Fiction: Group 2
The Chinese White Dolphin and I
Shanghai Singapore International School, Lee, En Yi Madeline - 9, Fiction: Group 2
hina Pearl River, the third longest river in China, begins in the Yunnan Province. The river system
goes through Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi and Guangzhou, and connects to the China Southern
Sea. The watershed is up to 453,700 km2. The Pearl River is named because of the pearl colored
shells that lie at the bottom of the river in the section that flows through the city of Guangzhou. Because of
the size of the river, it contains a lot of different species of animals and creatures. The most famous of the
species is the Chinese White Dolphin, and this is where my story begins with this precious species and me.
One day, many years ago, I was on the bund of the China Pearl River. It flows into th
and it is 2,400 kms long. I thought I should go diving in this great river. I was plunging down and down
when I saw a creature that looked like a shark, but when I went closer, it was a Chinese White Dolphin. I
took a look and there were a group of them. It was so exciting and I wanted to go closer to them.
However, my air tank was almost out of the oxygen. I needed to swim up as fast as I could to get fresh
air. When I turned around, there was a baby dolphin, which used his fin to swipe at me and it accidently
made my diving equipment fall off. I was panicked and tried to reach my equipment. I thought I was about
to drown! I felt desperate because I would not have a chance to meet my family and friends anymore. So I
closed my eyes and waited for my last breath, but the baby dolphin kept bumping at me and I could still
hear his voice. I opened my eyes; an unbelievable thing happened!
I could breathe in water! It was amazing! I touched the baby dolphin and it swam around me. Suddenly
there was a sound and the baby dolphin stopped his movement and swam back toward the sound. He was so
fast that I couldn’t follow up. The baby dolphin swam back to me and asked me to catch his fin so he could
take me to swim with him.
We went back to the group of Chinese White Dolphins. The mommy dolphin showed up first and
greeted me. Yes, she greeted me! “They can speak!” and I do understand it! It was so not real but it
happened. I started to chat with them and ask why they were so close to the bay, because the closer they
get to the bay, the more civilized and modern people might hurt them.
An old dolphin swam up and started to tell me what happened to their habitat. He began in a very sad
and low voice. “ We used to live in the South China Sea coast, but because of the people and their river
business that became busier, we started to lose out habitat. Sometimes the speeding boat will cut our fins and
make injure us. Worse of all is when the fishermen will accidently catch us and kill us. That is how our
group became smaller and smaller.”
When the old Dolphin stopped talking, all the other dolphins started with a crying voice and began
mumbling. I started to cry with them, because this made me sad. I told myself we needed to do something
to stop hurting them. I found my voice and spoke to them. I told them I would find different pathways that
the dolphins can use to swim, and avoid the dangerous boats on the river. I will also speak to the people
and tell them we should not dump trash in the water but we should make the water clean.
The baby dolphin took me back to the bund, and we said our goodbyes sadly. As she went away, I stood
there very sad. When I got home, I wrote an email to the Chinese Times to tell them about the Chinese
White Dolphins who are in danger from the fishermen and polluted waste in the river.
I waited for the response from them, but nothing ever came.
Twenty years later, I went back to look at the Chinese White Dolphins as an Animal Welfare Lawyer,
but there were fewer of them. This is when I began my fight to protect the Chinese White Dolphins, along
the Pearl River. If all of us can do it, I believe we can see the white dolphin’s smile on the seacoast again!
C
