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
Following the recommendation of our driver, we decided to try our luck at the outlying areas of
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
Compared to
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