Action Alert by ACTAsia

Thousands more bears will end up being tortured, living out miserable lives in inhumane conditions on bear bile farms, if Gui Zhen Tang, China’s largest bear bile ‘medicine’ company, becomes a publicly listed company.

Despite protests from many organisations last year (including ACTAsia), it is one of the companies mentioned in the China Securities Regulatory Commission’s (CSRC) 2012 Initial Public Offerings list. Right now it is halfway through the process of becoming listed, and if this goes through, its shares can be publicly traded.

With the increased funding the company plans to expand the number of bears abused on their bear bile farms from 400 to 1,200.

Over 90,000 people in China have signed a protest to stop Gui Zhen Tang from being listed, and one organisation, Don’t Eat Friends, protested outside a Gui Zhen Tang shop in Beijing.

The backlash against this company from Chinese within the country is an extremely positive development, showing that more and more Chinese are willing to take a stand against animal abuse in their country.

Please add your voice to these protesters to stop this company from being listed.

Write to the CSRC at gzly@csrc.gov.cn and (politely) ask them not to proceed with a public listing for Gui Zhen Tang on the grounds of animal abuse, including the way they are bred, kept and tortured every day for their bile.

Sample letter:

To the director of

China Securities Regulatory Commission

Following the protests last year by many thousands of compassionate and caring Chinese citizens, I was shocked to hear that you are in the process of allowing Gui Zhen Tang to be listed on the stock exchange, making it possible for their cruelty and abuse to go public, and increasing this abuse even more, as they plan to use the funds to expand their bear bile farming business.

There is no way of humanely getting bile from living bears. They suffer tremendously during the process of extracting bile. Holes are cut into their abdomens, all the way into their gall bladders. On top of this extreme cruelty, the wounds are left open to make it easier to continue taking bile from them. The bears are therefore subjected to even more suffering from infections. They are kept in small cages their entire lives, with no opportunity to even move around – they are literally tortured mentally and physically until they die.

Support for such a cruel industry will tarnish China’s international reputation. Traditional Chinese Medicine does not need bear bile. There are humane alternatives available, and it is sad that any company would choose to profit from cruelty instead.

Thousands of Chinese citizens are against this cruelty, and it must be obvious that opinion within your country is strongly against allowing Gui Zhen Tang to go public with their abuse.

I would like to add my voice to those of your citizens and ask you to remove Gui Zhen Tang from your list of companies planning to go public.

Best regards

[add your name and country]