Heart of the Dragon

Download Subtitles

Transcript

0:00:02 > 0:00:04BIRDS CRY

0:00:04 > 0:00:07The last hidden world...

0:00:07 > 0:00:09China.

0:00:12 > 0:00:18For centuries travellers to China have told tales of magical landscapes...

0:00:19 > 0:00:21..and surprising creatures.

0:00:26 > 0:00:30Chinese civilisation is the world's oldest...

0:00:30 > 0:00:35and today its largest, with well over a billion people.

0:00:36 > 0:00:41It's home to more than 50 distinct ethnic groups.

0:00:41 > 0:00:47And a wide range of traditional lifestyles often in close partnership with nature.

0:00:53 > 0:00:57We know that China faces immense social and environmental problems.

0:01:00 > 0:01:02But there is great beauty here too.

0:01:06 > 0:01:10China is home to the world's highest mountains.

0:01:10 > 0:01:14Vast deserts ranging from searing hot

0:01:14 > 0:01:15to mind-numbing cold.

0:01:17 > 0:01:22Steaming forests harbouring rare creatures.

0:01:24 > 0:01:27Grassy plains beneath vast horizons.

0:01:29 > 0:01:31And rich, tropical seas.

0:01:35 > 0:01:38Now for the first time ever,

0:01:38 > 0:01:43we can explore the whole of this great country,

0:01:43 > 0:01:48meet some of the surprising and exotic creatures that live here...

0:01:51 > 0:01:56..and consider the relationship of the people and wildlife of China

0:01:56 > 0:02:00to the remarkable landscape in which they live.

0:02:04 > 0:02:07This is Wild China!

0:02:39 > 0:02:44Our exploration of China begins in the warm, sub-tropical south.

0:02:46 > 0:02:50On the Li River, fishermen and birds perch on bamboo rafts,

0:02:50 > 0:02:54a partnership that goes back more than a thousand years.

0:03:09 > 0:03:13This scenery is known throughout the world...

0:03:13 > 0:03:16a recurring motif in Chinese paintings...

0:03:19 > 0:03:21..and a major tourist attraction.

0:03:25 > 0:03:28The south of China is a vast area,

0:03:28 > 0:03:30eight times larger than the UK.

0:03:32 > 0:03:35It's a landscape of hills...

0:03:35 > 0:03:37but also of water.

0:03:44 > 0:03:49It rains here for up to 250 days a year

0:03:49 > 0:03:51and standing water is everywhere.

0:03:56 > 0:03:59In the floodplain of the Yangtze River,

0:03:59 > 0:04:04black-tailed godwits probe the mud in search of worms.

0:04:04 > 0:04:08But it isn't just wildlife that thrives in this environment.

0:04:08 > 0:04:14The swampy ground provides ideal conditions for a remarkable member of the grass family...

0:04:14 > 0:04:16rice.

0:04:18 > 0:04:23The Chinese have been cultivating rice for at least 8,000 years.

0:04:26 > 0:04:28It has transformed the landscape.

0:04:32 > 0:04:36Late winter in southern Yunnan is a busy time for local farmers

0:04:36 > 0:04:40as they prepare the age-old paddy fields ready for the coming spring.

0:04:50 > 0:04:57These hill-slopes of the Yuanyang County plunge nearly 2,000m to the floor of the Red River valley.

0:04:59 > 0:05:06Each contains literally thousands of stacked terraces, carved out by hand using basic digging tools.

0:05:08 > 0:05:13Yunnan's rice terraces are among the oldest human structures in China.

0:05:13 > 0:05:17Still ploughed, as they always have been, by domesticated

0:05:17 > 0:05:22water buffaloes, whose ancestors originated in these very valleys.

0:05:53 > 0:06:00This man-made landscape is one of the most amazing engineering feats of pre-industrial China.

0:06:00 > 0:06:06It seems as if every square inch of land has been pressed into cultivation.

0:06:22 > 0:06:26As evening approaches, an age-old ritual unfolds.

0:06:28 > 0:06:35It's the mating season and male paddy frogs are competing for the attention of the females.

0:06:43 > 0:06:48But it doesn't always pay to draw too much attention to yourself.

0:06:50 > 0:06:53The Chinese pond heron is a pitiless predator.

0:06:59 > 0:07:05Even in the middle of a ploughed paddy field, nature is red in beak and claw.

