It is said in the rich circle of Foshan, "To see if a person has money, don't look at his villa, don't look at the decoration in the villa, go see his garden." "www.biquge.infoBecause, in their garden, there may be millions of podocarpus, or hundreds of thousands of crape myrtles, or more than 100,000 osmanthus or nine mile incense.

A podocarpus is more expensive than a suite. It sounds like a fantasy, but it's the real thing.

The tree craze that began in 2000 has become more and more crazy today. The trees in the city are green and lovely overnight, but the mountains and islands thousands of miles away are full of desolation and moaning in pain.

Who is buying and selling big and ancient trees? What kind of interest chain is there? Is the tree speculation fever continuing to be high or is the end of the road crazy? Starting today, this newspaper will launch a series of investigative reports to reveal the secrets for you.

Text/Reporter Li Fengtu/Reporter Cui Jingyin

There is no money to look at the garden

Under the embellishment of famous grasses, flowers and strange stones, the garden and the villa building are integrated, pleasing to the eye, and at the same time showing the wealth of the owner.

This is Chen Shenghui's garden villa in Foshan Lecong Aoyuan. The two podocarpus trees in the garden were bought by him in September 2006 for more than 200,000 yuan from Chencun Flower World, which are about 35 meters high and have strange shapes.

Chen is the owner of a kitchenware factory on Wufeng Road, Zhangcha, Chancheng District, with a net worth of more than 10 million. In 2006, when I moved into Aoyuan, in order to beautify the courtyard, I asked a friend who was in the garden business to buy two.

"At that time, in my circle of friends, all the villas were planted with various large trees such as podocarpus and bamboo cypress. Chen Shenghui said that in recent years, he knows that the two treasures in the garden have increased a lot, but he does not know how much it has risen. At a gathering at home last year, a friend who does real estate was full of praise when he saw his tree, and immediately expressed his willingness to buy it for 800,000 yuan. "800,000!" When he heard this offer, Chen Shenghui was shocked: a small podocarpus is so valuable!

However, Chen Shenghui, who has a keen sense of smell in the market, soon knew that in the past two or three years, the price of podocarpus has soared faster than the house price, from the original thousands of yuan per tree, to the current tens of thousands of yuan or even more than 100,000 yuan, and the number of decades-old trees is as high as millions of yuan.

The reporter learned from a number of people in the garden industry that podocarpus is not a rare tree species, but Cantonese people believe that "with podocarpus, I will not be (not afraid) poor", and think that it has the effect of "attracting wealth and entering treasure", so I like to plant a few podocarpus trees at the door of my house.

Walking through the Aoyuan villa group, you can see the "podocarpus" in the courtyard everywhere, as well as large and ancient trees such as small-leaved boxwood, bamboo cypress, and thousand-year-old iron tree. Chen Shenghui said that these trees range from a few hundred thousand to a few million.

"Look at whether a person has money or not, don't look at his villa, don't look at the decoration in the villa, go see his garden. Chen Shenghui said that this is a popular classic saying among the rich people in Foshan. According to the reporter's investigation, in some luxury villa communities in Foshan such as Aoyuan and Country Flower City, it is not only necessary to compare whose mansion is the most luxurious, whose garden area is the largest, but also whose tree species are the most expensive.

Whatever the price is, what it is worth

"Don't think that 10 million is rich and rich, you go to Chen Village and see how many trees you can buy?" Although his net worth is more than 10 million, Chen Shenghui is quite low-key.

He joked that the four seasons laurel as thick as his waist cost more than 1 million yuan a tree, but he can only look at it and has already been bought; the Japanese black podocarpus tree is also 1 million yuan, and he can only look at it and has also been bought; this Jiulixiang tree is 150,000 yuan, which can be bought, and no one has ordered it yet.

In a gardening field near the entrance of Chencun Flower World, most of the podocarpus trees here are more than seventy or eighty centimeters in diameter. There are more than 200 Osaka pine trees in the garden, all of which are more than 100 years old.

A staff member of the horticultural farm said that the price of an Osaka pine tree is basically about 1 million ~ 2 million yuan. Almost all of these Osaka pines were bought from Japan. In general, well-shaped trees are more expensive. The bonsai Osaka pine, which is more than one person tall and about seven or eight centimeters in diameter, is worth more than one million casually.

