Do not eat wild game; do not buy, sell, or keep protected animals as pets; do not dig or trade wild orchids, cliff cypress, or yew either

Eating nationally key-protected animals means the items are confiscated and a fine of 2 to 20 times their value. Buying, selling, or transporting precious or endangered animals brings up to 5 years; serious cases, 5 to 10 years. Captive-bred pets whose breeding technology is mature and already at scale are generally not treated as a crime when traded; wild-caught ones are not in that class. Most wild orchids on the mountain are protected; someone who dug 3 plants to sell got criminal detention.

Cost

No money. Buy only pets of lawful origin and captive-bred stock. Do not dig wild orchids you see on the mountain; buy orchid and yew pots only as cultivated stock from flower markets and nurseries.

Benefit

Eating nationally key-protected wild animals, or buying them to eat, means the items are confiscated and a fine of 2 to 20 times their value. Breeding nationally key-protected wild animals without a permit: confiscation plus a fine of 1 to 10 times. Illegally purchasing, transporting, or selling nationally key-protected precious or endangered wild animals and their products brings up to 5 years plus a fine. Within that item, serious circumstances bring 5 to 10 years; especially serious, 10 years or more. Hunting, purchasing, transporting, or selling other terrestrial wild animals in order to eat them, when circumstances are serious, brings up to 3 years. Official case: Farmer Wang and 2 others sold over 40 captive-bred Fischer’s lovebirds (national class II protection) for a total under 400 yuan. In 2021 the procuratorate decided not to prosecute. From 2022 the Supreme People’s Court and Supreme People’s Procuratorate made clear that when captive-breeding technology is mature, already at scale, and the animals are bought, sold, or transported as pets, the matter is generally not handled as a crime (nationwide). Wild plants have a separate offense. Illegally felling or destroying nationally key-protected plants, or purchasing, transporting, processing, or selling those plants and products, all fall under it. Up to 3 years plus a fine; when circumstances are serious, 3 to 7 years. A 2023 Supreme People’s Court interpretation set the threshold. One plant of a national class I wild plant, or 2 of class II, or value of 20000 yuan (2万) or more, is enough to convict. Class I at 5 plants, class II at 10, or value of 200000 yuan (20万) or more, counts as serious circumstances. Buyers count only if they knew the plants were illegally dug. On the 2021 list, all species of cliff cypress and of the yew genus are class I. All species of the orchid genus Orchis/Cymbidium group listed are class II; Chunlan, Huilan, and Lianbanlan are among them. Within that genus only one species is off the list; two others are class I. Digging and transplanting home is still convicted as illegal felling; sentencing may weigh that it was transplanting. Artificially cultivated plants do not count, except ancient and famous trees. Official case: In Nanzhao, Henan, someone in 2022 dug 3 wild orchid plants on a hillside and posted a video wanting to sell. He got 6 months of criminal detention, suspended for 10 months, and a fine of 3000 yuan. In Suizhou, Hubei, a group dug over 30000 wild Chunlan and Huilan plants over more than two years. In 2025 one of them got 1 year 7 months, suspended for 2 years (nationwide)

Notes

“Generally not treated as a crime” covers only the captive-bred, kept-as-pet class. Wild-caught or unclear-origin animals do not qualify. What counts as a nationally key-protected animal follows the list. Checking the list before buying is cheaper than explaining afterward. Plants are the same: the rule covers those that grew naturally in the wild. Orchids sold in livestreams as “field-dug” or “mountain-down grass” are wild. Cliff-cypress root carvings, bracelets, and similar products, when knowingly from illegal digging and then traded, fall under the same offense.

Sources · 9

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