Chinese authorities displayed a pile of ornaments, carvings and tusks before pulverizing them with crushing machines.

　　Forestry officials organized the destruction, which they said was the country's first such large-scale public event.

　　Wang Weisheng, Director of Division of Wildlife Conservation and Management at the State Forestry Administration, says China is taking the illegal ivory trade seriously.

　　"We have to continue to foster international cooperation. We also urge the related countries to work harder to combat poaching and smuggling in the international community."

　　Demand is fuelled by rapid growth of the world's second largest economy, which has created a vast middle class with the spending power to buy ivory carvings.

　　Ivory can command up to 2-thousand US dollars per kilogram on the black market, earning it the nickname "white gold."

　　John Scanlon is the Secretary General of　Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

　　"So we see the ivory crush is providing an opportunity for China, together with the international community, to show solidarity in their efforts to bring to an end this illicit trade in elephant ivory, which is decimating African elephant populations but it's also having a very negative effect on local people and their livelihoods on the African continent."

　　Latest figures released by Scanlon's organization show an estimated 22,000 elephants were killed in 2012.

　　Chinese laws stipulate that anyone involved in illegal trade in elephant ivory could be sentenced to life imprisonment.