son. I was married at 19,
and had Andrew at age
20, and all the while,
I was working in more
than a dozen movies and
television dramas here and
abroad. Motherhood was a
major change for me, as all
of a sudden I had to stand
up and be responsible for
someone else.
Unfortunately my
marriage was not
successful and I soon found myself a single mother in a new
country.
Experiencing motherhood also gave me a huge,
newfound respect for my own mother. We were from very
different generations with very different expectations, but
it made me appreciate the challenges she’d had to face, also
having been a single mum in a new country. I had many
clashes with my mum as I was growing up, and becoming
a mother myself certainly made me regret having put her
through all of that. My son and I were on our own until I
met my husband Stanley. We were married in 2002, and I
became a stepmum to four daughters.
Call of the wild
I’ve always loved animals and been concerned about their
welfare, but it took me a while to actually do something
about it. I realised that no amount of complaining was
going to achieve anything, so I decided to take action,
setting up the Aqua Meridian Conservation and Education
(ACE) Foundation. We started with the oceans and began
filming underwater, taking on the issue of the devastating
impact of shark finning on worldwide shark populations.
We took the message to the large Chinese community in
the US before taking on the bigger challenge in Asia.
Thankfully, we are seeing excellent results, with the
latest figures showing that consumption of shark fin is
down 70 to 80 per cent in Hong Kong and China. Equally
exciting is that major companies like Cathay Pacific have
agreed to halt all business with shark fin operators. We
garnered the support of more than 100 foundations from
all over the world and the community responded. But it
wasn’t all positive; some people still say, “But shark fin soup
is a tradition, you can’t take away our Chinese traditions!”
But just because it’s a tradition doesn’t make it right. Foot-
binding was a tradition once, too!
The Giants of Africa
After our success with shark fin, we thought, Why not take
on ivory? The facts are clear: the rising demand for ivory,
from China and other countries in Asia, is wiping out
Africa’s elephant populations. More than 35,000 elephants
were killed for their tusks last
year alone – approximately
one every 15 minutes.
Unfortunately, Hong
Kong is a big part of the
ivory trade, as a transit
point to other parts of
Asia, and also as a buyer’s
destination. Surging numbers
of mainland tourists come
here to buy freshly poached
ivory from recently killed
elephants, with little
knowledge of the crisis in Africa. Some are not even aware
that elephants are slaughtered for their ivory. While we
have had success in convincing the major retailers to shut
down their ivory counters, many smaller stores are still
selling it. We urgently need stricter regulations on local
sellers and, eventually, a full commercial ban on the ivory
trade in Hong Kong.
Education is key; like foot-binding and eating shark
fin, the purchase and gifting of elephant ivory products is
unwelcome in the 21st century.
Child’s play
To help spread awareness, we have enlisted the help of a
group of environmentally aware kids called the “Elephant
Angels”. The Angels spread the “No ivory” message
through presentations at school and media interviews. It’s
their generation that will be affected by the extinction of
endangered species, so they are passionate about the cause.
Our aim is to take the message to children in a bright
and colourful way and encourage more kids to take up the
fight for an endangered species. There are plenty to choose
from: manta rays, pangolins, rhinos, elephants – there are
so many animals that desperately need our help to survive!
Theme parks, like Ocean Park, have an important role
to play in educating children about preserving wildlife. But,
while Ocean Park does many things right, they don’t do
everything right. Dolphins should not be kept in captivity.
Researchers have found that even if they are captive-bred,
dolphins and whales are miserable when they are caged.
Spreading the love
With recent education programmes, I do see a change
in Hong Kong people and their attitude towards the
environment. In China, I’m not so sure, but at least we are
moving in the right direction.
My goal is always the same: to save the planet’s
biodiversity as much as possible. To do that, I need to bring
as many people on board as possible. Right now society
is concerned with the wrong issues. People live for the
moment and not for the future. We must all be concerned
about the planet if we are to have any future at all.
February 2015
55
