{"id":1102,"date":"2018-04-25T11:20:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-25T19:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/master.k8s.p4.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/aboutus\/1102\/in-china-a-wave-of-support-for-antarctic-protection\/"},"modified":"2019-11-19T20:57:59","modified_gmt":"2019-11-20T04:57:59","slug":"in-china-a-wave-of-support-for-antarctic-protection","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/blog\/1102\/in-china-a-wave-of-support-for-antarctic-protection\/","title":{"rendered":"In China, a wave of support for Antarctic protection"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"post-content\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/static\/planet4-eastasia-stateless\/2019\/11\/b455f8cb-b455f8cb-142275_257645.jpg\" alt=\"Wang Yuheng on board the Arctic Sunrise\" \/><\/p>\n<p>TV star Wang Yuheng is on a mission to protect the Antarctic.<br \/>\nIn February, he joined Greenpeace on our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org.uk\/what-we-do\/oceans\/antarctic\/\">Antarctic ship tour,<\/a> where he came face-to-face with wildlife in the region, returning to China with the message that the area must be protected.<br \/>\n<br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/>Wang is one of thousands of people in China, including Olympic athletes and movie stars, who have pledged support for the creation of an Antarctic sanctuary.<br \/>\n\u201cTwo things I experienced in the Antarctic Ocean left a deep impression on me,\u201d Wang said. \u201cThe first was how seasick I felt as giant waves slammed against our ship. But as I lay on my back, books sliding across the shelves of my cabin, I thought about how the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/archive-international\/en\/news\/Blogs\/makingwaves\/best-penguin-protect-antarctic\/blog\/61024\/\">Gentoo penguin<\/a> can swim at 36 kilometers per hour in those icy waters, and I couldn\u2019t help but be struck by what a powerful animal that is.\u201d<br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/><br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/>Back in China, Wang is famous for his photographic memory. His major break came on the reality show, \u2018The Brain,\u2019 when he amazed audiences with his ability to recognize one in hundreds of seemingly identical objects.<\/p>\n<p>Since then, he has wowed viewers with both incredible feats of intellect and his unique designs, amassing more than 3 million online followers. <br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/><br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/>Now, Wang is focusing his brainpower on a task with global implications \u2014 the creation of the largest protected area on Earth. <br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/><br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/>\u201cThe Antarctic is the only region in the world that has never been home to human civilization. It\u2019s like the white space in an ink painting \u2014 it gives the world depth. We have a responsibility not to cause any further damage,\u201d Wang said.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/NXSZL8osA6s\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Wang says that a marine sanctuary would safeguard species like the majestic emperor penguin, whose population is on track to shrink as much as 33% by the end of the century, largely as a result of climate change.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, the fishing industry continues to profit from the<a href=\"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/international\/publication\/15255\/licence-to-krill-antarctic-krill-report\/\"> sale of krill<\/a>, tiny creatures that almost all species in the Antarctic depend on for survival. In recent years, krill fishing operations have moved closer to areas where penguins, whales and seals breed, further jeopardizing the animals\u2019 food supplies.<br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/><br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/><strong>Growing Momentum<\/strong><br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/><br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/>In China, many others are following Wang\u2019s lead and calling for the creation of an Antarctic sanctuary.<br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/><br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/>Along with Wang, Olympic athletes Liu Guoliang and Wu Minxia, actors Mark Zhao and Yang Zishan and writer Nan Pai San Shu have recently shared the petition online, pledging their support. In its first week online, the petition garnered 33,670 signatures in China.<br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/><br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/>The <a href=\"https:\/\/act.greenpeace.org\/page\/18001\/petition\/1?locale=en-GB\">petition<\/a> calls for the creation 1.8 million-square-kilometer protected area in the Weddell Sea. This will be the world\u2019s largest nature reserve and a sanctuary for more than 10,000 species of wildlife, including penguins, seals and krill. <br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/><br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/>The creation of the Antarctic sanctuary ultimately depends on an agreement between 25 members \u2014 it\u2019s a real global effort. This means that, as awareness grows, so too does the potential that we will be able to protect this precious region.<br \/>\nIn tribute to one of the iconic creatures of the Antarctic, Wang has created a 1-minute paper penguin challenge for his fans. Give it a try, and join Wang on his mission to protect the Antarctic <a href=\"https:\/\/act.greenpeace.org\/page\/18001\/petition\/1?locale=en-GB\">here<\/a>. <br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/><br class=\"kix-line-break\" \/><\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/1oOGD2NIPRo\" width=\"560\" height=\"315\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>TV star Wang Yuheng is on a mission to protect the Antarctic.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":32,"featured_media":1103,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"p4_og_title":"","p4_og_description":"","p4_og_image":"","p4_og_image_id":"","p4_seo_canonical_url":"","p4_campaign_name":"not set","p4_local_project":"","p4_basket_name":"not set","p4_department":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[20],"p4-page-type":[26],"class_list":["post-1102","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-protect-nature","tag-oceans","p4-page-type-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/32"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1102"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2101,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1102\/revisions\/2101"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1103"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1102"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1102"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1102"},{"taxonomy":"p4-page-type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.greenpeace.org\/eastasia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/p4-page-type?post=1102"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}