Even so, it is difficult to buy in the market and is a scarce resource.

A podocarpus tree that is said to be 1,000 years old is placed at the entrance of this gardening field as a "treasure of the town". The staff said, "Ancient trees that are more than 500 years old are priceless, priceless and unavailable, and you say it is worth as much as you want." ”

A person engaged in flower and tree breeding in Chen Village told reporters that the price of podocarpus is not scored, and the price of the tree seller is whatever the price is, and the person who buys the podocarpus does not bargain much.

This person said that after planting flowers and trees for more than 20 years, he has never seen a big tree being fried to such a high price. The crazy sight reminded him of the orchids of the past. In 2005, the market price of "Gold Coast" orchids reached more than 200,000 yuan, and by the end of 2008, the price of orchids per seedling dropped to about 5,000 yuan.

People in the garden industry said that although podocarpus is native to China, there are very few large podocarpus trees that are old enough, and it is difficult to find a tree. It is understood that the engineering seedlings with a DBH of more than 10 cm on the market mainly come from Taiwan and Japan, and because the Japanese podocarpus is ancient and elegant, similar to the Huangshan welcome pine, the price is several times that of other kinds of podocarpus.

In addition to podocarpus, which is generally fried, there are also nine mile incense and osmanthus trees. It is understood that the price of Jiulixiang has increased from less than 10,000 yuan in more than a year to tens of thousands of yuan, or even more than 100,000 yuan. A flower farmer said that the most expensive plant, Jiulixiang, was sold for more than 300,000 yuan and was bought by a Taiwanese boss who opened a factory in Shunde. The tree is more than 30 years old, with a trunk diameter of more than 30 centimeters and a height of about 3 meters.

Osmanthus trees are also very popular, mainly silver osmanthus, golden osmanthus, Buddha top pearl osmanthus, the cheapest one costs several thousand yuan, and the expensive one costs more than 100,000 yuan. Some gardening farm owners say that they are not worried about not being able to sell, but are worried about the difficulty of finding good old trees. Since the beginning of this year, the price of old trees has been soaring, "a house is only hundreds of thousands, and any of these trees is worth more than a house." ”

The world of flowers has been transformed into a "kingdom of trees"

Like Chen Shenghui, most of the large and ancient trees planted in Foshan's villa gardens come from the Chen Village Flower World. Driving on Fochen Road, the "big tree gardens" on both sides are next to each other, and the large trees standing in them are tied to their trunks and cut down their branches, waiting for the buyer.

Five years ago, the "flower world" was full of birds and flowers. From the more than ten miles long Fochen Road to the flower "village" of Chen Village, there is a sea of flowers. As a thousand-year-old flower town, Chencun has been planting flowers for more than 2,000 years, and you can see precious flowers such as phalaenopsis and large-flowered orchids everywhere, and even imported rhododendrons and peonies.

According to the relevant person in charge of Chencun Flower World, at that time, Chencun not only had more than 50,000 employees, but also attracted flower giants from all over the world to "get together", from cultivation to circulation, to make an annual sales of more than 10 billion yuan "industrial chain", firmly sitting on the position of "China's first flower city".

And now, as far as the eye can see, it is basically a "big tree garden", with podocarpus, nine mile incense, olive trees, ancient banyan trees, Buddha belly trees, Budi coconuts and so on. Every day, the vehicles that come to Chen Village to buy and sell precious trees are endless, often led by a Mercedes-Benz or BMW sedan in front, followed by a farmer's car loaded with various types of precious trees, which is quite spectacular.

"Now the big tree business is all big bosses, rich people, and they can't play this business without millions or tens of millions of people on hand. Chen Shenghui said that he has a friend who also opened a gardening field on the side of Fochen Road, 10 years ago it was just a flower or bonsai, and 5 years ago it was all changed to big trees and ancient trees, including ancient banyan trees, podocarpus, nine mile incense, osmanthus trees, etc.

According to the reporter's understanding, among the more than 400 enterprises in the Chencun Flower World, nearly half of the enterprises are operating (or concurrently operating) large trees and ancient trees, many of which are operators from Taiwan, Hong Kong and the mainland. And these enterprises that deal in big trees are all made podocarpus. A senior executive of Chencun Flower World told the media that here, millionaires who get rich by big trees are born every day.