0:07:16 > 0:07:18This may look like a slaughter,

0:07:18 > 0:07:22but as each heron can swallow only one frog at a time,

0:07:22 > 0:07:25the vast majority will escape to croak another day.

0:07:30 > 0:07:36Terraced paddies like those of Yuanyang county are found across much of southern China.

0:07:37 > 0:07:41This whole vast landscape is dominated by rice cultivation.

0:07:45 > 0:07:52In hilly Guizhou Province, the Miao minority have developed a remarkable rice culture.

0:07:54 > 0:07:58With every inch of fertile land given over to rice cultivation,

0:07:58 > 0:08:04the Miao build their wooden houses on the steepest and least productive hillsides.

0:08:07 > 0:08:11In Chinese rural life, everything has a use - dried in the sun,

0:08:11 > 0:08:14manure from the cowsheds will be used as cooking fuel.

0:08:19 > 0:08:21FAMILY MEMBERS CHAT

0:08:26 > 0:08:31It's midday, and the Song family are tucking into a lunch of rice and vegetables.

0:08:38 > 0:08:46Oblivious to the domestic chit-chat, granddad Gu Yong Xiu has serious matters on his mind.

0:08:46 > 0:08:49Spring is the start of the rice-growing season.

0:08:49 > 0:08:52The success of the crop will determine how well the family

0:08:52 > 0:08:57will eat next year, so planting at the right time is critical.

0:08:57 > 0:09:01The ideal date depends on what the weather will do this year.

0:09:01 > 0:09:06Never easy to predict, but there is some surprising help at hand.

0:09:08 > 0:09:13On the ceiling of the Songs' living room, a pair of red-rumped swallows,

0:09:13 > 0:09:19newly arrived from their winter migration, is busy fixing up last year's nest.

0:09:20 > 0:09:26In China, animals are valued as much for their symbolic meaning as for any good they may do.

0:09:30 > 0:09:34Miao people believe that swallow pairs remain faithful for life,

0:09:34 > 0:09:43so their presence is a favour and a blessing, bringing happiness to a marriage and good luck to a home.

0:09:43 > 0:09:48Like most Miao dwellings, the Songs' living room windows look out over the paddy fields.

0:09:48 > 0:09:55From early spring, one of these windows is always left open to let the swallows come and go freely.

0:09:58 > 0:10:03Each year, Granddad Gu notes the exact day the swallows return.

0:10:05 > 0:10:10Miao people believe the birds' arrival predicts the timing of the season ahead.

0:10:10 > 0:10:12This year they were late,

0:10:12 > 0:10:18so Gu and the other community elders have agreed that rice planting should be delayed accordingly.

0:10:29 > 0:10:33As the Miao prepare their fields for planting,

0:10:33 > 0:10:40the swallows collect mud to repair their nests and chase after insects across the newly-ploughed paddies.

0:11:10 > 0:11:15Finally, after weeks of preparation, the ordained time for planting has arrived,

0:11:15 > 0:11:20but first the seedlings must be uprooted from the nursery beds

0:11:20 > 0:11:25and bundled up, ready to be transported to their new paddy higher up the hillside.

0:11:25 > 0:11:30All the Songs' neighbours have turned out to help with the transplanting.

0:11:30 > 0:11:32It's how the community has always worked.

0:11:32 > 0:11:37When the time comes, the Songs will return the favour.

0:11:41 > 0:11:48While the farmers are busy in the fields, the swallows fly back and forth with material for their nest.

0:12:11 > 0:12:12Many hands make light work -

0:12:12 > 0:12:16planting the new paddy takes little more than an hour.

0:12:33 > 0:12:39Job done, the villagers can relax, at least until tomorrow.

0:12:41 > 0:12:46But for the nesting swallows, the work of raising a family has only just begun.

0:12:56 > 0:13:01In the newly-planted fields little egrets hunt for food.

0:13:02 > 0:13:08The rice paddies harbour tadpoles, fish and insects and the egrets have chicks to feed.

0:13:11 > 0:13:15This colony in Chongqing Province was established in 1996,

0:13:15 > 0:13:20when a few dozen birds built nests in the bamboo grove behind Yang Guang village.

0:13:21 > 0:13:28Believing they were a sign of luck, local people initially protected the egrets and the colony grew.

0:13:30 > 0:13:34But their attitude changed when the head of the village fell ill.

