A Couple of Dogs Running and Barking Madly

    I wonder why Nature has gifted primates, insects and birds with such an array of beautiful colors.
 The golden monkeys in China can be categorized into three kinds: the Sichuan Golden Monkeys, the Guizhou Golden Monkeys, and the Yunnan Golden Monkeys. Allthree are endemic to China and under the first degree protection across the country.
    The Sichuan Golden Monkeys have gleaming golden fur, the Guizhou Golden Monkeys glittering silver fur, and the Yunnan Golden Monkeys black and white fur in sharp contrast.
     Their faces have a mixture of five colors: blue, red, yellow, purple, and orange. What is peculiar about their appearance is that they have two upward nostrils but no nose point. Their lips are all fleshy and thick, especially those of the Yunnan golden monkeys.
The beauty of the Sichuan golden monkey once amazed Professor Edward from France, who was making an appraisal of it, and thus it was named the Roxellana Monkey.
    Who is Roxellana then? She is actually the beautiful wife of the Commander of Crusades in the 11th century. The golden monkey reminded Professor Edward of this beauty with a lovely retrousse nose.
    The history of the golden monkey involved an important person named Armand, a French Catholic missionary who was visiting Baoxing County in Sichuan Province. He took two giant pandas and five golden monkeys in May 1869 back to his homeland, which stunned the Western zoologists. By doing so, he made the two species known worldwide.
    Of course, it was the Sichuan golden monkey that had first drawn the world’s attention.
    Professor Hu Jinchu and I once, after walking for about 10 miles through Dengchi Groove in Baoxing County, visited the deep mountain Catholic Church where David once stayed.
    The first living thing I met with was a Sichuan golden monkey.
    In the beginning of November 1981, I was doing an on-the-spot research with Professor Hu at the May First Alpine Campsite in Wolong, Sichuan.
    One day, when we were on the way to visit a panda called Zhenzhen and her less than one month old cub, we found broken branches everywhere, and there was juice seeping out of the fallen leaves. It was cloudy and the whole forest was shrouded in mist. I wondered who could have damaged these trees, and Professor Hu said that it was the masterpiece of the golden monkeys. They were fond of usnea, the tender leaves and buds, and sometimes they would nibble at the bark.
    “You see, these are torn down by them. As hunters would say, ‘Drop the branches only to leave the traces.’”
    That was the second time I had ever been to the campsite, but I wasn’t lucky enough to see a golden monkey. To be frank, I was extremely eager to catch the sight of one.