Tag Archives: china

29Oct/25

“Rhinopithecus brelichi and Primate Diplomacy: Field Notes from Guizhou”

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by : Arif Setiawan

photo group at Guizhou Academy of Science

August 6, 2025 Guiyang, the capital of Guizhou Province—a city that defies stereotypes about China’s mountainous regions. Here, skyscrapers rise as if to touch the clouds, forming a modern silhouette that contrasts with the surrounding valleys and hills. The streets are busy with traffic and people, and the economic pulse is palpable on every corner: from glitzy shopping malls to small, never-ending stalls.
I visited this city at the invitation of Kefeng Niu, a primatologist I have known for a long time since 2011, from a course in Singapore. Kefeng is a researcher of the Guizhou Snub-Nosed Monkey (Rhinopithecus brelichi), a monkey endemic to Mount Fanjing-Guizhou.

A few days before arriving in Guiyang, I visited the Guizhou monkey breeding center located at the foot of Mount Fanjing. There are three species of snub-nosed monkey in China, and the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey is the smallest. Its population is around 400-700 individuals, even listed as Critically Endangered by the IUCN Red List, with only 200 mature individuals. Therefore, a breeding center has been established for this Guizhou mascot. This research and breeding center was established in 1993, starting with seven wild-caught individuals as colony founders. This step was taken because the wild population was very small and fragmented, so an ex-situ conservation strategy was needed to prevent extinction. Since 1995, this program has begun to show success with the birth of new individuals every year, marking the beginning of a more systematic management of the captive population.

Guizhou snub nosed monkey- at breeding center

The journey took approximately 1.5 hours from our hotel in Jiangkou City to the breeding center, located in a valley surrounded by densely forested mountains and flowing with crystal clear water. At the gate, Kefeng’s friends, who had previously assisted him in his research and were now staff members, were waiting. We immediately went inside, even though it was in captivity, as this was our first time seeing one. At first glance, it was impressive: it looked larger than the largest Javan langur I’d ever seen. Its face was pale blue with a pink hue, and its snub nose was very strange. Its feet appeared larger and longer than its body, and its long, rounded tail seemed to hang down longer than its legs, dark black-long hair on the back, white tip on the ears and  few white hairs longer in the lower back of the head.

white tip on ears and creamy white long hairs at the back

Juvenile guizhou snub nosed monkey

There was one male, the first to be seen , two females, and one juvenile. According to Kefeng, there are seven individuals in total in the breeding center. The facility is not open to general tourism; however, for conservation purposes, researchers are welcome to visit the breeding center.

Snub-nosed, translated as “hidung pesek,” in bahasa, is the Guizhou monkey, which appears to have a hole without a nosal bridge, looking odd. This is certainly related to its evolutionary adaptation to the cold, dry air in the mountains. Its long, thick fur also indicates an adaptation to cold temperatures.

cable way view : fanjingshan mt habitat of guizhou snub nosed monkey

After seeing the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey in captivity, we headed to the entrance to trek to Mount Fanjing, also the natural habitat of the Guizhou snub-nosed monkey. This area is a nature reserve, a UNESCO heritage site, and the most popular tourist destination in Guizhou Province, using the Cable Car. Built with environmentally friendly technology and a design that blends with the natural contours, this infrastructure opens access to a conservation area previously only accessible to researchers and climbers. The cable car has become a symbol of the harmony between development and conservation, part of China’s ecotourism strategy that combines endangered species conservation with world-class tourism experiences. At the final station, visitors can access an education center, interpretive trails, and a primate observatory designed to bring together natural science, geological history, culture, and a sense of wonder.

with Kefeng infront of legendary mushroom rock Fanjing mt.

coffee talk at San men coffee Guiyang

In Guiyang City, I visited several coffee shops. According to a flyer I found in one of the shops, there are approximately 3,000. One I visited was “San Men Coffee”, which I found through an online search, and fortunately, the owner was the barista. We chatted extensively about the coffee business in Guiyang and the characteristics of coffee drinkers here. IShe said that in hot weather like now, cold brew and coffee with milk are popular, and delivery or online orders usually outnumber in-store orders. The shop is small, measuring 2 x 5 meters, but it looks very busy. Several collections of coffee beans are displayed in front, some from Sumatra. Others come from South America and Africa. He said they can produce 150-300 cups a day. and offcourse I talk to her about our gibbon conservation coffee “Owa Coffee”.