0:13:35 > 0:13:39They blamed the birds and were all set to destroy their nests

0:13:39 > 0:13:42when the local government stepped in to protect them.

0:13:52 > 0:13:57Bendy bamboo may not be the safest nesting place,

0:13:57 > 0:14:00but at least this youngster won't end up as someone's dinner.

0:14:12 > 0:14:16These chicks have just had an eel delivered by their mum,

0:14:16 > 0:14:19quite a challenge for little beaks.

0:14:30 > 0:14:34Providing their colonies are protected, wading birds like egrets

0:14:34 > 0:14:40are among the few wild creatures which benefit directly from intensive rice cultivation.

0:14:42 > 0:14:45Growing rice needs lots of water.

0:14:45 > 0:14:52But even in the rainy south there are landscapes where water is surprisingly scarce.

0:14:56 > 0:15:02This vast area of south west China, the size of France and Spain combined, is famous

0:15:02 > 0:15:09for its clusters of conical hills, like giant upturned egg cartons, separated by dry empty valleys.

0:15:15 > 0:15:22This is the Karst, a limestone terrain which has become the defining image of southern China.

0:15:26 > 0:15:33Karst landscapes are often studded with rocky outcrops, forcing local farmers to cultivate tiny fields.

0:15:39 > 0:15:43The people who live here are among the poorest in China.

0:15:45 > 0:15:50In neighbouring Yunnan Province, limestone rocks have taken over entirely.

0:16:00 > 0:16:05This is the famous Stone Forest, the product of countless years of

0:16:05 > 0:16:11erosion, producing a maze of deep gullies and sharp-edged pinnacles.

0:16:15 > 0:16:20Limestone has the strange property that it dissolves in rainwater.

0:16:21 > 0:16:27Over many thousands of years, water has corroded its way deep into the heart of the bedrock itself.

0:16:37 > 0:16:40This natural wonder is a famous tourist spot,

0:16:40 > 0:16:43receiving close to two million visitors each year.

0:16:47 > 0:16:49The Chinese are fond of curiously-shaped rocks

0:16:49 > 0:16:52and many have been given fanciful names.

0:16:52 > 0:16:55No prizes for guessing what this one is called!

0:16:58 > 0:17:01But there's more to this landscape than meets the eye.

0:17:01 > 0:17:08China has literally thousands of mysterious caverns concealed beneath the visible landscape of the Karst.

0:17:09 > 0:17:16Much of this hidden world has never been seen by human eyes and is only just now being explored.

0:17:25 > 0:17:31For a growing band of intrepid young Chinese explorers, caves represent the ultimate adventure.

0:17:35 > 0:17:39Exploring a cave is like taking a journey through time, a journey

0:17:39 > 0:17:43which endless raindrops will have followed over countless centuries.

0:17:54 > 0:18:01Fed by countless drips and trickles, the subterranean river carves ever deeper into the rock.

0:18:11 > 0:18:14The cave river's course is channelled by the beds of limestone.

0:18:14 > 0:18:18A weakness in the rock can allow the river to increase its gradient

0:18:18 > 0:18:22and flow-rate, providing a real challenge for the cave explorers.

0:19:03 > 0:19:07The downward rush is halted when the water table is reached.

0:19:07 > 0:19:12Here, the slow flowing river carves tunnels with a more rounded profile.

0:19:16 > 0:19:25This tranquil world is home to specialized cave fishes, like the eyeless golden barb.

0:19:25 > 0:19:31China may have more unique kinds of cave-evolved fishes than anywhere else on Earth.

0:19:36 > 0:19:39Above the water table, ancient caverns abandoned

0:19:39 > 0:19:44by the river slowly fill up with stalactites and stalagmites.

0:19:48 > 0:19:55Stalactites form as trickling water deposits tiny quantities of rock over hundreds or thousands of years.

0:19:57 > 0:20:02Stalagmites grow up where lime-laden drips hit the cave floor.

0:20:06 > 0:20:08Oi-oi-oi-oi!

0:20:08 > 0:20:10VOICE ECHOES

0:20:24 > 0:20:26So far only a fraction of China's caves

0:20:26 > 0:20:32have been thoroughly prospected and cavers are constantly discovering new subterranean marvels,

0:20:32 > 0:20:37many of which are subsequently developed into commercial show caves.

0:20:45 > 0:20:47Finally escaping the darkness,

0:20:47 > 0:20:54the cave river and its human explorers emerge in a valley far from where their journey began.

