Article content continued

The sales, however, plummeted in 2012, shortly after the Chinese government re-emphasized its ban on rhino horn trade. But rhino horn remains valuable, he said, and it’s possible that the sales have simply moved to the black market or to Vietnam, another huge buyer. But Gao has news for buyers: In real terms, the price of auctioned items didn’t increase over the period he studied.

“So rhino horn is not actually a good investment economically or ecologically,” he said.

This isn’t the first time Gao has identified a gap between Chinese and Western understanding of a conservation problem. He’s also studied the ivory trade, which he says is commonly misattributed by English-language reporters to purchases made by China’s rising middle class, when the demand is far broader than that.

Here’s the good news, Gao says: Tackling the problem of ivory and rhino horn sold as art or ornaments isn’t insurmountable. Like current Chinese interest in rosewood or some teas as investments, those are fads, he said. Getting people to abandon belief in rhino horn’s curative powers will be harder.

“It’s still very deeply rooted in the culture,” he said.

Gao said he’s dedicated to helping Chinese and Westerners – neither of whose information is wrong, just incomplete – understand each other for the sake of conservation. He referred to the parable of the blind men who touched an elephant: One felt the ear and believed it was a fan, one touched the tail and thought it was a rope, and so on. None got the whole idea.

“What I try to do is use my identity as a Chinese who is able to see the different kinds of opinions and perceptions, and bring all these things together and try to see a more comprehensive picture of the problem,” he said, adding that he’s helped Chinese journalists report on the issue in Africa and hosted African conservationists in China. “I have been trying to bridge the gap.”