State of Chinese Giant Salamanders?

Does anyone know the current state of Giant Salamanders in China and whether programs to breed them are successful on a large scale? I know much advances and successes has been made with the Japanese species but not much about the Chinese one.

I can't directly answer your question without digging for references, but I can tell you that they are a pest in Japan, where they are introduced and spreading within habitats of Japanese giants.

FrogEyes said:

I can't directly answer your question without digging for references, but I can tell you that they are a pest in Japan, where they are introduced and spreading within habitats of Japanese giants.

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Here is a link to a news article talking invasive Chinese Giant Salamanders in Japan:
Chinese giant salamanders threatening native species | The Japan Times Online

I actually just got back from the MO Herp conference and the state herpetologist spent a few weeks in China and Japan touring their breeding facilities in hopes to help breed Hellbenders in MO. The chinese do not really know what the natural range of their salamanders is, nor how many are left in the wild. They breed hundreds in captivity and sell them for food, etc.. They are not really trying to reintroduce them to the wild. The breeding is successful though. The japanese know the wild populations and have pit tagged every individual. They are starting to have breeding success and are committed to helping wild populations. Unfortunately the biggest problem is the streams that have been dammed- the scientists literally do not have enough money to build rock walkways through the dams that the salamanders can climb over. That is the only thing left to do it seemed to me, help them transverse the dams. I was really impressed with how the state herpetologist described Japan's efforts.