It is mostly legal, but harvesting a shark's fins is a gruesome business. Fishermen often cut off the fins while still at sea and throw the sharks back into the water, where they bleed to death.
The fins are then dried and sold to Chinese restaurants, where they are made into shark fin soup.
China is at the centre of this trade, but a new campaign hopes to persuade its citizens to stop buying the soup.
It is being run by the international animal rights organisation WildAid, which has enlisted the support of China's most famous sportsman, Yao Ming.
"When the buying stops, the killing can too," says Yao, a recently retired basketball player, in a video to support the campaign.
WildAid is not the only organisation in China trying to persuade people to stop eating shark fin soup.
The Jane Goodall Institute has had an exhibition of gory photographs at Beijing Zoo, next to the tropical bird house.
It showed sharks swimming majestically through the water alongside graphic pictures of fishermen cutting off their fins.
The aim was to remind people of the cost paid by sharks for a bowl of soup, which can sell for $100 (£64) each. Read More
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