As Chinese Pine Away For 'Lucky' Trees, Illegal Trade Grows Inspector Brooks Patrols Hills To Nab Smuggling Gangs; Prosecutors Lose a Case
HONG KONG -- Roger Brooks, a senior inspector for the Hong Kong police department, used to spend his time chasing petty thieves and investigating murder cases. Now he is trying to nab a new kind of criminal: men who steal "lucky" trees.
The tree that Mr. Brooks is trying to protect is the Buddhist pine, or luohansong -- believed by the Chinese to bring good luck. Smuggling gangs from mainland China come to Hong Kong's forests at night to steal scores of the evergreen trees. They dig them out of the ground, chop off leaves and limbs to make them more portable, and pile them in boats.
Mr. Brooks, 39 years old, calls the thieves a "thorn to society."
The Buddhist pine has long been admired in China. Its open leaves let sunlight through, scaring away shadows and giving it valuable feng shui, or natural harmony, according to Hong Kong botanists. Its fleshy red seeds are believed to resemble disciples of the Buddha. And a popular proverb holds that its owner will never be poor in this lifetime.
Until now, most Chinese were too poor to afford to buy decorative trees like the luohansong and test the proverb. And the few who collected the tree bought small, potted versions that can be pruned like a bonsai. But with China's economy booming, middle-class businessmen want the luohansong for themselves, especially mature trees that have grown in the wild and are even more prized for their sinuous form.
A wild luohansong can fetch more than $1,000, Hong Kong police say. Sellers of the tree in southern China, however, say they have sold wild luohansong for tens of thousands of dollars.
China's economic boom -- and the tree's lucky reputation -- could prove unlucky for the tree itself. Academics and environmentalists predict that if the smuggling continues at current rates, Hong Kong's parks may become bereft of the Buddhist pine in 50 years. The tree can take 10 years to produce seeds.
"I have never seen people treat living trees like that," says C.Y. Jim, chairman of the University of Hong Kong's geography department and a tree expert.
The craze for the conifer is also bringing mixed fortunes for sellers of the tree: While sales are up, so are brazen attempts to steal them. Knife-wielding thieves recently broke into Weng Yongquan's nursery near the southern Chinese city of Chaozhou, killed his dog, and stole away with some of his trees. Now, Mr. Weng says he sleeps in his garden every night to deter poachers.
While the slow-growing tree, known to scientists as Podocarpus macrophyllus, grows in China and other parts of Asia, it is most easily accessible on Hong Kong's tree-lined coasts, just a short boat ride from the Chinese mainland. The poachers feed their booty into the black market, and the trees end up for sale in southern Chinese cities like Guangzhou. The evergreens are purchased by both mainland businessmen and Hong Kong Chinese on shopping jaunts, say Hong Kong authorities.
The smuggling creates a cat-and-mouse game between tree thieves and Mr. Brooks, who leads patrols of the area's rugged foothills. So far this year, police patrols have seized 292 trees and arrested 77 poachers in Hong Kong.
"It's like finding a needle in a haystack," said Mr. Brooks during a recent patrol, wearing camouflage and wraparound designer sunglasses. He and five accompanying officers braved a haze of mosquitoes and the blazing sun as they made their way over slippery boulders and dense brush, scanning the river's edge for the bare roots of stolen trees.
Even when police find the poachers, catching them is difficult. During a recent raid, police used helicopters to ferry in as many as 120 officers clad with night-vision goggles. At around 3 a.m., the police set off flares and moved in. Half a dozen surprised young men dropped their trees and vanished in the brush, according to Mr. Brooks. Cornered poachers often jump over cliffs to avoid capture, he said.
Although the thieves gravitate to the remote parks near Hong Kong, they have also been known to dig up the prized pines right in the backyards of well-heeled Hong Kong residents. Some in Hong Kong now bring their potted miniatures indoors at night.
Buddhist-tree thieves can get two and a half years in prison, says Stanley Chan, Hong Kong's senior assistant director of public prosecutions. But there is a catch: Prosecutors must prove the pines are from Hong Kong. This year, 32 suspects escaped conviction and were instead deported to the mainland, according to Hong Kong police. Many suspects claim their stash was from the mainland, says Mr. Chan. Frustrated prosecutors are considering costly testing on the soil that remains on the roots.
