They were searching for the birthing grounds of a rare and endangered Tibetan antelope called the chiru.

NPR: Chang Tang's Endangered Antelope

He indulged in one or two, handing a letter to Tony Blair, on a visit to China in 1998, to petition him to help save the Tibetan antelope, or bringing in secret cameras to record illegal logging in Sichuan.

ECONOMIST: Liang Congjie

The Tibetan antelope, hunted almost to extinction for the fineness of its fur, remained his favourite cause, and he went to the icy plateau to burn sequestered skins himself though, to his sorrow, he could not stop the disbanding of the heroic anti-poaching brigade and the transfer of patrols to corruptible local officials.

ECONOMIST: Liang Congjie