0:20:54 > 0:20:58For now, the adventure is over.

0:21:01 > 0:21:06Rivers which issue from caves are the key to survival in the Karst country.

0:21:06 > 0:21:11This vertical gorge in Guizhou Province is a focal point for the region's wildlife.

0:21:27 > 0:21:30This is one of the world's rarest primates...

0:21:30 > 0:21:32Francois' Langur.

0:21:34 > 0:21:37In China they survive in just two southern provinces -

0:21:37 > 0:21:43Guizhou and Guangxi, always in rugged limestone terrains.

0:21:45 > 0:21:51Like most monkeys, they are social creatures and spend a great deal of time grooming each other.

0:22:00 > 0:22:06Langurs are essentially vegetarian with a diet of buds, fruits and tender young leaves.

0:22:18 > 0:22:23Babies are born with ginger fur, which gradually turns black from the tail end.

0:22:30 > 0:22:36Young infants have a vice-like grip, used to cling on to Mum for dear life.

0:22:36 > 0:22:42As they get older, they get bolder and take more risks.

0:22:46 > 0:22:49Those that survive spend a lot of time travelling.

0:22:49 > 0:22:55The experienced adults know exactly where to find seasonal foods in different parts of their range.

0:22:59 > 0:23:04In such steep terrain, travel involves a high level of climbing skill.

0:23:04 > 0:23:10These monkeys are spectacularly good rock climbers from the time they learn to walk.

0:23:20 > 0:23:27In Langur society females rule the roost and take the lead when the family is on the move.

0:23:53 > 0:24:00One section of cliff oozes a trickle of mineral rich water which the monkeys seem to find irresistible.

0:24:15 > 0:24:21These days there are few predators in the Mayanghe Reserve which might pose a risk to a baby monkey.

0:24:21 > 0:24:28But in past centuries this area of South China was home to leopards, pythons and even tigers.

0:24:30 > 0:24:35To survive dangerous night-prowlers, the Langurs went underground,

0:24:35 > 0:24:41using their rock-climbing skills to seek shelter in inaccessible caverns.

0:24:55 > 0:25:00Filmed in near-darkness using a night-vision camera,

0:25:00 > 0:25:06the troop clambers along familiar ledges, worn smooth by generations before them.

0:25:14 > 0:25:18During cold winter weather, the monkeys venture deeper underground

0:25:18 > 0:25:21where the air stays comparatively warm.

0:25:38 > 0:25:45At last journey's end - a cosy niche beyond the reach of even the most enterprising predator.

0:25:49 > 0:25:52But it's not just monkeys that find shelter in caves.

0:25:52 > 0:25:55These children are off to school.

0:25:55 > 0:26:02In rural China that may mean a long trek each morning, passing through a cave or two on the way.

0:26:03 > 0:26:10But not all pupils have to walk to school - these children are boarders.

0:26:12 > 0:26:18As the day pupils near journey's end, the boarders are still making breakfast.

0:26:21 > 0:26:26In the schoolyard, someone seems to have switched the lights off.

0:26:29 > 0:26:33But this is no ordinary playground, and no ordinary school.

0:26:37 > 0:26:41- BELL - It's housed inside a cave.

0:26:44 > 0:26:50A natural vault of rock keeps out the rain, so there's no need for a roof on the classroom.

0:27:01 > 0:27:08Zhong Dong cave school is made up of six classes with a total of 200 children.

0:27:10 > 0:27:15As well as the school, the cave houses 18 families,

0:27:15 > 0:27:17together with their livestock.

0:27:19 > 0:27:23These could be the only cave-dwelling cows on Earth.

0:27:28 > 0:27:32With schoolwork over, it's playtime at last.

0:27:43 > 0:27:50In southern China, caves aren't just used for shelter, they can be a source of revenue for the community.

0:28:24 > 0:28:26People have been visiting this cave for generations.

0:28:26 > 0:28:33The cave floor is covered in guano so plentiful that ten minutes' work can fill these farmers' baskets.

0:28:33 > 0:28:37It's used as a valuable source of fertilizer.

0:28:37 > 0:28:40DENSE CHIRPING

0:28:47 > 0:28:53A clue to the source of the guano can be heard above the noise of the river.

0:28:53 > 0:28:56The sound originates high up in the roof of the cave.

