There was a time when Liu Fenghai had 25 craftsmen working exclusively on elephant ivory at his factory in the northern city of Harbin. He would buy the raw ivory and then have it turned into the pendants, paperweights and statues that once filled shelf after shelf in his shop, as well as the much larger, elaborately carved whole tusks proudly displayed on plinths of their own. At the height of the market some of them could sell for many thousands of dollars. Now, to the delight of conservationists everywhere, China is calling a halt to this legal, state-sanctioned trade. Read more
