Nestling in the back of a curving bay in remote Huidong county, Guangdong, is a collection of tiny plots with numbered headstones, resembling a miniature graveyard. They are, in fact, the birthplaces of one of China's most endangered reptiles: the green turtle.
Here, hundreds of eggs like table-tennis balls are buried half a metre deep in the cool sand, laid by a turtle that lugged itself up the beach to dig a natural incubator for her offspring. Her task performed, she returned to the safety of the sea, leaving the next generation to fend for itself.
But mainland midwives have stepped into the breach, in the form of wardens from Gangkou National Turtle Reserve.
A thriving fishing port 180 kilometres from the Hong Kong border, Gangkou is a world away from Shenzhen's gleaming skyscrapers. Fishing boats jostle alongside the muddy wharf, eager to unload their glistening catches. A trading hub and natural harbour for the 25,000 people of the surrounding paddy fields and coastal waters, it seems just like any other bustling market town in rural Guangdong. But beyond a forested ridge, hidden from the bustling town, lies its best-kept secret.
Above the swath of sand and surf, eight wardens take turns to keep a round-the-clock watch at a ramshackle outbuilding over Turtle Beach, the only protected zone for the endangered species in China. Thirty years ago, turtles returned to 20 beaches along the coast of southern China. Today only three beaches are known turtle-nesting sites: one on Hainan Island and two at Gangkou.
On a peninsula bordering Daya Bay - the deep inlet northeast of Mirs Bay - Gangkou's turtle reserve runs almost parallel with the nuclear power plant on the opposite side. It was here in 1984 that local authorities designated Turtle Beach a reserve. Last April the State Oceanic Administration accorded the area national status, making it one of 15 such coastal reserves in China.
Green turtles, which are found throughout the Indian and Pacific oceans, are listed by the International Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species and protected under mainland law.