Two days ago, police arrested two Mainlanders for felling some "Heung" (fragrant) trees. That's how Hong Kong's name as fragrant harbour came about, see the RTHK Chinese bulletin below [Google-translated from Chinese and edited for readability]:

Lamma Island, two Mainland men were arrested attempting to cut down trees in Hong Kong - 2011-05-24 HKT 22:58

Two Mainland men were found in an attempt to cut down Hong trees and arrested on Lamma Island.
Police officers intercepted a 27- and a 30-year-old man from the Mainland last night near Mo Tat Wan, on Ling Kok Shan, and seized a cutting tool. The two were arrested under suspicion of attempted theft and were detained.

Police said earlier this month that - also in the waters around Lamma Island - Seven people were arrested, suspected of illegal logging of incense trees on the islands. They seized 43.5 kg of "white wood tree", worth more than $4 million.<HR>
Wow, $100,000 per kg! That's quite a hard-to-resist temptation! Could this figure be correct or just the usual media exaggeration?

Can somebody borrow me a "cutting tool" and post a picture of what a "Heung" tree actually looks like?

If these trees are so incredibly valuable, why aren't they grown for profit like Christmas tree farms?

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

This story above got me calculating....

Gold price today is slightly over HK$382,000 per kg.
The Heung tree wood price quoted above is $4 million for 43.5kg = $92,000/kg

This means that this wood is priced at about a quarter of the price of gold!
Cut down a few branches of the right tree on a Lamma hill and sell it for a quarter of the price of gold!

Recipe to become an instant multi-millionaire:
Make a single boat trip to Lamma
grab the right type of wood, just as much as you can carry to your boat
return and sell it for millions of dollars
retire!
If you get caught by the police - pretty unlikely - pay the small fine and repeat.

Why are we not flooded by flotillas of boats from the mainland and from all over HK invading our golden forests?

I'm going on another hike atop Ling Kok Shan soon anyway, researching the Sewage Treatment Plant in Sok Kwu Wan. Could anybody point me in the right direction so I won't get the wrong tree, please?
I really love trees, but if they're worth a quarter of their weight in gold, who can resist that kind of temptation!

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

_________________
Click here for Lamma-zine stories and recent Lamma Spotlights of the Week:
Photo, Video, Person, Wildlife, Bird, Artwork.

Can somebody borrow me a "cutting tool" and post a picture of what a "Heung" tree actually looks like?

If these trees are so incredibly valuable, why aren't they grown for profit like Christmas tree farms?[/quote]

>>> Perhaps an entreprenuring Lammanite might do that. Seeing how Hong Kong is creative with bling. Poor Peabody on Back to the Future, had he waited a few years as Hill Valley expanded with suburbian Christmasness, he would have made a fortune. In Suburbian Calgary. Sure.

I'm going on another hike atop Ling Kok Shan soon anyway, researching the Sewage Treatment Plant in Sok Kwu Wan. Could anybody point me in the right direction so I won't get the wrong tree, please?
I really love trees, but if they're worth a quarter of their weight in gold, who can resist that kind of temptation! [/quote]

>>> resist the lure of the Dark side, Jedi Master. But on a serious note, how big are these trees, Like did these guys have a ship anchored? how did they think of getting the tree from the cut site, to a ship, without arrousing suspicion? Like there are so many tourists, and health enthuiastics that go . Did they try to just park the ship in some cove, and hope that we don't notice them in some thick folage? lol.