China has an affection for unconventional things and commodities and sometimes they are procured at the expense of unwilling partners. Africans are one of the victims of Chinese love for weird things. Of late, the Chinese love for a show called “Empresses in the Palace” which portrayed the aristocratic characters using a traditional Chinese medicine called ejiao, which is made from donkey skin, has triggered an extensive demand for the product in China.
“It was all set in the (Chinese) imperial court and at a certain time of the day the ladies of the court would all say, ‘Let’s have some ejiao,’” said Simon Pope, who works for a U.K.-based charity the Donkey Sanctuary.
Ejiao, also called donkey glue, is used as medicine or as a tonic for health and beauty in China. “As a result of this program, the demand for ejiao just literally went through the roof. The problem was China simply does not have enough donkeys to be able to meet demand,” Pope further added.
China exploits Africans
China does not have enough supply of donkey skins to cater to the overwhelming supply. The Chinese began seeking donkey skins’ supplies from overseas, mainly in Africa, where local tribes from nations like Mali and Zimbabwe employ donkeys as house animals. Attempts to buy the donkeys from local tribes were met with hostilities. Soon, to cater to the demands, Chinese syndicates reportedly started stealing the donkeys.
Chinese demands have reportedly exceeded fifty lakh donkeys for ejiao. However, only twenty lakh of those are procured indigenously while the rest is left to the forces of demand and supply, which eventually lead to the development of illegal activities for procurement in developing nations.
Read More: Hyena’s testicles and snake poison from Kenya are the newfound love for China
Africa Fights Back
After years of trade, the donkey population have now dangerously declined, and some African nations are retaliating. Tanzania recently outlawed the killing of donkeys for their skins, claiming that the species was in danger of collapse. Nigeria and other African nations have similarly outlawed the trafficking or butchering of donkeys.
Donkey slaughter is permitted in South Africa, but only through a couple of licenced slaughterhouses allowing a number of around 12,000 per year. Small syndicates have been quashed but Chinese syndicates are reportedly a little hard to control. The extent of Chinese investments in Africa has made it difficult for the Africans to rebel owing to increased Chinese intervention in the area. However, efforts have been made to fight off the forced trade.
“I think the message that’s going to China, from Africa in particular, is that our donkeys are too valuable an asset to have them skinned and shipped off to China to have them made into medicine. Our donkeys are not for sale,” said Pope.
Read More: China’s rare earth dominance meets an unexpected disaster from Turkey
The donkeys are subjected to very violent ways of slaughter with some of them skinned while alive. Reports of children being pulled out of schools in Africa to make up for the loss of income incurred from the theft of their donkeys are also prevalent.
Chinese demands for unconventional commodities have already led to the outbreak of deadly diseases like COVID. The CCP should, as a courtesy to the international order, make efforts to control the illegal syndicates working from its lands to stop terrorizing the populations of developing nations.
