Elephants and man in a Land of Rubber.docVIP

Elephants and man in a Land of Rubber 　　a primary school in Mansahao Village in Xishuangbanna （西双版纳）， Yunnan Province is a whirlwind of activity； the school is moving to the town of Mengyang （勐养） three kilometers away. The principle， Bai Yufang， beams with joy as she tends to the arrangements. Not only are they getting better classrooms， but they are also getting away from the fear and fatigue brought on by wild Asian elephants. The school consists of a basketball court， a dormitory and two rows of ground floor houses that function as classrooms and offices. The campus has no walls and is surrounded by corn and banana fields. Last October， elephants hit the village for the first time in 10 years， walking right into the campus and strolling around the dormitory to get to the corn field. 　　In recent years， wild elephants have hurt and even killed people in other areas in Yunnan. Exhausted teachers had to stay up all night taking shifts to keep a large bonfire burning to keep the mammalian giants at bay， often with the help of the police and other villagers. Iron wire surrounds the bushes near the campus to fend them off， but they are useless in deterring the second largest terrestrial animal in the world， an animal hell-bent on the village’s entire crop. “Now that we are moving， the teachers can finally sleep at night，” Bai Yufang says， tired but smiling. 　　Yunnan is the only Chinese province where the Asian elephant still exists， home to around 250 Asian elephants， and Mansahao Village is located in the heart of one of the largest reservations， Mengyang. Three kilometers north of Mansahao is the famous tourist spot Wild Elephant Valley （野象谷 Y0xi3ng G^）， which Mengyang is known for. There a dozen domesticated elephants there trained for circus work. While tourists flock to Wild Elephant Valley to watch the show and get photos while riding the great behemoths， they are often unaware that， just a few kilometers away， the wild elephants are captive in a different