Background

The “Vanishing Firefly Park” is a wild area I discovered during my field research on fireflies. This land hosts multiple species of fireflies, but when I saw the highway construction project across the way, I investigated further and found out that this area would soon be bulldozed. It was precisely at this moment that I witnessed a sky filled with the glow of Mimopyronota and the rare female Lygophilia fireflies.

I wasn’t sure if someone as small as me could save this patch of green (since I had faced too many major projects before where my efforts were insufficient to halt them), but I hoped that before they disappeared, more people could see them, remember them, and know that they had once made their home here and danced in the night.

With this hope, I initiated the “Vanishing Firefly Park” project. I camped on-site and conducted intensive surveys, documenting and discovering 10 different species of fireflies in just over a month. In the following month, based on the findings about the local firefly population, I led volunteers in designing, creating, and setting up educational displays, signs, and markers about fireflies.（I have to vent about that sweltering June heat in Guangzhou. The scorching sun felt like it could roast you alive, and then, out of nowhere, a sudden downpour would strike. While setting up educational display boards, I was fiercely attacked by red fire ants, but fortunately, I’m not allergic. Often, mosquitoes would surround me, dancing in dizzying swirls.）

Of course, there were also moments of sheer frustration. During the installation, some display boards couldn’t be erected in time, so I hid them in the nearby bushes. To my dismay, a significant number of them were stolen.

Finally, the “Vanishing Firefly Park” officially opened on July 14, 2023, at 7:30 PM.

After that, this firefly field became well known. Based on the solid investigation of firefly species, other social organizations and people also began to join our appeal and protection work…

Until Now，The Field we called it the Vanishing Firefly Park has been kept.