Guangzhou August 2001
In Guangzhou at the Xing Ping market there is a man I have met both times I have been to China. This last time in August he wanted me to take his picture. I was more than willing to do so. That way the viewer could see who it is selling the turtles in China, normal people trying to make ends meet. So the following pictures are what he was offering the day I visited him. I have 2 other pictures after these 10 pictures from another vendor. While you look at all of these pictures imagine how it looks and smells. It was 35 Celsius and humid. The animals are stacked on each other and boxes in turn are stacked more than 2 high on many occasions. Many animals die in the heat and many die from being crushed to death, lack of water and food, and being thrown around (literally). Besides all these forms of death sometimes the customer wants the animal cooked before purchase. So, to accommodate this, most vendors, if not all, have their own rice-cooker.
The first five pictures are along the left wall in his stall and the remaining five are along the right wall.
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This is a photo of the turtle-dealer (middle), his friend (left) and myself in his stall. August 2001
This is a photo of species sold across from us.
This photo is along the same wall as the above photo but closer to the entrance of the stall.
This photo is along the same wall as we are sitting but at the entrance of the stall.
This photo is closer to us along the same wall.
This photo is right next to where we where sitting. You can see the dealers son sitting to the right.
Here is the dealers son posing with a P. mouhutii.
This is an unknown species for me. If you know what it is please email me!
The following are from the a different dealer at the pet market around the corner from the Xing Ping Market.
These are the VERY endangered Geochelone platynota. On this particular trip I seen at least 50 animals, from hatchling to very large adult. All where seen at one vendor. She also had the spengleri below.
A small crate full of Geoemyda spengleri. What a shame. This is by far my favorite species of turtle. I am glad that I have produced these gems in captivity.