Guiyang is a growing city, but it hasn’t forgotten its roots. It’s building for the future while preserving its heritage. On campuses and innovation centers, young people are designing locally-based solutions.

bird book by Prof. Zhongrong Wu

In this vast green area, nature remains a teacher and protector. I received an invitation to one of the province’s science development centers, the Guiyang Academy of Science. This opportunity arose because Kefeng Niu, who works at this institution, presented at the Guiyang Academy of Science. The opportunity to introduce the Javan Gibbon and its conservation project in Pekalongan, Central Java. Kefeng had arranged everything, and after lunch we headed to the Guiyang Academy of Science. There we were awaited by Professor Man Liu and Professor Zhongrong, who are entomologists and ornithologists. The presentation room had been prepared and the participants were researchers at this institution, similar to BRIN in Indonesia. I presented the Coffee and Primate Conservation project in English, and I must thank Kefeng for helping translate into Chinese. The presentation went smoothly, and received many appreciative questions from those present. After the presentation, I was invited to Professor Man Liu’s room, where I received a souvenir of a preserved insect, which he said was a rare species, and reached adulthood, as pictured in this frame, within two years. I had the opportunity to give her a pack of  Owa Coffee.

Owa Coffee for Prof. Man Liu

Then, Prof. Zhongrong Wu, a bird researcher, gave me a book containing his research on bird species. The book, which was so thick and so special, was given to me and signed by the author.After my presentation at the Guizhou Academy of Science, Kefeng took me to the city park, but it was incredibly crowded.

Macaca mulata-medium long taile macaque

Macaca thibetana-shortest tailed macaque

This summer vacation has made Guiyang a bustling city! We actually wanted to see a semi-wild monkey species here: the Rhesus Macaque (Macaca mulata). It’s the third species of monkey in southwest China. The dense crowd made it difficult to observe the surroundings. It’s actually a park, but it’s very large and forest-like. Then, a group of monkeys started causing a commotion by stealing food brought by visitors. Yes, that’s my lifer, the Macaca mulata. Its characteristics are almost the same as the common macaque, but its tail isn’t as long as the fascicularis macaque, and is longer than the Tibetan macaque’s ( Macaca thibethana), that also have seen them day before in Fanjingshan. That’s all there is to it, and there weren’t many photos because the crowds were getting crowded and I couldn’t focus on observing or following the monkeys. Kefeng took us outside, saying that as a Chinese person, he had never seen so many people in a city park.

That day, we ended with dinner with colleagues and government officials, who were designing a joint research and conservation project. I just ate along, not understanding what was being said. But it was a different experience with my new colleagues in China—a pleasant and satisfying social dinner.
August 7, 2025, Adventure in China is over, I left back to Jakarta, and almost missed the plane, because suddenly the schedule was changed, canceled and suddenly I had to change planes, and luckily there were still seats left, because I had to transit in Sensen, so there was a connecting flight that had to go to Jakarta, I could also have missed it because of this change. Arriving in Zensen the plane was right on schedule with the next plane, I ran through immigration and was very helped by the officers. Finally, my watch was on the plane to Jakarta. Goodbye Guizhou. Xie-Xie.