Last March, prosecutors lost a case on appeal in Hong Kong's High Court involving seven smugglers found on two boats laden with Buddhist pines, heading away from Hong Kong and toward the mainland. One suspect said he had gone out on a pleasure trip and had no idea how 26 trees got on his boat, according to court documents.
The stolen trees make their way to places like the 24-hour Ling Nan Flower Market in Guangzhou. Li Xiaoping, who started his store 20 years ago selling the tree, says it has become so popular that during the tree's peak spring planting season, he can sell a cart of his nursery-grown trees to other sellers every 10 days for about $750 -- a small fortune in China.
Mr. Li also buys smuggled trees from the wild at the request of his customers. He declined to name his sources. "This is business," he said. "So long as someone wants it, we have to get it."
No one seems certain how the proverb about luck came about. The tree is often free of diseases, and Prof. Jim of the University of Hong Kong conjectures that "if the tree is healthy, then probably people will be healthy. If they are healthy, they can make money." Some of the Guangzhou merchants claim the consumers themselves made up the proverb to feel better about spending so much money on a tree.
Kee Pui-yi, a 46-year-old who works for the Hong Kong government, hasn't had luck with her tree so far. She bought in to the craze about a year ago, spending $12 on a small potted pine. But after carefully tending to her tree, it died six months later. She then bought a second tree, which sits by her living room window and is now close to dying. She says she plans to buy a third one soon.
"I really hope good luck will happen," she says.
Hong Kong legislator Choy So-yuk didn't fare much better. Ms. Choy was given a small luohansong by a friend. Despite tending to her tree meticulously, she notes that the pine has yet to bring luck. Then again, when she tried to register it with the city's environmental protection department as a wild luohansong, she found out it wasn't wild at all, but raised in a nursery.
窃贼瞄上罗汉松 香港警方不轻松
罗杰?布鲁克斯(Roger Brooks)是香港警察部门的一位高级督察，以前他的时间花在追捕小偷和毒贩子上面。而如今，他在全力抓捕一类新型罪犯：偷盗“幸运”树的窃贼。
