Introduction
Elephants are considered ones of world 's most magnificent animals in today 's society, but sadly they are facing extinction; mostly because of China 's market forcing to the price of ivory through the roof, to the price of that was once reserved for the one of the most valuable commodity, gold. Unlike most "middle" class citizens around the world, China 's middle class citizens tend to have a strong purchasing power. Due to the booming of China 's middle class, consumer demands are at it speak, and the desire for ivory is at it 's all time high. Because recently acquired ivory can be sold legally in China, and due to its popularity, about 80 percent of the middle class citizens in China now owns at least one or two pieces on this …show more content…
However, from the views of the traditional Chinese culture, the craft of ivory is something important to them, and sacred to some. Similar to ivory trade itself, "The roots of the ivory trade have very deep cultural and traditional moorings" (Kumar and Menon, 2006, p. 129). An example of this can be seen from a segment in the documentary film Battle for the Elephants, when the journalist Bryan Christy talks to an ivory store attendant about their ivory products. The attendant explained that the diverse selections of ivory statues and sculptures all have different symbolic religious meanings to them; she explained some Buddhism religion and cultures related to varies deity and whatnot. However, when the question was presented into play on how old the ivory is or from what means was the ivory acquired to begin with, none of the attendants had a straight answer; it would give us the feeling as if they don 't really want to …show more content…
During the documentary film, journalist Aidan Hartley talks with the Tanzania officials, their attitude seems somewhat vulgar, and the reasoning for not burning the ivory was that the sales of ivory would assist their nation with conservation efforts, burning it would be a duty for the foolish; which subtly translates to their sole interest in money. Further-more, during this segment of the documentary the officials also agreed to give Aidan a tour to their vault of stockpiled ivory. Aidan cunningly suggested the idea whether enough money was given to Tanzania or not, and the question of are they going to burn the ivories or not; they immediately changed their attitude and agreed that they would. This further demonstrates their self-desire and interest in money; however, this could all very well be the byproduct of corruption within this impoverished nation. Kelley (2013a) mentioned “Tanzania, one of the poorest countries in the world, has not agreed to burn its stockpile because it could help them with conservation efforts” (Kelley,
Elephants are considered ones of world 's most magnificent animals in today 's society, but sadly they are facing extinction; mostly because of China 's market forcing to the price of ivory through the roof, to the price of that was once reserved for the one of the most valuable commodity, gold. Unlike most "middle" class citizens around the world, China 's middle class citizens tend to have a strong purchasing power. Due to the booming of China 's middle class, consumer demands are at it speak, and the desire for ivory is at it 's all time high. Because recently acquired ivory can be sold legally in China, and due to its popularity, about 80 percent of the middle class citizens in China now owns at least one or two pieces on this …show more content…
However, from the views of the traditional Chinese culture, the craft of ivory is something important to them, and sacred to some. Similar to ivory trade itself, "The roots of the ivory trade have very deep cultural and traditional moorings" (Kumar and Menon, 2006, p. 129). An example of this can be seen from a segment in the documentary film Battle for the Elephants, when the journalist Bryan Christy talks to an ivory store attendant about their ivory products. The attendant explained that the diverse selections of ivory statues and sculptures all have different symbolic religious meanings to them; she explained some Buddhism religion and cultures related to varies deity and whatnot. However, when the question was presented into play on how old the ivory is or from what means was the ivory acquired to begin with, none of the attendants had a straight answer; it would give us the feeling as if they don 't really want to …show more content…
During the documentary film, journalist Aidan Hartley talks with the Tanzania officials, their attitude seems somewhat vulgar, and the reasoning for not burning the ivory was that the sales of ivory would assist their nation with conservation efforts, burning it would be a duty for the foolish; which subtly translates to their sole interest in money. Further-more, during this segment of the documentary the officials also agreed to give Aidan a tour to their vault of stockpiled ivory. Aidan cunningly suggested the idea whether enough money was given to Tanzania or not, and the question of are they going to burn the ivories or not; they immediately changed their attitude and agreed that they would. This further demonstrates their self-desire and interest in money; however, this could all very well be the byproduct of corruption within this impoverished nation. Kelley (2013a) mentioned “Tanzania, one of the poorest countries in the world, has not agreed to burn its stockpile because it could help them with conservation efforts” (Kelley,