What was once "China's largest flower trading center" has become a kingdom of big trees. One detail is that, according to the owner of a horticultural farm surnamed Weng in Chencun Flower World, the only remaining 5,000 budi coconuts in the world have been collected by people who trade in big trees in Flower World.

Where do so many big trees come from? Who are the speculators behind the rising price of trees? What kind of chain of interests is behind it? Please continue to pay attention to this newspaper's report tomorrow.

The tree is 11 meters long and 15 meters in diameter, just enough to fit a 13-meter-long trailer truck. On July 28, Li Fuxiang (pseudonym), a native of Nanning, Guangxi, purchased an autumn wind tree from Tianlin County, Baise City, Guangxi.

About a week ago, Li Fuxiang took a fancy to this autumn wind tree in a local mountain, took a photo and sent it back to Shunde through the Internet, and the boss bought the tree on the same day. Li Fuxiang hired three agricultural trucks, handed them from the mountains to the outside of the mountains, and then asked the trailer trucks to transport them back to Chen Village in Shunde, and finally sold them to the boss for 60,000 yuan.

In addition to 3,000 yuan of tree money, 10,000 yuan of transportation costs, relationship dredging, labor fees, etc., Li Fuxiang earned nearly 30,000 yuan from it. "I'm just earning a hard fee, just a few hundred thousand a year, and the big boss can earn this amount by selling any tree. ”

The astonishing profits have made more and more wealthy bosses, tree dealers, and even farmers in the mountainous areas join the ranks of frying trees, and form a complete chain of interests -- some people are specially looking for trees, some are specially purchased, and some are specially transplanted, and each link has very rich profits.

Fried tree boss

The "Autumn Wind Tree" that Li Fuxiang transported back from Baise was resold to Guan Yongming (pseudonym), the owner of the fried tree.

In the 90s of the last century, after graduating from university, Guan Yongming joined a construction engineering company in Foshan, and his net worth has reached several million in 20 years. In the past few years, he and a group of friends have become obsessed with fried trees, "The big boss fried podocarpus, we fried ancient trees, big trees!" In Chen Village, they jointly opened a tree orchard.

"You see, these are still the three agarwood trees I bought in my hometown of Quang Ninh, and the trees are 30 years old!" Guan Yongming showed his friend the pictures on his mobile phone, describing the year, height, and diameter of the tree, "Some time ago, there was a flower farm owner in Chen Village who offered 100,000 yuan for a tree, but I didn't sell it. ”

These three agarwood trees were bought by Guan Yongming from farmers in Quang Ninh during the Spring Festival this year, and he only spent 60,000 yuan, and then transplanted them to the mountains of his hometown. "These trees are not old enough, and it is estimated that they will be left for a few years before they are sold. Kwan Yongming said that he regards this as an investment, believing that there is great potential, "easy money, why not!"

In fact, in Foshan and even in the Pearl River Delta, more and more bosses like Guan Yongming have joined the ranks of speculating on trees, and some bosses have even thrown away their stocks and devoted themselves to speculating on big trees. In their opinion, it is a profitable business without much risk, "unless the tree dies".

Guan Yongming said that in the past three years, the big trees and ancient trees that can be fried have been expanded to ancient banyan, autumn wind, ancient osmanthus, and even old lychee trees, etc., "as long as the last year and good shape, a 50-year-old lychee tree can also be sold for more than 100,000 yuan!" Guan said that after nearly ten years of hot speculation, high-quality podocarpus has been concentrated in the hands of some large households, and the resources are becoming less and less, so they can only turn to domestic local ancient tree species.

According to the reporter's investigation, there are probably two sources of big trees and ancient trees: one is from the mountains and rural areas from all over the country, such as ancient banyan trees, olive trees, ancient osmanthus trees, etc., and the other is the Middle East countries and Thailand, Vietnam, Australia and other neighboring countries, such as Washington sunflower, Budi coconut, Buddha belly tree and other precious trees. Most of the podocarpus comes from Taiwan and Japan, and some come from domestic mountains or islands.

