Zhao, a 48-year-old professor of
Beijing Normal
University, has been a volunteer in
Green Earth Volunteers
for five years. His responsibility is to give ornithology lectures
and organize bird-watching activities to increase awareness of
environmental protection.
“As birds are the most sensitive animals to the environment,
watching and studying birds, in some way, is the same as watching
and caring for our own environment, so protecting birds is a way of
protecting ourselves,” Zhao said in his small laboratory at Beijing
Normal University. Although this is the summer vacation, he is
still busy researching and attending meetings. However, Zhao has
never quit his responsibilities as an ornithologist in Green Earth
Volunteers.
“I
love birds and I wish more people loved birds, for they are the
best friends of humankind,” Zhao said.
Captivated by World of Birds
Zhao was born into an ordinary family in Beijing. Most of his
childhood was spent in a big Siheyuan quadrangle. “We had a big
courtyard which was about 100 square meters.”This was the place
that inspired him to go into biological research.
In
the courtyard, his parents planted dozens of kinds of flowers and
trees, where a great number of butterflies, bees, and birds
congregated. Those little animals captured the imagination of the
young boy. He would spend most of his time watching them flying and
listening to their beautiful songs. The courtyard buzzing with
living creatures planted seeds of harmony between nature and human
beings in this young heart.
At
the age of 17, Zhao quit studying and became an art teacher in a
middle school. He later enrolled in Beijing Normal University in
1977. He chose biology as his major following his heart’s love for
nature.
The Bird Teacher
After graduation, he became an ornithological professor at his Alma
Mater. The love for nature quickly expanded into a love of
teaching. Zhao mentioned an ecology box he designed in his
classroom.
“Every time students walk into the classroom, they directly go over
to the box to watch the living creatures in it. Thus they can watch
an animal’s whole living process, and notice its surroundings,”
Zhao said.
For field practice, Zhao taught students to catch birds with a net,
make records, and then release them, rather than shooting birds as
sport. His rich knowledge and true love for nature have sparked
spontaneous interest among his students in ornithology.
As
time passed, his lessons even attracted some students from other
departments. Their interests in ornithology inspired Zhao to run an
extra course entitled Bird Banding and Preservation for all the
students from 15 other universities and colleges in Beijing.
“Birds are the best species in the animal kingdom and easy to watch
as an object of scientific study. Besides, this is also a very
hands-on way of teaching conservation to
university students,” Zhao said. Zhao pumped all his energy in the
extra course. Besides the regular courses, he arranged for students
to visit the conservation area to watch and band birds. Sometimes
they would make the bird rings by themselves: “This red one is a
neck ring for a swan, and that blue one is a leg ring for a
crane.”
Zhao pointed at a journal entitled Bird Banding and
Preservation on his desk, smiling proudly. “This is an academic
publication made up by all the students from the extra
lessons.”
More than 150 students appeared in Zhao’s classroom this semester,
while at the beginning only 30 enrolled. As a student wrote in the
journal: “I began to love birds thanks to Professor Zhao’s lessons,
and at the same time I began to deeply worry about the birds’
living environment, for they are gradually disappearing from
sight.”
Zhao said: “The concept of conservation needs to be disseminated in
an interesting and effective way, for nearly everybody, as a matter
of fact, will be concerned with our environment and want to
preserve nature.”
The Most Civilized Activity in the World
In
1996, Zhao was invited to guide a bird watching session organized
by Green Earth Volunteers in which about 40 volunteers from
different circles, including several foreigners, took part..
Although the volunteers were very enthusiastic during the session,
they couldn’t see any birds because of a lack of basic
bird-watching skills. In contrast, a French volunteer stayed
distinguishably calm and skillful. She watched birds and made
records professionally with the telescope and bird guidebook.
“She was only an amateur birdwatcher in her country,” Zhao said
emotionally. This was when Zhao realized his obligation to spread
knowledge of ornithology to a broader range of people.
According to Zhao, bird watching, as a way of promoting
environmental education, is the most civilized activity in the
world. In the USA, there are more than 4,000,000 people watching
birds in a year, and Japan has got 50,000 regular amateur
birdwatchers. But there isn’t any mature bird-watching tradition in
China. What we lack is not the enthusiasm of the public, but the
professionals to educate people,” Zhao said.
From then on, Zhao has been a regular member in Green Earth
Volunteers. Besides his lecture every Wednesday evening, Zhao has
also organized volunteers to watch birds every month in mountain
forests, reservoirs, city parks, and other nature reserves. On his
desk is a pad of papers entitled Avifauna Research Records, which
were written by these amateur birdwatchers.
“What satisfies me most is that we have already got 30 core
volunteers in this activity and some of them have become the
leading members among Beijing’s birdwatchers,” Zhao said.
Zhong Jia, a journalist from People’s Daily, can recognize
more than 300 species of birds and even can choose the spot for
bird watching. “These volunteers who have certain knowledge about
birds and their living environment will consciously put scientific
ecology concepts into their work and management. They will never
destroy the ecological system consciously or unconsciously and will
become the future disseminators of environmental protection.” Zhao
said.
Two Big Wishes
“When I was young, I could see woodpeckers, tit, culvers, and many
other birds in my yard, but now you have to walk for a long time or
go to a remote place to find even an ordinary bird,” Zhao said with
a sigh. A volunteer involved in the report said, “Any extinction of
a bird is a kind of disaster, an unredeemable loss of nature and
human beings. People may already be losing the harmonious
relationship with nature.”
Nevertheless, Zhao is very happy to see more and more people begin
to be conscious of the environment and get involved in
environmental issues through the activity of bird watching.
Zhao said he still has many wishes to complete. One big wish is to
collect all the birdsong in China. Though he has collected about
200 kinds of birdsong in 20 years, there are still more than 1000
kinds of birds altogether in China waiting to be found. Zhao hopes
more and more bird-lovers will help him to fulfill this dream.
“Another big wish,” he said, “is to train a group of volunteers who
can grasp basic knowledge about birds and try to protect their
environment and therefore conserve our own ecological balance.”
Zhao wrote on the back of his book The Atlas of Beijing
Bird: “Only when Chinese ornithologists are joined by thousands
of bird-lovers in studying and taking care of birds, can we at last
become their true friends.”
Zhao is always likely to help and talk with any bird lovers through
his e-mail address Zhaoxinru@263.net.
“I
hope to see more people loving birds,” Zhao said. “When that
happens, more birds will come back to Beijing, and I will be able
to hear their beautiful songs again just as I did in my childhood
courtyard.”
(China.org.cn translated from China
Youth Daily by Liu Wenlong 09/03/2001)