Brides at the Glowworm Marriage Campaign in Shenzhen,Guangdong Province Photo: Courtesy of Pingxi

'We wanted it to be absurd'

"It is better to marry a glowworm rather than a man," Qing and eight brides said in their vows during a group wedding ceremony held in mid-November in Shenzhen, Guangdong Province. While these vows may not make sense out of context, they make perfect sense when you learn that the "partner" to which they were making a commitment to real life glowworms. 

The nine "brides" did not just include women, but also straight men and members of the transgender community. They were brought together by their love for the glowworms that were once seen throughout the city during the 1990s, but have now quietly disappeared due to urban and industrial development taking a priority over habitat restoration. 

"The existence of glowworms in a city is also an environment indicator, things like water and light pollution are fatal to them. As more city parks were built, their habitats were changed to suit people and their own needs were clearly ignored," Pingxi, the leader of the Glowworm Marriage Campaign, told the Global Times.    

Arriving wearing white gowns - including the men - and leaving with a "marriage certificate," the wedding was part of an art project launched by four art enthusiasts who believe the marriage ceremony's absurd nature will help grab the attention of the public, and get them to care more for the disappearing creature. 

"Yes, what we did is absurd - we wanted it to be absurd - but it was also as real and formal as it could be. This is our way to inspire more people to pay attention to glowworms, and then maybe inform related city authorities to notice it is an issue," Pingxi, who has also married a glowworm, shared her experience with the Global Times reporter Li Yuche.  

"I think city authorities gave tacit consent to our event, because it was quite a show in a public venue but there were zero questions from urban management officers. They just waited. Probably to watch where things were going, I think," added Pingxi.

Serious relationship 

Before the marriage project, the four had carried out other related campaigns. They built a "glowworm park" inside the Dasha river public park in Shenzhen. While the park is another performance art project, the group has been providing visitors with tours five days a week after dark since early November. 

Like Pingxi, the tour guides are keen environmentalists. They introduce knowledge about glowworms to visitors, attempting to paint a picture of what the park would look like if the glowworms still lived there. 

Pingxi said that the "park" is their attempt to move people with a painful truth by creating a false scene that tries to replicate a lost reality.  

The tours have gotten off to a good start, with visitor numbers reaching more than 300 a month. 

"Our ultimate goal is to push for an actual habitat for glowworms to be established in the city," Pingxi explained.  

Pingxi and her team has not limited themselves to art projects aimed at raising awareness, they have also established relationships with glowworm researchers in Southwest China's Yunnan Province, and geared up for a survey investigation into the current situation of glowworms in Shenzhen. 

The team aims to pitch the survey, along with a glowworm habitat restoration proposal that has signed by tens of thousands of people to city authorities such as the Planning and Natural Resource Bureau of Shenzhen. 

"The project has just begun," said Pingxi.   

A third party 

The art group noted that they have been inspired to continue their efforts to promote the habitat restoration of glowworm by the hugely improved environmental situation in Shenzhen.

Since 2016, Shenzhen has invested into saving polluted rivers such as the Dasha River. By the end of 2019, more than 1,400 small "black waters" in the city had been cleaned. 

In 2021, Shenzhen, a city in the Guangdong-Hongkong-Macao Greater Bay Area, also introduced a special plan (2021-35) to combat light pollution by establishing "dark night protection demonstration areas." 

Earlier in December, The National Forestry and Grassland Administration published a notice on its official website to solicit the public's opinions concerning a new catalogue of wild animals based on a species' ecological, scientific and social significance. Easily making the grade for these "three values," glowworms were added to the list. 

"It's okay if we are seen by some people as a joke. I will have no regrets if we fail because we are at least trying to make it happen," said Pingxi.