History of the Charity

One of the founding directors of China Tiger Revival, Ms. Li Quan, a Beijing native now residing in London, was inspired by what she experienced while visiting the South Luangwa National Park in 1998. She was impressed with the sustainable wildlife conservation model she witnessed and travelled to other wildlife reserves in Africa subsequently to learn more about them. She decided to make contact with the Chinese government’s conservation authority-the State Forestry Administration which led to the world’s first joint-initiative to save the South China Tigers when she launched the first of several charities around the world in the Chinese embassy in London in 2000.

She persuaded the Chinese government to allow her to take a few of the last remaining zoo-born South China Tigers to South Africa to experiment with rewilding and breeding in order to prepare their return back to China’s natural environment. Under her tireless leadership, 11 tigers were born and 14 were rewilded and ready to be returned to China’s natural environment. Her successful experiment has now been accepted as a viable model to supplement wild tiger populations in many other tiger range countries.

To avoid confusion, Ms. Quan is no longer affiliated with Save China's Tigers (UK), a U.K. registered charity and China Tiger Revival is not a successor to or otherwise affiliated with Save China's Tigers (UK).