transmission.
Commission. There will not be, and this is an important point, there will not be a blanket ban on animal release around the country where the practice has been long -standing.
It's a tradition, right?
And I want to talk about that because this was brand new information for me.
I'd never heard of this before.
But in the parts of the country where this has been tradition, activities may continue, but they can only do it after proper assessments are carried out to determine eligible eligible species and appropriate locations.
But please educate me and the rest of our audience who might not know.
Fangsheng, is that how you say it?
Yep, and it's interesting that Steve mentioned that even the National Religious Affairs Administration is also involved in curbing this illegal or inappropriate practice.
Because this word, fangsheng, if you're not a Chinese, So this word actually originated from Buddhism, that there has been the release of animals, particularly birds and fish, into their natural environment.
And this kind of act was considered that demonstrates pity and respect for life.
So this word, fang sheng, often kind of just gives people a vibe of being compassionate.
And that might encourage people to continue these practices without realizing that this kind of practice could endanger the biodiversity and bringing an invading species that's not supposed to be there.
So fang sheng means releasing life, kind of?
Yeah, kind of, because fang carries the meaning of release, and sheng, you can understand it as a living thing, So you set it free Or you can understand it as Have it continue its life Because mostly When people conduct the fang sheng practice They would purchase animals from markets Often ones destined for slaughter or for sale Meaning that the sheng element in their life The continue to live element Is soon to be deceased To be stopped And then these people would perform a blessing Or prayer ritual And then release them into rivers rivers, lakes, forests or other natural settings, meaning that we
are stopping you from being bought by people who are going to put you on a dinner table.
We are giving you the precious opportunity, the great gift, the best gift that is your life.
That's the idea to the animal.
And if this is a Buddhist tradition, this has been around for a couple of thousand years.
Yes, really long time when people want to have some good behavior, benevolent behavior for different reasons.
They might practice this action, this fang sheng action, yet it has consequences.
So in the Buddhist tradition, this will be my last question about that part.
What types of animals are we typically talking about?
Birds, fish? Turtle, frog, typical animals.
animals in general, but we have to admit that while we are looking at the tradition evolving and growing and happening in different places, we definitely would see some exotic animals, some unusual animals being the object of the function behavior and resulting in different problems. Yeah, those would be like exotic animals, I suppose.
Yeah, I think when this word was first invented people didn't really categorize it that we have to release these lives and that will only account as a function i think uh when this word was uh originated from buddhist practices it's usually the i would say it's probably a large part a large group of them are livestocks because they were supposed to be slaughtered or served for human consumption but But then some people decided to give their life a second chance.
And that gives people that comes with a sense of pity and respect for life.
Yes. And in today's world, well, we see that according to, for instance, different news organizations, we see the modern commercialization of practice has led to massive release of non -native species into the wild, threatening the ecological balance.
No longer just livestock.
stocks uh yeah so i now i get it and there's a good part to this right there's actually a really beautiful part to this because it's about um releasing life back into the planet back into nature and and then the other positive thing could be this could help with population recovery it can help maintain biodiversity it's the right species yeah well that's the thing right it has has to be the right species because if not then you're talking about things that could really really go wrong right if you introduce alien species into an ecological balance that is where that species is not supposed to
be there are a plethora of problems that could come with that that species could be eating the food right that the other species that live there are supposed to to eat, which could lead to a decrease or a lack of life of that speed.
I mean, I could go on and on.
Yeah, there's a lot of problems there with that.
Yeah. Back in 2020, there was actually a Chinese man surnamed Xu that released 12 ,500 kilograms of sharp -toothed catfish.
And it's not a cat type.
Where do you get 12 ,500 kilograms of anything?
Most likely, he or she purchased those animals from markets that was meant for for human consumption.
And it's not a type of common animal names that you normally hear.
And so by releasing those 12 ,500 kilograms of sharp -toothed catfish in this lake called Changdan in Eastern Jiangsu Province, and so these caused massive just aggression, predation to the local native fish populations.
And that resulted in the loss of 90 ,000 yuan for cleanup and to just to clean up the mess that this lady or guy, Mr. or Ms. Xu that caused.
And he was, he or she, this man named Xu, he was the first public interest lawsuit against illegal invasive species release.
It's a very classic lawsuit and people living in this place or staff around or with the lake had to go get the fish out so that it does not continue to harm the ecosystem in the lake.
And there are other bad influences as well.
We see that unethical vendors would exploit demand by only trafficking invasive species from alligator gars to Florida soft -shell turtles and defusing a destructive cycle of release, recapture, and resale for profit.
profit. And this, well, for China, this is not something that's new.
When I say this, I mean the law to make sure that people's feng shun activity, the release to nature activity is conducted in a better and more regulated way.
In 2016, there has been reports talking about China's amendment to its wildlife protection law, that would regulate the practice of feng shun.
And the amendment, which took effect in 2017, stated that the arbitrary release of wild animals, if causing damage to humans or property or harm to the ecosystem, shall bear legal responsibility.
And China is also not the only country facing the issue.
We see in the United Kingdom, Releasing animals without permission can be illegal under wildlife protection in the United States.
Releases are regulated under state wildlife laws in different states.
