The Ivory Queen?

On Wednesday October 7, 2015, Yang Feng Glan, a 66-year-old Chinese restaurant owner in Dar es Salaam station and vice-president and secretary-general of the Tanzania China-Africa business council, appeared in a Tanzanian court to be charged with smuggling ivory between 2000 and 2014. Media reports have dubbed her the "Ivory Queen" and the Elephant Action League, an American NGO, described her as “the most important ivory trafficker ever arrested in the country.” Host Winslow Robertson and new cohost Ms. Lina Benabdallah are joined by Hongxiang Huang, owner and manager of the China-Africa social enterprise China House and expert on China-Africa ivory smuggling issues, to look closer at this story. Did Yang Feng Glan fit the proverbial profile of a Chinese ivory smuggler in Africa?

Recommendations

• Winslow
• Reporting FOCAC by Wits China-Africa Reporting Project and the China Africa Project
•  Lina
• VANISHING POINT Criminality, Corruption and the Devastation of Tanzania’s Elephants by the Environmental Investigation Agency
• Hongxiang Huang

Sources

Prosecutors say this 66-year-old Chinese woman is one of Africa’s most notorious smugglers by Kevin Sieff
Chinese ‘Ivory queen’ Yang Fenglan arrested, charged in Tanzania

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Advice for International Elephant Conservation Groups from a Chinese Youth

By Wu Yue

David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust's elephant orphanage/Wu Yue

At 8:20 pm on January 27, almost one month ago, I touched down in Kenya at Jomo Kenyatta International Airport. Before I got off the plane, I had already received a text message from the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA). At that time, I was bored waiting for my luggage, so instead of deleting the message as usual, I read it. They wanted me to have a safe and wonderful trip in Kenya and also gave me some advice, such as "do not go out alone at night". I promptly discarded that counsel. I was in Kenya to learn about elephant conservation and the ivory trade with China House, the first Chinese social enterprise in Africa focusing on studying and improving China-Africa engagement.