(Ecns.cn)--Nearly two decades ago a gang of greedy poachers killed more than 1,000 Tibetan antelopes and a government official within nine days in Kekexili, a rugged and isolated region located in Qinghai Province. Part of the Tibetan plateau, Kekexili is China's least populated area, and the third least populated in the world.
Many of the poachers fled after the slaughter but were soon caught, while others went on the run for almost 18 years. Since early November of this year, six of the outlaws have surrendered to the police.
Ma Shenghua was one who didn't manage to escape for long. He was captured in Guide County of Qinghai eight months after fleeing from his home and sentenced to jail for 20 years in 1996, but released seven years early in 2009 for good behavior.
"I really deserved the 13 years in jail. It was my redemption. Even now, I often remember the days in Kekexili. Once, I shot down a ewe, and her baby also stopped running, staying close to the old antelope and looking like it was weeping for its mother," said Ma, who is now owner of a noodle restaurant in Suzhou, Jiangsu Province.
At that time, 25-year-old Ma was engaged in mass hunt for Tibetan antelopes with 11 other men.
He clearly remembers the scene of antelopes being skinned. "The bonfires and blood spurting out from the necks of the antelopes colored the whole area red," he said.
Ma first went to Kekexili as a prospector, and was often involved in fights over areas rich in gold. "The winner controlled the land," he said, adding that at least 200,000 people rushed to Kekexili hoping to strike it rich.
When they were lucky, they found dozens of kilos of gold in a short period. But when the luck ran out, they might not reap a single grain of gold for months.
The idea of making money on hides struck Ma when he learned from a trader that it was much easier to hunt antelopes than dig for gold.
"At that time, there were always big herds of antelopes, thousands of them," he recalled. "An antelope hide could be sold for 480 yuan ($76) at a black market in the 1990s."
At the end of December 1993, Ma and the other 11 poachers geared up with 20 buckets of gasoline and 9,000 bullets and paid their now-infamous visit to Kekexili.
Their efforts paid off on the seventh day, when they found thousands of antelopes grazing beside the Muztag-Cetacean Lake, soon to be the scene of a terrible slaughter.
"The killing continued for nine days and nine nights. Seven of us killed more than 1,000 Tibetan antelopes with four small-bore guns and a self-loader," Ma pointed out.
According to an investigation by local police, Ma's gang was the biggest that year, and responsible for the deaths of thousands of animals.
Ma recalled seeing the piles of carcasses on the way back: "Our pile was the biggest. Others had only killed dozens, but we had slaughtered thousands from a whole herd."
But Ma and his team would not get away scot free. They encountered Jiesang Suonandajie, the former deputy secretary of the Zhi Duo County Party Committee in Qinghai, on the night of January 16, 1994.
A brutal gunfight broke out, and Suonandajie was shot to death by the poachers.
"It was very dark. I had never felt that cold," recalled Ma, adding that they ran away as soon as the gunshots stopped, without checking whether Suonandajie was alive or dead.
Suonandajie's death was brought to the attention of the whole nation, and his story was later adapted into an award-winning movie by Chinese director Lu Chuan called "Mountain Patrol。" The film led to much-delayed Chinese government support for the protection of rare animals.
Ma pointed out that some parts of the movie are not true, however. He wants to reveal the reality of the crime to the public, and hopes Lu Chuan will shoot another film themed on the poachers.
"It's lucky that we got caught and a nature reserve has been set up at Kekexili. Otherwise, the land would eventually be destroyed, with the bodies of dead antelopes piled up everywhere," Ma said.
