中國螢火蟲觀賞項目引發生態破壞之憂

A program inviting Chinese city dwellers to reconnect with nature by visiting a Shanghai enclosure with thousands of fireflies inside has been suspended after conservationists warned that it could lead to ecological damage and the local authorities raised safety concerns.

上海一家主題園以園內上萬只螢火蟲爲主題，邀請生活在城市的人們重新接觸大自然，但該活動目前已經被叫停。環保人士警告稱，這種螢火蟲觀賞活動有可能造成生態破壞，當地政府也提出了安全方面的顧慮。

“Shanghai’s very first firefly-themed park will open July 10,” a notice on the travel site had announced. “Visitors will be surrounded by tens of thousands of fireflies. It will be like walking through the Milky Way.”

“上海第一個螢火蟲公園即將在7月10日正式開放，”旅遊網站“螞蜂窩”上的一則告示顯示。“將有數萬只螢火蟲同時呈現，圍繞在遊客的身旁漫天飛舞，彷彿置身銀河之中。”

The program was to run until Oct. 7.

該活動原計劃一直辦到10月7日。

On Thursday, a day before the opening, however, the plan was called off, according to a report on , a Shanghai-based news portal. “This program has not been cleared to go ahead and has serious safety issues,” the report quoted the police as saying. The authorities ordered the organizers “to amend their proposal,” but added that “it is not clear whether the event still has a chance to open or when.”

但是根據上海新聞門戶網站東方網報道，週四，也就是開園前一天，活動被叫停。“該項目未經審批，存在重大安全隱患，”報道援引警方的話說。相關主管部門勒令主辦方整改，然而“該項目今後啓不啓動、何時啓動，還不得而知。”

The cancellation is bound to leave many disappointed: On , a business review and group-buying site, tickets for the first three days of the event were sold out by Wednesday. But the announcement is also likely to please conservationists, who had been campaigning against the firefly tours and others like it across China.

活動取消勢必帶來諸多遺憾：在商業點評團購網站大衆點評網上，活動前三天的票在週三就已經售罄。但此消息會讓環保人士感到滿意，他們一直在全國範圍內呼籲抵制類似的螢火蟲展。

“We ask the public to stay away from this kind of firefly watch,” said Zhu Xiangyu, the director of the Qinghuan Volunteer Service Center, a Nanjing-based environmental organization and one of the sponsors of an online petition to block the opening of the Shanghai park. “People think it’s romantic, when it’s in fact lethal.”

“我們呼籲公衆遠離這類螢火蟲觀賞活動，”南京青環志願者服務中心負責人朱翔宇說，該組織是網上公開信呼籲抵制上海開放該主題公園的發起方之一。“人們覺得這是浪漫的事，但它的本質是殺戮。”

Fireflies were once a familiar part of summer evenings in much of China. But the tiny flashes that used to light up fields have dwindled — lost, experts say, to pollution and to altered natural habitats.

螢火蟲過去是中國夏日夜晚熟悉的景象，但這些曾點亮田野的閃爍小光點數量已經減少——專家稱，這是因爲污染和自然棲息地改變導致的。

In recent years, a number of commercial enterprises in China have tried to tap into nostalgia for the pulsating flickers. Firefly Park, in the southeastern city of Xiamen, was opened in 2010 by an LED lighting company and offers firefly-watching tours. On the shopping site , it’s possible to order a jar of fireflies for around 100 renminbi, or $16.

最近幾年，中國的一些商家試圖利用人們對這些一閃一閃光點的懷念獲利。2010年，一家生產LED的公司在中國東南城市廈門開放了一家螢火蟲公園，供遊客觀賞螢火蟲。在購物網站淘寶網上，人們可以以100元人民幣左右的價格購買到一罐螢火蟲。

“It’s a rather emotional experience, for people of all ages,” said Xu Song, the founder of Nanhu Firefly Park in the southern city of Guangzhou. “Young visitors find it romantic, while older people recall their childhoods.”

“這是非凡的情感體驗，對於各年齡層的人都是，”廣州南湖遊樂園螢火蟲公園創辦人許鬆說。“年輕遊人覺得很浪漫，而年紀大的人則能回想起童年。”

Firefly tours don’t always end well. Last summer in Hangzhou, a disappointed crowd ravaged a firefly camp after they spent two hours without seeing any flickers, according to Xinhua, the state news agency. Organizers blamed cool temperatures and gave visitors refunds.

螢火蟲之旅的結局並不總是皆大歡喜。去年夏天，杭州有一羣遊客在兩個小時內一隻螢火蟲也沒看到。據新華社報道，失望的人羣打砸了活動現場，組織方歸咎於氣溫太低，給予遊客退票補償。

In Wuhan last May, about 5,000 people thronged a firefly park on its opening day, according to a local newspaper. The venue filled up before many ticketholders could enter. Those who managed to make it in found themselves on a 50-meter, or 165-foot, walkway with netting on all sides to prevent the few fireflies that were present from escaping.