In the European Union, their regulation is strict release of invasive species is definitely not okay.
Yeah, and there's real -life examples of this.
the european rabbit which looks so cute and so innocent is a huge problem for australia it got it got introduced there in the late 1800s and now there's about 200 million feral rabbits that live in australia and the numbers became so large that they be they started destroying crops and land leading to soil erosion i did a little bit of a deep dive on these rabbits they can adapt really really, really well.
They don't need much. They just need a hole where they can burrow and they can live on just short grass.
So they're survival experts.
They are survival experts.
And they really like to, how shall I say, make other baby rabbits and they're good at it.
Reproductive. So it's become quite the problem and ongoing as far as I read.
So what can we do next?
For those who do still want to practice the benevolent act of saving certain lives.
I mean, it matters to that little rabbit, perhaps, if you're releasing it to the right place.
So how can we guarantee that for people who want to continue practicing feng sheng, they can do it in the right way?
Yeah, responsibly. Responsibly.
Yeah, I don't think eliminating the practice is the right thing to do, right?
Because it's a tradition that's been around for thousands of years, and the heart is in the right place.
So when it's done responsibly, We talked about the advantages that it can provide when it's done responsibly.
So, having authorities, local authorities, institutions in place where people can go and check first. Am I doing something that's good for the environment here?
And then you can keep the tradition in a healthy way that's good for everyone.
And in different places, there are also high -tech -y ways to regulate.
No, don't say AI. Can we have one conversation that doesn't involve AI?
No, just civilian cameras making sure that if something wrong happened in a lake, we would have a quick response so that the harm done to the local small environment or ecosystem would find a better way or easier to be mitigated.
Actually, I think AI could do a good job with that.
Finding all the solutions in AI.
But just on top of having these releases of lives in a more planned way, Some Buddhist and environmental groups are also encouraging more symbolic releases So instead of actually purchasing maybe an exotic species And then release to the local environment People are encouraged to sponsor Let's say animals or rescued animals in the animal rescue groups And so you're claiming ownership of an animal that's kind of endangered endangered and there are other similar practices for example like on douyin tick tock chinese china china china's tick tock doing then there are people that claiming a cat ownership
by watching and donating to the cat accounts online they watch just cats live streaming and they claim ownership that's not the same though is it no it's different but i i get the gist yeah i get the gist as well i don't think it replaces the tradition what was the response from the community when they made that suggestion i wonder if that was received maybe you don't know i apologize for asking but i wonder if they received that well or if they thought no that's not that's not something that will this isn't a replaceable thing for those who hold the belief i don't think it's the the same thing
for them. Which is why maybe for certain religious groups, we see that some Buddhist and environmental groups now discourage traditional fangsheng.
They promote what Yunxi has mentioned.
As an example, they promote symbolic releases.
Sponsorships. Sponsorships, ritual adoptions, and also donations to animal rescue groups.
So instead of releasing an animal or releasing, I don't know, 12 ,000 kilograms of fish into a lake, you might be able to donate the amount of money to wildlifes because certain wildlifes, we've talked about this, when a wildlife, a vulture or another kind of bird or animal, when you take them in and take care of them, you do need to release them back to their original environment.
It's essential to the the species, to the DNA, to the entire group.
So for this type of animal, they do need different facilities and different places to take care of the animal and then release them back to nature.
So maybe donate for those kinds of groups so that you are a part of a better release and you do not harm the environment.
I was just thinking about that day when that person went to the fish market.
Hey, can I get a catfish?
Oh, just one? No, 12 ,000 kilograms. Yeah.
Yeah. Do you have that?
And why did they have that?
Who has that in stock?
I have so many questions about that situation.
And that situation or that question is not the only question we ask about this particular case, because there are criminal gangs.
We talked about this already.
They would purchase exotic animals Because for some extreme believers, by saying extreme, I mean that they believe the feng sheng idea in a wrong way.
That is, the more precious the animal is, the better kind of credit I am gaining by doing so.
And for those people, definitely their good heart is exploited by different gang groups.
And if we're talking about the capture, sold and release and recapture, that is just really harmful for these animals as well.
There are international programs, too, if you're interested, where you can sponsor an animal that's outside of the country.
you can donate money and you can download an app onto your phone where you'll be able to track the animal that you have been assigned to right so you can make i can imagine implementing this in classrooms where you get an opportunity to track the animal and see where it has been where it's going you could incorporate education about that particular species as well so if you introduce that on an educational level, that might help out with this type of situation and making sure people don't do that type of situation improperly in the future.
And I'm not really sure if it's due to the situation today, but in about 20 years ago, if you were traveling around Australia and you can take a kangaroo with you to have the kangaroo see the world and then return the kangaroo to another zoo.
Yes, so helping the animal.
It's kind of like animal welfare in a different way.
Help the animal see the world.
Does the kangaroo really need to see the world?
I have no idea. Like an actual kangaroo?
An actual kangaroo.
But I think here, what we want to say is that they say let it go brings peace.
But when it's 500 or 12 ,000 vicious snakes or catfish, maybe keep that inner peace to yourself.
You're listening to Roundtable, and hopefully we will see you next time.
It's Niu Honglin, Yunqi, and Steve Heatherly.
Bye -bye.
