Staking Out With CNN - Part 3

This story is part of a documentary for Anderson Cooper 360 to be aired in Oct 2007. The trip to Guangzhou investigates the trade and consumption of wildlife in China. Click on image to view video of a cage of civet cats being filmed by the CNN crew at the 3-1 market, Guangzhou.



Day 5

0547 hrs 3-1 Market

It was like a police operation in the movies. Today, our van was packed. We had our host Dr Gupta and an expert from Traffic East Asia, 2 cameramen, 2 producers and another 3 of us in the crew. The animal traders were already busy unloading their trucks. All we had to do was to jump out of the van and start shooting, with Dr Gupta and his expert talking as they approach the animals. So it was set.

The producers were ready. “On the count…1…2…3…go, go, go!”

Someone tried to yank the door open. Silence. We stared at each other for a moment. The doors were locked. “Unlock the door!”

Ah, yes. We had to translate it to the driver.

So our 2 cameramen jumped out of the van and immediately started filming with their humongous video cameras and spotlights shining. Everyone piled out of the van after that and all hell broke loose.The traders started to keep their cages, buyers sped away on their motorcycles, some people started to run with their animals in hand. “Run, run!” they yelled. One guy spotted the camera and immediately ran off with a civet cat dangling from his hand. Mary Anne chased after one guy with her handycam as he tried to hide from the crew. Some bystanders were laughing and were thoroughly amused by the whole commotion.

In the midst of the chaos, some traders ran off leaving behind cages of animals. It was just our luck. There were cages of civet cats there and one of them managed to escape out of its cage to say hi to the camera. Being the culprit which caused the outbreak of SARS, civet cats have been banned for trading and consumption in China. The fact that there were so many cages of these illegal animals there was something that we had to get on camera. The crew continued to film as Craig pointed out the different wildlife species that were being traded there to Dr Gupta. We walked inside the market for more shots of the scene, with a producer watching out for each cameraman.

By that time, a crowd was beginning to form around us. As one of the two Chinese-looking person among the foreign crew, I was beginning to feel self-conscious. “If you perceive any threat at all, let us know immediately,” whispered one of our producers. The fact that he said this didn’t make me feel any more relaxed. If the market people start talking to me, I’m just going start speaking in Malay, I told myself. Don’t ask me why I brought these foreigners here. We’re just doing a story. Besides, I’m Malaysian J Yes, just smile.

But well, it all went on smoothly. I didn’t really get harassed, we got our illegal animals on film, we’ve got footage of people running with their animals (that was a good one), and we get to go home tomorrow. “I was expecting a brick to come flying our way. Now, that would be the money shot. But we’ve got our civet cats,” Phil commented.

Dr Sanjay Gupta's account of the visit to the illegal wildlife market in Guangzhou is available on CNN's Anderson Cooper 360 Blog

Staking Out With CNN - Part 2

This story is part of a documentary for Anderson Cooper 360 to be aired in Oct 2007. The trip to Guangzhou investigates the trade and consumption of wildlife in China. Click on image to view video of turtle seller at the Hao Xian Lu market.

Day 3
0558 hrs 3-1 Market

Another early stakeout at the 3-1 market. For today’s undercover job, we had requested for a tinted van, just to shoot the market up close as we drive by.

This time round, there were transactions going on outside the gates as trucks pulled up and cages of animals were trawled out. There were cages of hogs, boars, civets and other exotic creatures that were being traded right outside the market.

Phil and I walked over to take a closer look and had a chat with the local traders. People were wary and nobody wanted to talk.

Pointing at a cage of squirrel-like furballs, I asked innocently, “What are these?”

“Animals,” the trader replied casually.

Not immediately discouraged, I pointed to another creature that looked like a porcupine, “What animals are these?”

“These are…sweet potatoes.”

Suspicious of our presence, he questioned us. “Are you reporters? If you are, we’re not going to…” he trailed off as he loaded the cages onto his truck hastily.

“Of course not!” I assured him and continued to look at the other animals that had just arrived. There was a truckload of colourful birds and chickens. When asked what those were, the truck driver just said, “wild chickens”.

After looking at more “sweet potatoes”, we went back into the van and found a strategic parking point to film the activity going on outside the market—cages of animals being loaded onto trucks and money changing hands.

1708 hrs Cong Hua, 2 hours away in the outskirts of Guangzhou

Following the recommendation of our driver, we decided to try our luck at the outlying areas of Guangzhou. We drove to a little cottage restaurant and followed our driver as he asked the restaurant owners if they had anything ‘exotic’.

The lady invited us inside to take a look at their meat. They had snakes and wild boar. No, snakes won’t do. We want big snakes. And civet cats or pangolins.

“Pfft! What are these here? We don’t want wild boar or wild chickens! We might as well eat in the city if we wanted pork and chicken!” Our driver cursed them for their incompetence. “Come on, fat boy. Show us something more interesting. If we come back later on, can you get us something better?”

The chubby chef and the lady smiled nervously. “What exactly do you want?”

“Civet cats or pangolins.”

“No, no, no. That’s illegal!”

Ok, we decided to move on. The second restaurant was hidden inside an estate off the main road. After doing the whole dancing-round-the-bush talk, we had some result.

“It’s hard to get those wild animals nowadays. The authorities are cracking down hard. You’d have to make reservations. The price of pangolins now is about 1000 yuan for 500g,” said the female owner.

“Tell her that price is not a problem,” Phil waved his finger.

“I’ll see if I can find anything,” she smiled.

She made a phone call and came back with news that someone else might have a pangolin. She would have to confirm that with us again in another hour. So we exchanged phone numbers and told her that we’ll be back later if she can get us the animal.

About twenty minutes later, the lady called. If we really want the pangolin, we’d have to pay first. Then, she’ll go get it from her supplier. This was a tricky situation. There was no way we could buy the pangolin as that would be illegal. Plus, we were not authorized to spend a few thousand yuan on an endangered animal. So we tried to negotiate with her to see if we could have a look at the animal before deciding if we want it. We just needed a shot of the animal, dammit! But given the current situation with the authorities, traders were extremely cautious. If you want something, you’d have to pay for it up front.

Day 4

0645 hrs 3-1 Market

It has become a daily routine to check out the 3-1 market at dawn. We did our usual round, this time only driving past the market 2 times. It was set. We’d just raid the place the next morning with the whole crew and film our stand-up right there.

0334 hrs Hao Xian Lu Market

The rest of the day was spent filming around Guangzhou. We got some shots at the park and the train station. And by late afternoon, we found ourselves at a meat and vegetable market on Hao Xian Lu.

Compared to Beijing, where there is greater resistance and caution towards the media, Guangzhou was indeed a media-friendly place. Even with his enormous camera in tow, Phil seemed to be welcomed by everyone. The people were happy to be filmed. Meat sellers waved as they demonstrated their chopping skills in front of the camera. The fishmongers smiled as they scaled their fish. The security guards didn’t hassle us. It was great.