Stage set for recovery of green peacock

Little did Xi Zhinong, the founder of Wild China Film, a private organization dedicated to documentation and protection of China's endangered wildlife, realize that the photos he took of the green peacock in Yunnan province 20 years ago were actually images of an endangered species and that soon they would face an unprecedented survival crisis.

Today, the green peacock is, officially, an endangered species. According to a survey by the Kunming Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, their population is estimated to be less than 500, and it has now become one of China's most endangered wildlife species, even rarer than the giant panda.

In an attempt to raise awareness, and foster a deeper understanding of the green peacock, Wild China Film teamed up with college students in Beijing to present a stage play at Star Theaters on Tuesday. The play, not surprisingly, is themed on the peacock.