Wildlife Protection: Two filmmakers campaign to change attitudes in China

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Deputies and advisors at The Two Sessions have been discussing environmental issues in China. But two young filmmakers have been campaigning to change Chinese attitudes towards captive elephants in Thailand and ivory from wild elephants killed in Africa. CGTN's Lin Nan has the story, but a warning, what you're about to see and hear, you may find disturbing.

It's a sight and sound Zhang Chaodao will never forget.

ZHANG CHAODAO DIRECTOR, 'BLACK ELEPHANT' "The mahout again used his ankus to hook the elephant. Then we heard the sound of the elephant skin ripped apart, with his ankus. Then this elephant suddenly going crazy. It has the sound that we could never imagine in our lives."

Zhang is a video maker in Shanghai. He recently produced a 9-minute documentary called 'Black Elephant,' revealing the inhumane training and treatment of elephants in Thailand.

ZHANG CHAODAO DIRECTOR, 'BLACK ELEPHANT' "Thailand is the biggest tourist spot for Chinese people. A lot of Chinese people go there, on their bucket lists, the first one is riding elephants or watching elephant show. I would like more Chinese people to see what's going on."

The documentary has been viewed online millions of times since its release in 2017. It suggests people go to elephant sanctuaries instead and travel more responsibly.

ZHANG CHAODAO DIRECTOR, 'BLACK ELEPHANT' "As consumers, you change what you buy, you choose what you buy, with this change, you also change the system little by little."

While Zhang urges Chinese consumers to use their power to raise elephant welfare, Huang Hongxiang put his life in great danger, going undercover in Africa to expose ivory traffickers.

HUANG HONGXIANG WILDLIFE PROTECTION ACTIVIST "A lot of the time I'm wearing a hidden camera, and if certain people found me with it, I'd be in major trouble."

Featured in the 2016 documentary The Ivory Game, he posed as a Chinese ivory buyer who tricked a Ugandan dealer into a police trap.

HUANG HONGXIANG WILDLIFE PROTECTION ACTIVIST "When the police show up, I'd be the person closest to that criminal. So who knows what could happen. Who knows whether he has a gun, or a knife, or what he might do."

The documentary has brought Huang a lot of exposure, meaning he could never go undercover again. But he said there's a reason for him to go public.

HUANG HONGXIANG WILDLIFE PROTECTION ACTIVIST "There are a million people in China who can totally do the same. But why so far have there been relatively few Chinese doing these kinds of things? Why when you go to the global wildlife conservation or global NGO area you see a lot of white and black people, some South Americans, but you don't see a lot of Chinese faces?"

Two young people on different lands, they share one mission and send the same message: Protect elephants, and let the animals live freely and safely for many years to come. Lin Nan, CGTN, SHANGHAI.