China’s ban on ivory trading and processing has been hailed as a monumental step on the path to saving elephants from extinction¹. But if China does not simultaneously² tackle its much larger illegal trade in ivory the ban could perversely³ make it more lucrative⁴ for the poaching gangs who massacre⁵ Africa’s elephants and ship their tusks⁶ to Asia.

中国已经禁止象牙贸易和加工，在拯救大象灭绝的道路上迈出了令人鼓舞的一步。但如果中国不能同时彻底解决更大规模的象牙黑市交易的话，反而会让那些疯狂屠杀非洲象并将其运至亚洲的偷猎团伙变得更加有利可图.

The number of legal businesses being shut down is relatively⁷ small. The plan announced on 30 December by China’s central government will close “a portion” (the Guardian⁸ understands it will be roughly half) of its 34 licensed⁹ carving¹⁰ factories and 130 retailers¹¹ before the end of March 2017. The rest will be forced shut by the end of the year

被关闭的合法企业数量相对较少。中国中央政府在12月30号宣布了一项计划，将再017年3月前关闭34家注册的雕刻厂和130家零售商中的“一部分”（本报解读是将近一半），剩余的将在年底强制关停。

Ivory in those factories and retailers is not supposed to come from poached elephants – although some contraband¹² is known to infiltrate¹³ the legal market. Instead legal ivory carvers are supplied by government-controlled stockpiles that mostly built up before an international trade ban was implemented¹⁴ in 1989. So the shut down will not directly stop elephants from being killed.

尽管有些走私象牙进入了合法市场，这些雕刻厂和零售商的象牙不应来自偷猎的大象。合法象牙雕刻商的象牙是由政府控制的储备提供的，这些储备是在1989年国际贸易禁令实施前积累的。因此部分工厂的关闭将不会让大象遭捕杀的现象得到直接改观。

The major ivory market in China is black and it has been estimated that 90% of all ivory pieces sold in China are illegal. (The percentage is less by weight because legal pieces tend to be larger and more ornate.)

中国主要的象牙市场是黑市，据估计，中国90%象牙片都属于非法销售。（按重量算，非法销售的象牙片少于上述百分比，因为合法的产品往往更大更华丽。）