"The second channel is basically fine because they have been cultivated for many years and are very strict about the management of large and old trees on the mountain. According to a person familiar with the matter, the local government has allowed the planned mining of ancient trees in the mountains such as Canary dates and Buddha belly trees imported from Australia, and planted them on local farms after bidding. There are also palm plants imported from Europe, which are all large-scale private cultivation, and there is no problem of mining resources.

"Only the first one is more sensitive, because it's a wild resource, so most of it can only be dug up or cut down privately. The person familiar with the matter said.

Tree-falling dealers

Although wild trees and ancient trees are sensitive to resources, in Guan Yongming's view, there is no need to worry about the supply at all. A few big trees in the flower field are the best advertisements, and different people will come to sell them every day.

According to the reporter's investigation, the booming "big tree economy" has given rise to a large number of "fallen tree dealers". According to people familiar with the matter, there are about 100 such tree sellers in Chen Village, and they come from all over the country.

And old revolutionary areas like Baise in Guangxi, with dense mountains and forests and abundant tree resources, have naturally become the target of many fallen tree dealers. They haunt the mountains and countryside, collect big trees and ancient trees everywhere, and even steal them, and after they succeed, they sell them to the horticultural farms in Chen Village or Zhongshan in Shunde to make huge profits.

This is the fifth time this year that Li Fuxiang has fallen from Baise in Guangxi to the Pearl River Delta. He said that it is too difficult to find trees now, not only in the deep mountains and forests, but also in barren villages, sometimes not a single tree can be found in half a month, and it is difficult to find it, and he has to wear out his skin with the locals.

However, the reporter learned from a person familiar with the matter that tree-falling dealers like Li Fuxiang are well-connected, and there is a group of "informants" (actually local villagers) below them who are looking for targets in the local area at any time. Li Fuxiang said that the price of buying a tree in the countryside is not very high, and in some remote mountainous areas, you can buy a precious tree for a few hundred yuan, while in others it costs three or four thousand yuan, mainly depending on the market awareness of local farmers.

In the eyes of the big tree owner, these fallen tree dealers can not only find and dig up ancient trees from the mountains or houses in their area, but also arrange various certificates, which is quite magical.

According to the reporter's understanding, in the entire cost of falling trees, the main thing is transportation costs. Generally, it costs 2,000 to 3,000 yuan to dig a big tree or an ancient tree down the mountain, plus freight, including various certificates and relationship dredging and labor costs, which generally will not exceed 10,000 yuan. After being transported to Chen Village, the value of these big and ancient trees is immeasurable, at least doubled.

"For example, a osmanthus tree sold to the boss of Chen Village can be sold for about 30,000 yuan, and he can earn more than 10,000 yuan after deducting transportation costs and various labor costs. Li Fuxiang said, "We can find a way to get any kind of tree that the boss wants." But now many people are staring at this good deal, and the supply is becoming more and more difficult to get. ”

Tree theft is the norm

However, because dredging local relationships is not only costly and time-consuming, many "tree dealers" often go into the mountains to dig up trees secretly.

"These traffickers look at the terrain at least three or four times, find out the root system of the tree, and work out a plan for excavation and transportation before they act," said a person familiar with the matter, adding that the time usually starts after evening, and more than 20 people can basically dig up the tree until dawn, transport it to another place to hide it first, and then transport it back to the Pearl River Delta the next night.

The person said that the trucks carrying trees basically do not take the national highway or highway, and there are car guide vehicles in front and behind, one car in front of the road, and a guard car in the back. In case of an emergency, quickly turn the truck into the fork in the road and take cover. ”

However, these treemongers were not always so lucky. "Sometimes we will do a loss-making business, and the trees we dig up are not ornamental or difficult to feed, and the owner of Chen Village will not receive them. Li Fuxiang said.

Due to the large number of people who do this kind of thing, it often happens that "black" eats "black". Li Fuxiang said that there was once a tree dealer who transported four crape myrtles from Guangxi to Zhongshan, and he wanted to make a lot of money, but he did not expect that due to the long-distance bumps, the bark of the trees was partially worn out.

The above-mentioned people familiar with the matter also revealed that the old trees that were stolen back usually need to find a big tree owner to hide somewhere else, rather than placing them in roadside flower fields. In this regard, some bosses also admit that it is not easy for an ancient tree to pass the "three digging and three planting" levels, and many valuable ancient trees are inexplicably dying in the park.