0:28:58 > 0:29:01The entrance is full of swifts.

0:29:04 > 0:29:06They are very sociable birds.

0:29:06 > 0:29:13More than 200,000 of them share this cave in southern Guizhou Province, the biggest swift colony in China.

0:29:14 > 0:29:18These days Chinese house swifts mostly nest in the roofs of buildings,

0:29:18 > 0:29:25but rock crevices like these were their original home, long before houses were invented.

0:29:29 > 0:29:32Though the swifts depend on the cave for shelter,

0:29:32 > 0:29:39they never stray further than the limits of daylight, as their eyes can't see in dark.

0:29:39 > 0:29:43However, deep inside the cavern,

0:29:43 > 0:29:47other creatures are better equipped for subterranean life.

0:29:51 > 0:29:54A colony of bats is just waking up,

0:29:54 > 0:29:59using ultrasonic squeaks to orientate themselves in the darkness.

0:30:03 > 0:30:06Night is the time to go hunting.

0:30:59 > 0:31:06Rickett's mouse-eared bat is the only bat in Asia which specializes in catching fishes,

0:31:06 > 0:31:12tracking them down from the sound reflection of ripples on the water surface.

0:31:31 > 0:31:37This extraordinary behaviour was only discovered in the last couple of years

0:31:37 > 0:31:39and has never been filmed before.

0:31:48 > 0:31:51If catching fish in the dark is impressive,

0:31:51 > 0:31:57imagine eating a slippery minnow with no hands while hanging upside down!

0:32:06 > 0:32:10Dawn over the Karst hills of Guilin.

0:32:12 > 0:32:19These remarkable hills owe their peculiar shapes to the mildly acid waters of the Li River,

0:32:19 > 0:32:27whose course over aeons of time has corroded away their bases until only the rocky cores remain.

0:32:31 > 0:32:35The Li is one of the cleanest rivers in China,

0:32:35 > 0:32:39a favourite spot for fishermen with their trained cormorants.

0:32:42 > 0:32:46The men, all called Huang, come from the same village.

0:32:46 > 0:32:51Now in their 70s and 80s, they've been fishermen all their lives.

0:32:56 > 0:32:59Before they release the birds,

0:32:59 > 0:33:04they tie a noose loosely around the neck to stop them swallowing any fish they may catch.

0:33:10 > 0:33:16Chanting and dancing, the Huangs encourage their birds to take the plunge.

0:33:19 > 0:33:26Underwater, the cormorants' hunting instinct kicks in, turning them into fish-seeking missiles.

0:33:50 > 0:33:56Working together, a good cormorant team can catch a couple of dozen decent-sized fish in a morning.

0:34:34 > 0:34:40The birds return to the raft with their fish because they have been trained to do so.

0:34:40 > 0:34:42From the time it first hatched,

0:34:42 > 0:34:47each of these cormorants has been reared to a life of obedience to its master.

0:34:47 > 0:34:50The birds are, in effect, slaves.

0:34:50 > 0:34:53But they're not stupid.

0:34:53 > 0:34:58It's said that cormorants can keep a tally of the fish they catch, at least up to seven,

0:34:58 > 0:35:04so unless they get a reward now and then they simply withdraw their labour.

0:35:04 > 0:35:07The fishermen of course keep the best fish for themselves.

0:35:07 > 0:35:10The cormorants get the leftover tiddlers.

0:35:16 > 0:35:21With its collar removed, the bird can at last swallow its prize.

0:35:21 > 0:35:24Best of all, one it isn't meant to have!

0:35:34 > 0:35:38These days, competition from modern fishing techniques

0:35:38 > 0:35:42means the Huangs can't make a living from traditional cormorant fishing alone

0:35:42 > 0:35:48and this 1,300-year-old tradition is now practised mostly to entertain tourists.

0:35:58 > 0:36:01But on Caohai Lake in nearby Guizhou Province,

0:36:01 > 0:36:06an even more unusual fishing industry is alive and well.

0:36:09 > 0:36:14Geng Zhong Sheng is on his way to set out his nets for the night.

0:36:20 > 0:36:25Geng's net is a strange tubular contraption with a closed-off end.

0:36:34 > 0:36:37More than 100 fishermen make their living from the lake.

0:36:37 > 0:36:41Its mineral-rich waters are highly productive,

0:36:41 > 0:36:44and there are nets everywhere.

