The Milu: Part 3 – The Reintroduction To China December 1984 – July 1985
Posted on July 21, 2014 by mariaboyd2014 under Conservation & Environmental Issues, My Early Years In China (1984-1998)
The story of The Milu continues from Part 2 (please click here to read).
On December 10th, 1984, I was asked by professor Wang Zongyi to accompany a small group of scientists to the Great Hall of the People to meet Vice Premier Li Peng who was overlooking the reintroduction project for the Central Government. It was my first visit to the Great Hall of the People that had been built 25 years earlier to celebrate the 10th Anniversary of “new” China in 1959. I was very excited (I was incidentally the only foreigner in attendance) as we had been waiting for several months and were expecting to get final approval from the re-introduction during this official meeting.
Cover page of Zhongguo Huanjing Bao dated December 11, 1984 covering the
meeting held the day before at the Great Hall of the People.
Our small party was quickly whisked to a traditional VIP room with a
U-shape set up of large armchairs. These rooms were (and are still) used for
formal meetings between two delegations. The heads of both delegations sit next
to each other and their respective delegations are seated according to their
ranking, facing each other. The meeting was very brief and confirmed that part
of the land where the Imperial Hunting Park in Nan Haizi used to be located
(which had become part of the Red Star Sino-North Korea Friendship Peoples’
Commune after 1949) was going to be allocated to the re-introduction project.
The approval of the Central Government was the last hurdle to pass in order for
the project to materialize.
Soon after, farm workers started working on the demolition of a pig farm
and a couple of tree nurseries. Simultaneously, grass was planted, nine fresh
water wells were dug and a small lake cleaned up. The exact boundary of the new
Milu Park was also finalized and a 2.5-meter high wall had to be built.
Nan Haizi Milu Park location.
Confirmed boundary of the Milu Park at Nan Haizi.
One day, I was very surprised to ‘discover’ around 400 People’s Liberation
Army soldiers starting the construction of the wall! It took them 100 days to
finish the 2.2-mile long wall. The scene was finally set for the homecoming of
the Milu. In the meantime, following the green light given by Vice Premier Li
Peng, Lord Tavistock directed the head deer keeper at the Woburn Deer Park to
catch about 40 Milu to place them in quarantine. They would be the first batch
of animals to return to China in late August 1985.
Construction of the wall at Nanhaizi Milu Park
A draft agreement specifying the terms of partnership between the Marquess
of Tavistock and the Milu Reintroduction Group of the People’s Republic of
China was established and signed on February 27th, 1985 leading the
way for the final arrangements to take place. On the Chinese side, several
agencies at State and Beijing Municipal levels were involved in the
reintroduction including the National Environmental Protection Agency, the
Chinese Society of Environmental Science, the Beijing Municipal Science and Technology
Commission, the Chinese Society of Zoology, and the Beijing Museum of Natural
History.
It would take four more months to have the final agreement finalized. It
was signed on July 17th, 1985 both in the UK and in China
simultaneously.
Lord Tavistock and the Chinese Ambassador to the UK signing the
Reintroduction Agreement on July 17th, 1985 at the China Embassy in London.
Cover of the original signed agreement between “The Milu Reintroduction
Group of the People’s Republic of China” and the “Marquess of Tavistock”.
The pledge to return the Milu to China made by Lord Tavistock when he was
13 years old had become a reality!
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