Regarding the phenomenon of stealing and digging up large and ancient trees, Guan Yongming said that if you want to do business in a proper manner, you must take the "Wild Plant Business License" issued by the provincial forestry department and apply for the "Wild Plant Collection Certificate"; if the big trees are transported across provinces, you also need to apply for the "Wild Plant Transportation Permit", and if the DBH is more than 10 centimeters, you need to apply for the "Timber Transportation Certificate" and the "Forest Plant Quarantine Certificate."

Smuggling the black market

Mr. Huang, a manager of a flower and wood farm in Chen Village, revealed that in Japan, podocarpus is a very common tree, which is planted in every household, and the price is not high. However, after ten years of crazy speculation and introduction, "the supply is getting less and less, especially the large-sized seedlings with beautiful branches, and the price has soared very much." Mr. Huang said that he had gone to Japan to look for trees before, and finally "returned empty-handed".

The reporter learned that in the past two years, the country's policy on the import of large and ancient trees has become tighter, especially for podocarpus. According to the requirements of the measures of the national inspection and quarantine department on the import of Japanese podocarpus, it should be transplanted to an isolated nursery for planting 6 months before importation, check whether podocarpus carries harmful organisms, and the soil at the root of the root should be minimized when imported, etc.

In the face of such cumbersome customs procedures, coupled with the uncertainty of import and export policies and the increased protection of resources abroad, it is no easy to import large quantities from Japan, and the cost is increasing day by day.

According to people familiar with the matter, in fact, most of the imported podocarp on the market in recent years can only rely on smuggling. The smuggling route is generally transported from Japan to Vietnam, then from Dongxing Wharf on the border between Vietnam and Guangxi, and finally to the Pearl River Delta.

The person said, "This has almost become a common smuggling route for everyone." The reporter checked the China Customs Network and found that most of the cases of smuggling podocarp reported by the customs department in recent years were on the road from Guangxi to Guangdong.

"After customs clearance from Dongxing Wharf in Guangxi, many bosses first transport the podocarpus to Beihai, and usually plant it locally for two or three months," said a person familiar with the matter, during which some people went through the relevant procedures with the local forestry department to "legalize" the smuggled podocarp and then transport it back to the Pearl River Delta.

According to public information, according to the statistics of the forestry department of Beihai City, the planting area of podocarpus in the city reached 8,000 mu last year, with more than 500 growers. It is said that some of the podocarpus owners in Chencun have built their own seedling farms in Beihai, and the purpose is also to transplant the smuggled podocarpus.

There are also some bosses who directly transport podocarpus back to the Pearl River Delta after entering Guangxi from Vietnam. According to people familiar with the matter, this practice is already quite risky, and it is said that on June 17, the General Administration of Customs directly sent people to Chencun to arrest three or four bosses suspected of smuggling podocarpus, and "the three or four families arrested were all big households."

This is a well-known high-end community located on the Pearl River at the junction of Guangzhou-Foshan, overlooking from a high place, the villa is hidden in a "forest". In this community, which is known as the "world-class royal garden", there is not a single newly planted small tree, but everywhere you can see large trees with a diameter of more than 30 centimeters, with deep roots and thick trunks, and lush branches.

In fact, in addition to public places such as parks, squares, and green spaces, large trees transplanted from mountains or islands can be seen everywhere in public institutions, high-end villas, hotels, restaurants, clubs, bars and other places.

The huge market demand and huge profits have made it a "fashion" for big trees and ancient trees to enter the city. The driving force behind this deformed phenomenon is directly pointed to the vigorous "big trees into the city" movement, as well as the mentality of quick success and quick profit in the process of urban construction.

Text/Reporter Li Fengtu/Reporter Cui Jingyin

Greening of the "Royal Gardens".

At the entrance to the central plaza of the community, more than 10 workers are setting up scaffolding, preparing to prune a century-old banyan tree. In the central square, the 16-meter-high camphor tree, the towering saponaria tree, the ginkgo tree worth more than 100,000 yuan, the rare century-old twin ancient banyan, as well as ginkgo, locust, magnolia, cinnamon, yew and so on, just like a big tree ancient tree garden.