0:37:02 > 0:37:06The next morning Geng returns with his son to collect his catch.

0:37:11 > 0:37:14At first sight, it looks disappointing,

0:37:14 > 0:37:20tiny fishes, lots of shrimps and some wriggling bugs.

0:37:20 > 0:37:22Geng doesn't seem too downhearted.

0:37:24 > 0:37:30The larger fish are kept alive, the only way they'll stay fresh in the heat.

0:37:30 > 0:37:35Surprisingly, some of the bugs are also singled out for special treatment.

0:37:35 > 0:37:41They're the young stage of dragonflies, predators that feed on worms and tadpoles.

0:37:41 > 0:37:45Nowhere else in the world are dragonfly nymphs harvested like this.

0:37:50 > 0:37:55Back home, Geng spreads his catch on the roof to dry.

0:37:55 > 0:37:58This being China, nothing edible will be wasted.

0:37:58 > 0:38:00There is a saying in the far south,

0:38:00 > 0:38:08"We will eat anything with legs except a table, and anything with wings except a plane."

0:38:10 > 0:38:16Within a few hours, the dried insects are ready to be bagged up and taken to market.

0:38:16 > 0:38:20It's the dragonfly nymphs that fetch the best price.

0:38:26 > 0:38:32Fortunately, Caohai's dragonflies are abundant and fast breeding,

0:38:32 > 0:38:37so Geng and his fellow fishermen have so far had little impact on their numbers.

0:38:37 > 0:38:40But not all wildlife is so resilient.

0:38:49 > 0:38:54This Buddhist temple near Shanghai has an extraordinary story attached to it.

0:38:56 > 0:39:06In May 2007 a Wild China Camera team filmed this peculiar Swinhoe's turtle in the temple's fish pond.

0:39:09 > 0:39:16According to the monks, the turtle had been given to the temple during the Ming dynasty,

0:39:16 > 0:39:19over 400 years ago.

0:39:19 > 0:39:23It was thought to be the oldest animal on earth.

0:39:31 > 0:39:36Soft-shelled turtles are considered a gourmet delicacy by many Chinese

0:39:36 > 0:39:43and when it was filmed this was one of just three Swinhoe's turtles left alive in China,

0:39:43 > 0:39:49the rest of its kind having been rounded up and eaten.

0:39:50 > 0:39:56Sadly, just a few weeks after filming, this ancient creature died.

0:39:56 > 0:40:00The remaining individuals of its species are currently kept in separate zoos

0:40:00 > 0:40:04and Swinhoe's turtle is now reckoned extinct in the wild.

0:40:06 > 0:40:12In fact, most of the 25 types of freshwater turtles in China

0:40:12 > 0:40:15are now vanishingly rare.

0:40:20 > 0:40:22The answer to extinction is protection,

0:40:22 > 0:40:28and there is now a growing network of nature reserves throughout southern China.

0:40:29 > 0:40:37Of these, Tianzi Mountain reserve at Zhangjiajie is perhaps the most visited by Chinese nature-lovers,

0:40:37 > 0:40:43who come to marvel at the gravity-defying landscape of soaring sandstone pinnacles.

0:41:57 > 0:42:00Winding between Zhangjiajie's peaks,

0:42:00 > 0:42:08crystal-clear mountain streams are home to what is perhaps China's strangest creature.

0:42:22 > 0:42:28This bizarre animal is a type of newt, the Chinese giant salamander.

0:42:28 > 0:42:32In China, it is known as the "baby fish"

0:42:32 > 0:42:36because when distressed it makes a sound like a crying infant.

0:42:38 > 0:42:44It grows up to 1.5m long - making it the world's largest amphibian.

0:42:46 > 0:42:51Under natural conditions, a giant salamander may live for decades.

0:42:51 > 0:42:55But like so many Chinese animals, it is considered delicious to eat.

0:42:57 > 0:43:04Despite being classed as a protected species, giant salamanders are still illegally sold for food

0:43:04 > 0:43:10and the baby fish is now rare and endangered in the wild.

0:43:10 > 0:43:13Fortunately, in a few areas like Zhangjiajie,

0:43:13 > 0:43:18giant salamanders still survive under strict official protection.

0:43:21 > 0:43:26The rivers of Zhangjiajie flow north-east into the Yangtze floodplain,

0:43:26 > 0:43:29known as "The Land of Fish and Rice".

