Jiangcheng County, Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
1. Various of wild Asian elephants entering villages, searching for food
2. Aerial shot of rural village with elephants visible nearby
3. Various of elephant monitoring team member, forest firefighter launching drone, watching drone footage to monitor elephant movement
UPSOUND(Chinese) Diao Faxing, team leader, elephant monitoring team:
"Flying over, there are at least 10 of them."
UPSOUND(Chinese) Guo Yuanfeng, forest firefighter:
"Wow, there are really a lot."
4. Group of elephants foraging in farmland
UPSOUND(Chinese) Diao Faxing, team leader, elephant monitoring team:
"They usually don't come out at this time. There are many baby elephants in this group. The youngest is probably around two months old."
5. Various of Diao helping villager assess crop damage caused by elephants
6. Elephant dung in field

FILE: Jiangcheng County, Yunnan Province, southwest China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
7. Various of elephants running into crop fields, foraging, then leaving

Jiangcheng County, Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
8. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Li Jiangmei, villager, Kangping Town (with reporter asking question/partially overlaid with shots 9-10/ending with shot 11):
"At current prices, the compensation is fairly satisfactory. Once the elephant eats, it simply leaves. It's almost like we are raising them. If our crops get eaten, the insurance company compensates us. I think that's what harmonious coexistence between people and elephants looks like."
(Reporter:"Are you afraid of them?")
"The monitors send updates to our messaging group every day, so we are able to know where the elephants are right away. If they are nearby, we just avoid going there."

++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
FILE: Jiangcheng County, Yunnan Province, southwest China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
9. Various of elephants in farmland
10. Various of elephants roaming, playing
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
11. Elephants bathing in river
12. Various of baby elephant roaming with herd

Jiangcheng County, Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
13. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Li Chaodong, villager, Kangping Town (starting with shot 12):
"That group of elephants has been coming here for years. Seeing them raise their young is heartwarming. It's touching to see another baby elephant born."
14. Various of monitoring team conducting nighttime patrol, launching drone
15. Drone footage showing elephants moving near pigsty; pig running out
16. Various of Diao retracting drone, sending alert via village messaging group
17. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Diao Faxing, team leader, elephant monitoring team (starting with shots 15-16/partially overlaid with shot 18):
"Especially in the early days before we had drones, we had to track the elephants on foot, following their footprints every day. It was even more dangerous. My family told me to quit. What if something happened? But I thought, if we don't send alerts, people won't feel safe working in the fields. Thinking about that, I just kept going."
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18. Elephant walking along road
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19. Various of monitoring team members walking along dirt path through fields

FILE: Yunnan Province, southwest China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
20. Aerial shot of forest
21. Various of elephants resting, roaming, foraging

Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
22. Various of observation tower with two team members observing elephant activity
23. Elephant foraging

Kunming City, Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
24. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Yang Fang, director, Department of Nature Reserve Management Office, Yunnan Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau (partially overlaid with shots 25-27):
"We have been advancing the national park's preparation, including baseline research, specialized resource surveys, habitat restoration, ecological repair, public education, and conflict mitigation. The goal is to enhance regional protection and spread conservation awareness to support the park's creation."

++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++
Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
25. Various of observation tower; team members observing for nearby elephants
26. Aerial shot of forest

FILE: Yunnan Province, southwest China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
27. Various of elephants
++SHOTS OVERLAYING SOUNDBITE++

Jiangcheng County, Yunnan Province, southwest China - Recent (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
28. SOUNDBITE (Chinese) Diao Faxing, team leader, elephant monitoring team (ending with shot 29):
"Building an Asian Elephant National Park gives them a home. At the same time, we could develop tourism, with local people getting involved and helping to attract visitors. My biggest hope is that locals can live in peace and contentment, and that we can also offer the elephants a good habitat. So people and elephants live in harmony."

FILE: Yunnan Province, southwest China - Date Unknown (CCTV - No access Chinese mainland)
29. Various of elephants playing, resting, bathing in river

Deep in the rainforests of southwest China's Yunnan Province, dedicated elephant monitoring team members are tracking wild Asian elephants and working to ensure peaceful coexistence between humans and wildlife.

In Jiangcheng County, more than 50 wild Asian elephants live year-round. Since the onset of winter, wild food sources have become scarce, leading to more frequent visits by elephants into villages in search of food.

In recent days, elephant monitors have teamed up with local forest firefighters to strengthen monitoring and alerts. As more people and vehicles return home for the Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival, monitoring and early warning efforts have become all the more important.

Diao Faxing, now 50 years old, is the team leader of Jiangcheng County's elephant monitoring team. He and his colleagues are tasked with monitoring Asian elephant populations over a nearly 1,000 square-kilometer area. They must track the movements of dozens of elephants in real-time.

One day, upon spotting a herd of elephants, Diao promptly alerted nearby villagers to keep their distance. Responding to the warning, firefighter Guo Yuanfeng launched a drone and quickly located the elephants feeding in a cornfield.

Diao said that the drone footage showed at least 10 elephants, adding that it was unusual for the elephants to appear at that time of day and noted that the group included several calves, with the youngest estimated to be about two months old.

Beyond real-time alerts, Diao also assesses damages caused by elephants on behalf of insurance companies.

He explained that in 2010, Yunnan Province implemented a public liability insurance system for wild animal incidents, fully funded by the government. When an elephant-related incident occurs, the insurance company compensates households for damages to homes, food, and cash crops.

"At current prices, the compensation is fairly satisfactory. Once the elephant eats, it simply leaves. It's almost like we are raising them. If our crops get eaten, the insurance company compensates us. I think that's what harmonious coexistence between people and elephants looks like," said Li Jiangmei, a villager of Kangping Town.

Li added that she doesn't fear the elephants.

"The monitors send updates to our messaging group every day, so we are able to know where the elephants are right away. If they are nearby, we just avoid going there," she said.

"That group of elephants has been coming here for years. Seeing them raise their young is heartwarming. It's touching to see another baby elephant born," said Li Chaodong, a villager.

Monitoring these elephants requires being out in the field on a long-term basis, often facing danger, something Diao's family initially didn't understand.

"Especially in the early days before we had drones, we had to track the elephants on foot, following their footprints every day. It was even more dangerous. My family told me to quit. What if something happened? But I thought, if we don't send alerts, people won't feel safe working in the fields. Thinking about that, I just kept going," said Diao.

In 2022, Yunnan applied to the State Council to establish the Asian Elephant National Park, covering areas in Xishuangbanna, Pu'er, and Lincang across six counties or districts. The proposed area spans over 38,600 hectares.

In line with national planning efforts, the preparation of the park is progressing steadily. China's national park law, which took effect on Jan 1, 2026, will provide a strong legal foundation for the park's establishment.

"We have been advancing the national park's preparation, including baseline research, specialized resource surveys, habitat restoration, ecological repair, public education, and conflict mitigation. The goal is to enhance regional protection and spread conservation awareness to support the park's creation," said Yang Fang, director of the Department of Nature Reserve Management Office, Yunnan Provincial Forestry and Grassland Bureau.

"Building an Asian Elephant National Park gives them a home. At the same time, we could develop tourism, with local people getting involved and helping to attract visitors. My biggest hope is that locals can live in peace and contentment, and that we can also offer the elephants a good habitat. So people and elephants live in harmony," said Diao.