This is a well-known high-end community on the Pearl River at the junction of Guangzhou and Foshan. The staff of the community told reporters that in order to create a "world-class royal garden", the developer specially transplanted a large number of mature trees from other places to gather excellent tree species. "In fact, this ancient banyan tree is still very young, and it is said that the camphor by its side has been around for 170 years. ”

According to insiders, this high-end real estate built in 2008 cost nearly 1.2 billion yuan for landscaping alone.

"At such a large cost, buying ancient trees and creating landscapes is to build a real healthy home for the owners, so that the owners feel that they are living in nature. The community staff explained that waiting for a small seedling to grow into a towering tree is too long.

The reporter found that in the leaflets of various high-end real estate, words such as "noble garden landscape" and "ecological community" stimulated people's attention. In the garden greening and courtyard landscaping of luxury villas and high-end residential communities, expensive trees can be found everywhere. Some real estate projects directly claim that "there are 277 species and more than 500,000 rare ecological plants" and "forest in the garden".

A real estate salesman in the south of Chancheng District said that if there are not a few big and ancient trees in a "mature" community, it will be difficult for real estate sales to go up. Citizens will also think that the "environment" of the community is very poor. A gardening farm owner surnamed Weng in Chen Village said that in order to improve the grade and taste of his community, real estate developers generally choose a few large trees for the community to create an atmosphere.

According to the survey, the rise of "big tree gardens" in the flower world of Chencun coincided with the hottest decade of China's real estate market. A person in charge of the flower world said frankly that the large number of real estate developments, especially the villa fever, has intensified the demand for large and ancient trees.

"Most of the buyers are wealthy people, and most of them plant these trees in their villas. Cheng Mingsheng (pseudonym), the owner of a landscaping company in Foshan, believes that the "big tree fever" represented by podocarpus has a lot to do with the villa development boom in recent years. "Millions, tens of millions of villas have been bought, are you still short of the money for a tree?!"

Cheng Mingsheng also has a nursery in Chen Village, where 30 Japanese podocarpus trees are planted, all of which have been purchased in the past two years. He said that during the financial turmoil of 2009 last year, the real estate downturn and the big trees could not be sold, but since October 2009, 30 Japanese podocarpus trees were quickly bought by the villa owner, "The most expensive one is hundreds of years old and worth 500,000 yuan, and the buyer paid for it once after seeing it." ”

Big trees enter the city hot

In fact, it is not only villa owners and real estate developers who favor big and ancient trees, but also the public greening of the city.

The reporter can see the shadow of big trees on the main roads of the city such as Lingnan Avenue, Tongji Road, Jihua Road, Nanhai Avenue, and the green belt in the middle of the first ring of Foshan. Similarly, in front of a well-known hotel on Fenjiang Road, eight towering trees were transplanted just last month.

Cheng Mingsheng said that in addition to public places such as parks, squares, and green spaces, towering trees can also be seen in public institutions, high-end villas, hotels, restaurants, clubs, bars, and other places.

The reporter learned that the National Greening Committee and the State Forestry Administration issued a notice in June last year prohibiting the transplantation of big trees and ancient trees into the city, and now it has been a year, but in all parts of the country, the wind of big trees entering the city has not been effectively curbed.

Professor Li Min, head of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Urban Planning at South China Agricultural University, pointed out that this is not the real reason, "one is the huge profit in the process of big trees entering the city, and the other is the personal preference of some urban leaders and garden designers." ”

The trend of big trees in Shanghai began in Shanghai, and then major cities across the country began to follow suit, and almost all new cities, old city renovations, urban cultural squares, and even university campus expansions have used big trees. Big trees have become "fashionable" to enter the city for a while. The source of large trees used in cities has also expanded from rural areas to natural mountains, forest farms and nature reserves.

For example, Li Min said that a city in the north once carried out the "10,000 big tree transplantation project" to eliminate "the history of no big trees in the urban area", and their goal was to transplant 300,000 big trees from the countryside in 2~3 years.

He believes that the use of big trees and ancient trees to make the city rapidly green is a typical image project and impetuous project, and this kind of "quick greening" has led many people to a shortcut to "quick wealth", and has invisibly formed such a chain of interests: peasants, big tree dealers, people in charge of garden construction, garden designers, and so on.