0:43:33 > 0:43:39On an island in a lake in Anhui Province, a dragon is stirring.

0:43:43 > 0:43:47This is the ancestral home of China's largest and rarest reptile.

0:43:47 > 0:43:51A creature of mystery and legend.

0:43:57 > 0:44:00Dragon eggs are greatly prized.

0:44:00 > 0:44:03These babies need to hatch out quick.

0:44:07 > 0:44:10It would seem someone is on their trail.

0:44:17 > 0:44:23For a helpless baby reptile imprisoned in a leathery membrane inside a chalky shell,

0:44:23 > 0:44:28the process of hatching is a titanic struggle.

0:44:29 > 0:44:31And time is running out.

0:44:37 > 0:44:42It's taken two hours for the little dragon to get its head out of the egg.

0:44:42 > 0:44:48It needs to gather its strength now for one final, massive push.

0:44:56 > 0:45:01Free at last, the baby Chinese alligators instinctively head upwards

0:45:01 > 0:45:05towards the surface of the nest and the waiting outside world.

0:45:35 > 0:45:37But the visitors are not what they seem.

0:45:46 > 0:45:49This woman and her son live nearby.

0:45:49 > 0:45:53She has been caring for her local alligators for over 20 years,

0:45:53 > 0:45:57so she had a fair idea when the eggs were likely to hatch.

0:46:02 > 0:46:07Back home, she's built a pond surrounded by netting to keep out predators

0:46:07 > 0:46:13where her charges will spend the next 6 months until they're big enough to fend for themselves.

0:46:13 > 0:46:15TRANSLATED FROM CHINESE

0:46:26 > 0:46:31For the past 20 years small-scale conservation projects like this

0:46:31 > 0:46:37are all that have kept china's 150 wild alligators from extinction.

0:46:49 > 0:46:55Just south of the Alligator country, dawn breaks over a very different landscape,

0:46:55 > 0:47:01the 1800m-high granite peaks of the Huangshan or Yellow Mountain.

0:47:05 > 0:47:12To the Chinese, Huangshan's pines epitomise the strength and resilience of nature.

0:47:12 > 0:47:17Some of these trees are thought to be over 1,000 years old.

0:47:21 > 0:47:27Below the granite peaks, steep forested valleys shelter surprising inhabitants.

0:47:29 > 0:47:34Huangshan macaques, rare descendants of the Tibetan macaques of western China,

0:47:34 > 0:47:38are unique to these mountain valleys where they enjoy strict official protection.

0:47:48 > 0:47:54After a morning spent in the tree-tops, the troop is heading for the shade of the valley

0:47:54 > 0:47:59a chance for the grown-ups to escape the heat and maybe pick up a lunch snack from the stream.

0:48:17 > 0:48:23As in most monkey societies, social contact involves a lot of grooming.

0:48:31 > 0:48:38Grooming is all very well for grown-ups, but young macaques have energy to burn.

0:48:52 > 0:48:54Like so much monkey business,

0:48:54 > 0:48:59what starts off as a bit of playful rough and tumble soon begins to get out of hand.

0:49:10 > 0:49:14The alpha male has seen it all before.

0:49:14 > 0:49:17He's not in the least bothered.

0:49:19 > 0:49:24But someone, or something, is watching,

0:49:24 > 0:49:26with a less than friendly interest.

0:49:46 > 0:49:51The Chinese moccasin is an ambush predator with a deadly bite.

0:49:51 > 0:49:56This is one of China's largest and most feared venomous snakes.

0:49:56 > 0:50:02But the monkeys have lived alongside these dangerous serpents for thousands of years.

0:50:03 > 0:50:05SQUEALING

0:50:13 > 0:50:18They use this specific alarm call to warn each other whenever a snake is spotted.

0:50:22 > 0:50:30Once its cover is blown, the viper poses no threat to the monkeys, now safe in the treetops...

0:50:31 > 0:50:34and life soon returns to normal.

0:50:42 > 0:50:47By late summer, the rice fields of southern China have turned to gold.

0:50:47 > 0:50:51The time has come to bring in the harvest.

0:51:11 > 0:51:16Nowadays, modern high-yield strains are grown throughout much of the ricelands,

0:51:16 > 0:51:22boosted by chemical fertilizers and reaped by combine harvesters.

0:51:25 > 0:51:28This is the great rice bowl of China,

0:51:28 > 0:51:31producing a quarter of the world's rice.