14Jul/23

SwaraOwa: Building global cooperation for gibbon conservation

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written by Arif Setiawan

Hainan, 7-9 July 2023, swaraowa made history at the international level by joining the conservation alliance for gibbon species, called the Global Gibbon Network (GGN). The background for  this collaboration is due to the existence of 20 species of gibbons in the world, as one of the important elements in tropical Asia, spread across 11 Asian endemic countries, where the existence of gibbons in their natural habitat is very important because it is also a center of biodiversity that continues to experience threats. Gibbons are very unique, with the behavior and characteristics of the habitat they use, they have strong family ties. Unfortunately since the 1900’s distribution and population have declined drastically, with populations remaining small in all of Asia’s tropical forests.
Indonesia is the largest country in terms of the number of gibbon species, 45% of the world’s gibbons (9 species) are in Indonesia, and some of them are protected in conservation areas but there are still many other parts of their habitat that are not fully protected outside conservation areas, even 2 species of gibbons in Indonesia are West Kalimantan  Hylobates abbotti and Hylobates funnerreus in North Kalimantan have not been included in the list of protected species by Indonesia regulation. Threats continue to occur due to loss of forest habitat and trade.

The Global Gibbon Network was first initiated in 2020 (during the pandemic) and was organized by two institutions in China through Ecofoundation Global and the Hainan Institute of National Park. The next series of meetings were carried out online and officially invited other institutions in the gibbon habitat to join together as founding partners and announced at the World Gibbon Day event on 24 October 2022, together with the IUCN Section on Small Ape. Swaraowa’s participation in this is due to the similarity of vision and mission in conserving gibbons.

The meeting on 7-9 July 2023 was the first offline meeting held by GGN as an organization with its founding partners. This event was sponsored by Eco Foundation Global and Hainan institute of National Park which officially invited representatives of the founding partners to Haikou, Hainan Island. Hainan Island was also chosen because it is the habitat of the world’s rarest gibbon Hainan Gibbon (Nomascus hainanus) whose current population is only 37 individuals.
Taking place at the Pullman Hotel Haikou, the provincial capital of Hainan, nearly 120 experts, researchers and gibbon conservation activists from ten countries and regions as well as representatives from fifteen international organizations and foundations as founding partners of GGN gathered to discuss establishing a long-term conservation mechanism for gibbons.

I represent SwaraOwa as Indonesia based gibbon conservation organization,  in this meeting as one of the keynote speakers conveying the experience of swaraowa activities for Owajawa (Hylobates moloch) in Pekalongan through an entrepreneur and conservation approach that has been carried out by swaraowa for approximately 10 years, as an example of sustainable conservation initiatives to increase the added economic value of products forest products around the gibbon habitat, with the involvement of local communities and at the same time for the protection of gibbon habitat outside the conservation area. The Owa Coffee project, which was developed from the grassroots level to the global market, is an example of an independent funding scheme for gibbon conservation in Central Java. In addition, I also convey the activities of the Indonesian gibbon working group which is compiling a road map for the conservation of 9 speciees  of gibbons in Indonesia, where this roadmap was prepared by practitioners and researchers for the purpose of providing guidance for related parties who have concerns for gibbon conservation with various development plans. , climate change, forest fire, commodities and policies at the national and regional levels.

This meeting also at the same time inaugurated the GGN secretariat which is in the building at the Hainan Institute of National Park. Furthermore, a secretariat team will be formed and coordinated from here for the next operation of GGN activities.
The supporting partner meeting was closed with a visit to the Bawangling Nature reserve which is the habitat of the Hainan gibbon. During the last 70 years, the gibbon population on this island, which was initially spread throughout the forest on the island, dropped dramatically to 99.9%, and in the 1950s it was recorded there are only 7-8 individuals. Forest loss is the main reason for the extinction of the Hainanese gibbon. However, thanks to the efforts of various parties and the Chinese government, the current population has increased to 37 individuals, which are divided into 5 groups.


A relatively short time of only half a day, it was not possible to see the Hainan gibbons directly, we were invited to see the information center and some of the locations in Bawangling which became tourist visits. However we spotted gibbons as local pride here, murals on the wall in the road to Bawangling nature reserve. We were invited to discuss with representatives of the field team and what was really astonishing was the real time monitoring equipment used to monitor the Hainan gibbon. This command control room is connected to cameras that work automatically to monitor the movement of the Hainan gibbon. Highly sophisticated resource support to assist Hainan gibbon conservation activities.