He said that the ban issued last year was issued ten years after the spread of big trees into the city, and it was also the first time that the national greening management department resolutely curbed the wind of big trees entering the city through administrative means.

At the same time, he said frankly that the effect of the suspension order is not very large, and the phenomenon of big trees entering the city has not been fundamentally eradicated. He pointed out that legal means must be used to protect large and ancient trees, otherwise the cease and desist order will remain a dead letter.

Further reading:

A withered island

Overnight, the big trees in the city stand tall and the green shade is pleasant, and the scenery is unique here. But behind it, it may be the withering of a forested island.

About 40 nautical miles eastward from the urban area of Zhuhai, the Dangan Islands are like a flat pole in the waters of Wanshan. It consists of 4 islands, the largest of which is Dangan Island, followed by Erju Island, Naokan Island, and Hodando Island. The island is surrounded by verdant mountains and white mist, and is known as "the most primitive environment island in Zhuhai".

According to Yang Xiongbang, director of the Qiao-Dangan Island Provincial Nature Reserve in Zhuhai, there are thousands of podocarpus and boxwood trees growing on the island, and only the podocarpus in the Dangan Islands has the most abundant resources and the most peculiar shape along the entire coast of Guangdong. On the Dangan Islands, ancient podocarpus trees that are more than 100 years old used to be distributed in groups.

A number of horticultural farm owners in Chencun Flower World revealed to reporters that the podocarpus growing on the island has a peculiar and beautiful shape, which is particularly popular, and many guests are naming the island podocarpus, but the supply is limited, and its value is getting higher and higher. It is reported that the price of a general podocarpus with a diameter at breast height of 20 cm is about 10,000 yuan. If the island podocarpus has such a diameter at breast height, it can be sold for more than 500,000 yuan.

The high "value" has brought extinction to thousands of podocarpus trees on Dangan Island. It is said that the thieves have repeatedly come to the island to steal podocarpus and boxwood since the 90s of the last century, and they have not stopped for 20 years. The podocarpus that used to be vigorous and quaint is now difficult to find. Li Xi, the village director of Dangan Village, said that when he was a child, the island was full of podocarpus, and more than ten years ago, half of it was dug up.

Dangan Island is far away from the mainland, sparsely populated, almost "isolated", the traffic is extremely inconvenient, the shuttle boat only runs twice a week, and the mountain forest environment on the island is extremely primitive, there is no decent road. But the harsh environment didn't stop the poachers, and the ukannt podocarpus thieves were in full swing.

Tree thieves usually come in groups, bring their own rations, take a speedboat to the island, and then spend days in the mountains without finding a trace, Mr. Yang said. However, there are only four staff members at the protection station on the island, and the patrol can only be done on foot, making it difficult to fully monitor such a large island.

Due to the lack of manpower, the thieves sometimes do not pay attention to the staff of the protection station at all. Yang Xiongbang described that in 1999, when the poaching was at its worst, after the thieves were found on the island, they tied the keeper to a tree and dug up the podocarpus in front of the keeper.

The reporter learned from the Zhuhai Frontier Detachment that in the past 10 years, from October to April of the following year, the Dongao Frontier Workstation will intercept the stolen podocarpus at sea, of which 269 trees were intercepted near Erzhou Island in the sea area of Zhuhai Dangan Island in April last year.

However, the podocarpus species on Dangan Island are not included in the list of national key protected wild plants. According to the relevant regulations, poachers can only be fined if they are caught. Yang Xiongbang said that the poachers brought only dry food, were penniless, and the boats were dilapidated, and often went unpunished.

Looking at the patches of bald patches on the mountain, Li Xi said that he felt sad, "The thickest one I have ever seen is 20 centimeters in diameter, but now they dig too hard, and the rest of the podocarpus are very small, so they have changed to digging boxwood." ”

In fact, not only the Zhuhai Dangan Islands, because of the madness of "frying trees", the excavation of ancient trees has been out of control in many places. A person familiar with the matter told this reporter that in Guangxi's Baise area, peasants in groups of three or five brought dry food to the deep mountains and mountains to set up camp and dig on a large scale. In addition, some local governments have not protected it effectively, and even used it as a channel for the local people to increase their economic income, so that the ancient trees have been dug up unscrupulously, and the originally verdant mountains have been dug up with holes, which is shocking.