0:51:41 > 0:51:47Insects stirred up by the noisy machines are snapped up by gangs of red-rumped swallows,

0:51:47 > 0:51:54including this year's youngsters, who will have fledged several weeks ago.

0:51:54 > 0:51:57This could be their last feast before they head south for winter.

0:52:01 > 0:52:05Mechanized farming works best in the flat-bottomed valleys of the lowlands.

0:52:05 > 0:52:12To the south, in the terraced hills of Zhejiang Province, an older and simpler lifestyle persists.

0:52:15 > 0:52:17It's seven in the morning

0:52:17 > 0:52:22and Longxian's most successful businessman is off to work.

0:52:22 > 0:52:29In the golden terraces surrounding the village, the ears of rice are plump and ripe for harvesting.

0:52:31 > 0:52:36But today rice isn't uppermost in Mr Yang's mind.

0:52:36 > 0:52:38He has bigger fish to fry.

0:52:39 > 0:52:43Further up the valley, the harvest has already begun.

0:52:45 > 0:52:50Yang's fields are ripe too, but they haven't been drained yet.

0:52:50 > 0:52:54That's because for him rice is not the main crop.

0:52:59 > 0:53:04The baskets he's carried up the hillside give a clue to Yang's business,

0:53:04 > 0:53:10but before he starts work, he needs to let some water out of the system.

0:53:12 > 0:53:16As the water level drops, the mystery is revealed -

0:53:16 > 0:53:18golden carp.

0:53:27 > 0:53:30Longxian villagers discovered the benefits

0:53:30 > 0:53:34of transferring wild-caught carp into their paddy fields long ago.

0:53:34 > 0:53:39The tradition has been going on here for at least 700 years.

0:53:42 > 0:53:47As the water level in the paddy drops, bamboo gates stop the fish escaping.

0:53:52 > 0:53:59The beauty of this farming method is that it delivers two crops from the same field at the same time,

0:53:59 > 0:54:02fish and rice.

0:54:04 > 0:54:11Smart ecology like this is what enables China to be largely self-sufficient in food, even today.

0:54:40 > 0:54:47Back in the village, Yang has his own smoke house where he preserves his fish ready for market.

0:54:50 > 0:54:56Longxian carp have unusually soft scales and a very delicate flavour,

0:54:56 > 0:54:59perhaps as a result of the local water.

0:55:04 > 0:55:09Meanwhile, outside the smokehouse, there's something fishy going on.

0:55:21 > 0:55:26To mark the harvest, the village is staging a party.

0:55:29 > 0:55:33Children from Longxian School have spent weeks preparing for their big moment.

0:55:33 > 0:55:37Everyone from the community is here to support them.

0:55:44 > 0:55:47The rice-growing cycle is complete.

0:55:53 > 0:55:58By November, northern China is becoming distinctly chilly,

0:55:58 > 0:56:02but the south is still relatively warm and welcoming.

0:56:04 > 0:56:10Across the vast expanse of Poyang Lake, the birds are gathering.

0:56:13 > 0:56:18Tundra swans are long-distance migrants from Northern Siberia.

0:56:18 > 0:56:23To the Chinese, they symbolise the essence of natural beauty.

0:56:51 > 0:56:55The Poyang Lake nature reserve offers winter refuge

0:56:55 > 0:56:59to more than a quarter of a million birds from more than a hundred species,

0:56:59 > 0:57:03creating one of southern China's finest wildlife experiences.

0:57:15 > 0:57:21The last birds to arrive at Poyang are those which have made the longest journey to get here,

0:57:21 > 0:57:25all the way from the Arctic coast of Siberia.

0:57:29 > 0:57:36The Siberian crane, known in China as the white crane, is seen as a symbol of good luck.

0:57:37 > 0:57:42Each year almost the entire world population of these critically-endangered birds

0:57:42 > 0:57:47make a 9,000km round-trip to spend the winter at Poyang.

0:57:51 > 0:57:55Like the white cranes, many of South China's unique animals

0:57:55 > 0:58:01face pressure from exploitation and competition with people over space and resources.

0:58:03 > 0:58:11But if China is living proof of anything, it is that wildlife is surprisingly resilient.

0:58:11 > 0:58:17Given the right help, even the rarest creatures can return from the brink.

0:58:19 > 0:58:24If we show the will, nature will find the way.