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Stephen McCarty

Welcome to China’s latest, greatest wilderness: Guangdong.
Yes, you read that right: the country’s most populous province, with roughly 128 million citizens, is a wildlife wonderland, a refuge that places its animal residents not at some distant remove from its human occupants, but in many cases alongside them.
The makers of China’s Wild Guangdong kept things close to home, with only 47 filming days required to produce its three instalments – each an hour long.
No camping in an ice field for six weeks or the like was needed for this joint production between the BBC and Guangdong Radio and Television (GRT), because many subjects, while still wild, were filmed in breeding centres, nature reserves or dedicated wetlands on urban fringes.

But are the humans and animals happy in each other’s company, or uncomfortably close?
“Whenever we talk about Guangdong, it’s to say the province is economically very successful,” GRT documentary director and producer Tan Shizhen says from Guangzhou, the provincial capital.
“We have millions of people here and a large GDP, but what’s often ignored is that we also have lots of mountains and rivers as well as cities, and the longest coastline of any province, at 4,000 kilometres [2,500 miles]. And because of different geological conditions, we have great biodiversity.
“In recent years, the government has taken ecology very seriously, so we want to show how we have done a good job of balancing it with economic development. We hope to leverage the BBC’s power of narration and visual effects to show the beauty of Guangdong to global viewers,” he adds.
A word that recurs throughout the series is “artificial”: hatchling turtles are released on artificial beaches; artificial breeding programmes boost the numbers of Chinese crocodile lizard and horseshoe crab.
In a world in which the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species is constantly expanding, flora also requires help: the lady’s slipper orchid, one of the world’s rarest plants, is reproduced in a laboratory.
Does the series, then, paint too rosy a picture of how under-pressure wildlife of all types is thriving? As widely reported, the critically endangered pangolin is the world’s most trafficked animal, thanks not least to the demands of traditional Chinese medicine, but China’s Wild Guangdong makes little mention of its perilous position.
“From my perspective, it was always about the animals,” says the BBC’s Simon Winchcombe, the series’ producer, from London.
“We talk to the conservationists, so there’s a positive message. The focus is on the animals and the people doing the work. Things that have been banned in China … we don’t talk about those either – it’s not a programme about policy.”
Although the series does not touch on Hong Kong, a favourite animal of the city that is seen less in its waters than before is shown to be thriving in Guangdong: the white, or pink, dolphin.

“We know there are 6,000 white dolphins in the world, and in China we have 4,000, with 2,000 living in the Guangdong area,” Tan says.
“This is a good basis for showing the balance we can strike between animals and humans – even with the economic growth of the last few years, people have become more educated about how important it is to protect nature.”
That enhanced awareness is reflected in a Winchcombe anecdote. “Obviously, there are issues,” he says, “but with the black-faced spoonbill, for instance, people were phoning the police when we stepped onto the foreshore to film them – they were concerned we were going to disturb the birds. The more you educate people, the more they try to protect the environment.”
Some of the footage shot in what actor and narrator David Yip calls “China’s subtropical paradise” elicits gasps: hunting with black kites; chancing upon the Chinese giant salamander, the world’s largest amphibian; watching – with a certain revulsion – a horseshoe crab digesting a clam worm. (Winchcombe reveals that the cameraman suggested the crab might have been the inspiration for Alien.)

From the centre of Shenzhen to the Nanling Mountains, the series presents a host of stars. For Tan and Winchcombe, two in particular are emblematic of Guangdong’s good-news wildlife story.
“The Chinese white dolphin is very important for us,” Tan says. “It was even the mascot for the recent National Games. It is very intelligent and we believe it has a human touch. That’s why I love this animal.”
Winchcombe says that pangolins “are amazing creatures and we were lucky to film one”, adding: “The mountain population has stabilised – people are reporting sightings without capturing and eating them, so that public education is working. There is hope for its future.”
China’s Wild Guangdong begins on Sunday at 9pm on BBC Earth (Now TV channel 220)


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New BBC series China’s Wild Guangdong shows the southern province as a wildlife wonderland

A Chinese pangolin is seen in a still from China’s Wild Guangdong. The critically endangered pangolin is the world’s most trafficked animal, thanks not least to the demands of traditional Chinese medicine, but the new series, co-produced by the BBC and Guangdong Radio and Television, makes little mention of its perilous position. Photo: BBC Studios

A still from China’s Wild Guangdong shows Futian Mangrove Nature Reserve near Shenzhen. Photo: BBC Studios

A still from China’s Wild Guangdong shows a Chinese white dolphin off Naozhou Island in Guangdong province. Photo: BBC Studios

A still from China’s Wild Guangdong shows a black kite on Mount Danxia in Guangdong province. Photo: BBC Studios

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A tourist takes a selfie with a quokka on Rottnest Island. Photo: Carola Frentzen/dpa

Rottnest Island is considered one of Australia’s most beautiful islands thanks to its marvellous landscapes. Photo: Carola Frentzen/dpa

Baby quokkas, known as joeys, often peek out from their mothers’ pouches. Photo: Carola Frentzen/dpa

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Dramatic red sandstone cliffs are a feature of the Danxia Shan national geopark in northern Guangdong, a two-hour high-speed-train ride from Hong Kong. Photo: Xinyi Wu

Yangyuanshi, or “Male Stone” (above left), and the mountain peak. topped by a pavilion, from which it was separated by tectonic forces over thousands of years. Photo: Xinyi Wu

A tourist poses cheekily at one of the Yangyuanshi viewpoints, where an altar dedicated to the rock formation’s supposed powers of fertility is located. Photo: Xinyi Wu

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The final stretch of the climb up to Jiadun Pavilion, an 80-degree incline, demands a bit of scrambling. Photo: Xinyi Wu

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From pangolins to pink dolphins, BBC co-production China’s Wild Guangdong shows how animals live in China’s most populous province


From pangolins to pink dolphins, BBC co-production China’s Wild Guangdong shows how animals live in China’s most populous province.


New BBC series China’s Wild Guangdong shows the southern province as a wildlife wonderland

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}From pangolins to pink dolphins, BBC co-production China’s Wild Guangdong shows how animals live in China’s most populous province

From pangolins to pink dolphins, BBC co-production China’s Wild Guangdong shows how animals live in China’s most populous province