去年5月，約5000人在開園首日涌入武漢螢火蟲公園，當地報紙報道。一些持票人尚未入園，園內就已經爆滿。那些擠入場內的人發現自己置身於一個50米長的棧道，四周被紗網包圍，防止零星的螢火蟲飛走。

On Wednesday, officials in Zhengzhou, the capital of Henan Province, called off a plan to release fireflies in a local shopping mall, citing safety regulations.

週三，河南省會鄭州的官員以安全法規爲由，叫停了當地一家商場放飛螢火蟲的計劃。

“Ninety percent of firefly tours in China are fake,” said Mr. Xu of Nanhu Firefly Park. “They just catch wild fireflies and put them in a tent.”

“中國90%的螢火蟲參觀都是假的，”南湖螢火蟲公園的許鬆說。“他們只是把野生螢火蟲抓回來，然後放進帳篷裏。”

Mr. Xu said he created his park on five acres in suburban Guangzhou in 2013, carefully preparing the soil and water and introducing food sources like snails before planting the larvae. The locally bred firefly population still needs to be supplemented by insects caught in the wild, however.

許鬆說，2013年，他在廣州市郊建造了這個面積30畝的公園。在投放螢火蟲幼蟲之前，他對土壤和水質做了精心準備，並引進了蝸牛等食物來源。儘管如此，還是需要用在野外捕捉的螢火蟲來補充本地飼養的螢火蟲的數量。

“The visitors pay to see the twinkles, and you have to make them happy,” he said.

他說，“遊客們花錢來看這些閃閃發光的東西，你得讓他們滿意啊。”

Conservationists had criticized the planned Shanghai firefly park for importing fireflies captured far from the city.

環保人士還譴責了計劃中的上海螢火蟲公園從距離城市很遠的地方捕捉螢火蟲的做法。

“You have to worry about artificial transfer of species,” said Fu Xinhua, a biologist at Huazhong Agricultural University in Wuhan, and the author of “Fireflies in China.” “It threatens the indigenous ecosystem and the species being brought in may not be able to survive.”

“我們應該警惕物種的人工轉移，”武漢華中農業大學生物學家、《螢火蟲在中國》一書的作者付新華說。“這會威脅當地生態系統，而且從其他地方引進的物種可能無法存活。”

China is home to about 200 species of fireflies, but their numbers are rapidly declining, Mr. Fu said. In addition to habitat loss, the insects have been hit hard by artificial light from buildings and motor vehicles, which is believed to disrupt the signals they use for communications and mating.

付新華說，中國有大約200種螢火蟲，但數量在迅速減少。除了棲息地流失以外，螢火蟲還因爲建築物和機動車的人造燈光受到了嚴重影響。據信，這些燈光會擾了螢火蟲用來交流和交配的信號。

“A firefly watch needs to be eco-friendly,” Mr. Fu said. “Go to the sanctuaries. Go into the wild.”

“觀看螢火蟲應該以不損害生態環境爲前提，” 付新華說。“去保護基地看，去野外看吧。”

Mr. Fu runs a habitat recovery program in Xianning, Hubei Province. Conservation and breeding help restore the population, while tourist revenues are used to compensate local rice farmers for not using pesticides.

付新華在湖北咸寧開展了一個棲息地恢復項目。在保護和養殖工作的幫助下，螢火蟲的數量得以恢復，遊客的參觀費還被用來補償當地不使用殺蟲劑的稻農。

Conservationists are racing to catch up with growing interest in firefly tours. Mr. Xu’s Nanhu Firefly Park in Guangzhou received more than 10,000 visitors last year, and he said he expected that number to double this year.

人們對螢火蟲參觀的興趣與日俱增，保育人士應付不暇。去年，許鬆在廣州的南湖螢火蟲公園接待了逾1萬名遊客，他還說今年人數可能會翻番。

One firefly habitat in Nanjing has become so popular that “people fly in from other provinces, which is scary,” said Mr. Zhu of the Qinghuan Volunteer Service Center. To help manage the crowds, he said, volunteers from local universities guide visitors, and the authorities have even stopped motor vehicles from entering the area.

南京的一個螢火蟲棲息地非常受歡迎，“甚至有人從外省坐飛機過來，這很恐怖，” 青環志願者服務中心的朱翔宇說。他說，爲了保持秩序，來自當地大學的志願者會爲遊客充當嚮導，官方還禁止了機動車進入這個區域。

“People do listen,” Mr. Zhu said. “They don’t bring flashlights anymore. But the problem is there are just too many of them, up to 10,000 on a busy night.”

“你說他們會聽的，”朱翔宇說。“現在沒人帶手電筒了。但問題是，遊客實在太多，有時一晚上能達到1萬人。”