When heavy snowfall covers the mountains, it is a way for the primeval forest to protect itself. The forest does not allow humans to enter its interior. It obstructs us with flash floods, landslides and ice streams. It hinders our footsteps with thick fog, treacherous terrain and swarms of mosquitos. The forest knows how precious the treasures within are, so it spares no effort in protecting them. The treasures come in the form of wild animals: it is them that make the forest full of life and charm. However, these animals also form the most fragile part of the biosphere. A mere two hundred years of hunting at Changbai Shan has forced some wild animals onto the brink of extinction. The Manchurian tiger, the vulture, the Chinese goral and other local animal species that could be commonly spotted everywhere in North-eastern China since the last ice age are now in the process of becoming "the prehistoric animals of tomorrow" .
Of my sixty years career, I have spent forty years roaming the Changbai Shan area and I have only once seen the Manchurian tiger. I originally specialised in birds, but I am also interested in mammals, amphibians, reptiles, vertebrates, plants and insects, as they are all closely interlinked. I like to observe and study every animal species and try to place that species within a larger ecosystem, from which I evaluate and try to predict what potential threats that particular species might face and how these might be prevented by introducing timely countermeasures.
We trudged along for three days before we finally arrived at the foot of Mogu Peak. Jin Pao led us to a hunting shack that he had put up previously in Goukou. He stuffed dried moss into the cracks in the walls and chimney, then hastily tidied the inside of the shack and we were ready to move in. In the evening, Jin Pao prepared a meal of dried potato strips stewed with a pheasant he had just shot today. He also warmed up a pot of wine and at once the atmosphere in the shack seemed almost festive. He filled the first cup but did not drink it. Instead, he carried the wine cup outside. I knew that it was because he had gone to pray to the mountain spirit. Old hunters all do this. On the first day of each hunting trip they pay their respects at a mountain spirit shrine. They recite a few lines and pray for good fortune. It is a custom inherited from their forefathers that is passed on from generation to generation.
The next morning we set off up the mountain, brimming with excitement. I called it a mountain range but actually it is a series of six peaks lodged on a tundra platform. Each of the rugged peaks reaches to over a thousand metres. The tundra is a world of ice and snow. The solid snow cover is over one metre deep and creates a layer of permafrost that stretches as far as the eye can see. The snow on the mountain peaks however has been blown away into crevices in the rock face, creating a series of deep folds within it that make the peaks look like basalt pillars inlaid with white jade. The snow here stays all year round. I brought a pair of binoculars originally designed for bird watching. I carefully searched the mountain peaks and ridges. Everything was so calm, it seemed as if all life had stopped here, and there was only the long drawn out whistle of the wind blowing through the barrel of Jin Pao's rifle. That, of course, was just an illusion. Once snow covers the forest, apart from there being many animals that lie dormant for the duration of the winter, there are also many animals that are still active and they leave trails of silvery footprints behind them. From time to time you would see a trail of exquisitely shaped footprints, five round toes grouped together as if it was a series of small plum blossoms imprinted in the snow. These were foxes' trails—this one was just in the process of tracking a pearl-like string of delicate footprints. These belonged to its winter period staple food source—the bank vole. From time to time you might also see large, oval-shaped footprints, which were from a lone bear foraging around for food. It was probably startled out of its winter sleep by hunters in search of bear dens and couldn't keep on hiding any more. Occasionally you might also come across a set of three narrow toes shaped like a bamboo leaf that wound around undergrowth and dry grass patches. These pretty footprints were left behind by hazel grouse or partridges. They pecked at leftover dried berries and grass seeds …
However, these high mountain animals are nowhere near as mysterious as the Chinese goral. There are only about thirteen mammals that can adapt to survive in the fierce environment of harsh high mountain permafrost, of which most are rodents such as the alpine pika, the lemming, the Arctic ground squirrel and so on. The Chinese goral is undoubtedly the largest hoofed animal that can adapt to such conditions. However, I had no way of knowing whether or not I would get to see a Chinese goral. For more than ten years the Protection Bureau had not been able to get a specimen of Chinese goral, which deeply troubled everyone. For that reason, everyone put their hopes on this expedition of mine.
When Jin Pao heard that a Chinese goral has to be slain to make a specimen, he was beside himself with happiness. He explained on the way to climbing the first cliff how a Chinese goral's blood is an effective medicine for injuries caused by falls, fractures, concussions and strains. Its horn is successfully used as an effective aphrodisiac, which means that people are willing to spend a lot of money and effort to buy it.
When I heard this I suddenly realised that the Chinese goral that I saw when I was small that had its throat sliced open in fact only had its neck artery cut open to extract the blood.