布鲁克斯要保护的这个树种是罗汉松，中国人认为它能够招财进宝，带来好运。来自中国大陆的走私分子经常在夜晚潜入香港的森林盗窃这种长青树。他们把罗汉松连根挖出，然后把树叶及枝条都砍掉以便携带，再把它们堆入船中。
现年39岁的布鲁克斯把这些窃贼称为“社会渣滓”。
罗汉松在中国一直倍受推崇。据香港的植物学家称，罗汉松开阔的叶片让阳光直接透过来，驱走阴邪，使它具有珍贵的风水价值。很多人认为罗汉松肉质饱满、颜色鲜红的种子与佛门弟子有几分相似。还有一个广为流传的谚语“家有罗汉松，不怕一世穷”。
到目前为止，大多数中国人还无力承担购买罗汉松等装饰性树木的费用，当然也无法验证这条谚语。那些少数有此类树木的人也只是购买盆栽式、可以修剪成盆景的小株罗汉松。但是随着中国经济迅速发展，中产阶层商人想为自己购买罗汉松，特别是那些野生的成年罗汉松更是因其盘枝错结的复杂造型赢得人们的青睐。
香港警方称，一棵野生罗汉松的价值高达数千美元。不过，中国大陆南方的树贩子说他们对野生罗汉松的售价达数万美元。
中国飞速发展的经济──以及罗汉松能够带来好运的美誉──却给罗汉松带来了霉运。学者及环境保护人士预计，如果树木走私继续以现在的速度发展下去，香港公园内的罗汉松将在50年内消失殆尽。而罗汉松每10年才结一次种子。
香港大学地理系主任、树类专家詹志勇(C.Y. Jim)说：“我从未见过有人这样对待一棵有生命的树。”
外界对罗汉松的狂热令卖家喜忧参半：当销量增加时，厚颜无耻的偷盗行为也在增加。最近，一伙持刀窃贼闯入了位于中国南方城市潮州翁永全（音）的苗圃内，他们杀死了翁永全的护园狗，并偷走了一些罗汉松。现在翁永全每天晚上都睡在苗圃内，防止窃贼再次行动。
尽管这种生长缓慢的树种在中国及亚洲其他国家都能够找到，但是它在香港树木林立的海岸上最容易获得，而这里和中国大陆仅一水之隔。这些窃贼将他们的“战利品”运往黑市，最后这些树会被卖到广州等南方城市。香港监管机构表示，购买这些长青树的顾客既有大陆的商人，也有到大陆进行短期购物旅行的香港人。
罗汉松窃贼和布鲁克斯之间展开了一场“猫鼠游戏”。布鲁克斯带领巡逻队在香港泥 的山间巡逻。今年到目前为止，巡警已缴获了292棵树，逮捕了77名窃贼。
布鲁克斯最近在一次巡逻时说，“这就像是大海捞针。”他身穿迷彩服，带着宽边太阳镜。他和其他五名巡逻人员不畏蚊虫叮咬及炎炎烈日在浓密的灌木林及湿滑的巨石上穿行，仔细检查河岸边是否有被偷树木遗留下的光秃秃的根。
即使巡逻队发现窃贼，要抓住他们也很难。在最近的一次追捕行动中，警察动用直升机将120多名配有夜视眼镜的警察送往目的地。凌晨3点左右，警察发射信号弹开始行动。据布鲁克斯讲述，六个惊恐的年轻人扔下手中的树木，消失在灌木丛中。他还说，走投无路的窃贼经常跳过悬崖以逃避抓捕。
尽管这些窃贼更倾向于去香港周边的公园行窃，但他们也曾挖走香港富人家后院里昂贵的罗汉松。现在，一些香港居民晚上都把盆栽罗汉松搬至屋内。
香港高级助理刑事检控专员Stanley Chan说，偷窃罗汉松的窃贼可被判处两年半的刑期。但问题是：刑事检控人员必须证明这些松树出自香港。据香港警方，今年有32名嫌疑人员逃脱了制裁，并被遣送回大陆。Stanley Chan说，很多嫌疑人声称他们偷盗的松树出自大陆。沮丧的检控人员正在考虑是否对遗留在树根上的泥土进行成本高昂的DNA检验。
去年3月，香港检控人员在香港高等法庭(Hong Kong's High Court)审理的一个案件中败诉。涉案的七名走私人员乘坐两艘船，船内装满了罗汉松，被捕时他们正准备离开香港前往大陆。根据法庭的文件，一名嫌疑人称，他只是出来进行休闲度假，他也不知道26棵树怎么会跑到他的船上。
被偷的罗汉松一般会被运往广州岭南花卉市场等这样24小时营业的批发集散地。20年前就开始开店卖树的李小平（音）说，在春季罗汉松种植的高峰期，他每10天能卖出一大车苗圃种植的罗汉松，每车的收入约为750美元──在中国这算是发了一笔小财了。
李小平也会应客户的要求购买走私入境的野生罗汉松。他拒绝透露他的货源。“这就是做生意，”他说。“只要有人要，我们就必须弄到它。”
似乎没有人知道关于运气的那个谚语从何而来。罗汉松通常不会生病，香港大学教授詹志勇推测说：“如果树很健康，那么它的主人或许也会健康。如果主人健康，他们就能出去赚钱。”广州的一些商人说，消费者自己编了这个谚语，好让自己在花很多钱购买罗汉松之后感觉舒服一些。
Kee Pui-yi和她的罗汉松到目前为止还没有碰到好运气。在一年前的罗汉松热潮中，她花12美元买了一株盆栽小罗汉松。尽管得到了她的精心照料，这棵小松树半年后却死去了。她又买了第二株，摆放在客厅窗户的旁边，现在也快死了。她说，她准备很快再去买第三株。她说，“我真的希望能有好运。”
香港立法会委员蔡素玉(Choy So-yuk)的日子也好不了多少。蔡素玉的朋友送给她一小株野生罗汉松。尽管她悉心照料，她注意到松树并没有给她带来什么好运。之后，当她向香港环保部门申请将这松树注册为野生罗汉松时，她发现这棵罗汉松根本就不是野生的，而是在苗圃中栽培长大的。
Wendy Lee
