China’s cutest cultural ambassadors are heading back. Three pandas — Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and Xiao Qi Ji — left for China on November 8, saying goodbye to their former home at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington DC. Their departure, along with those at other American zoos, looks set to leave the U.S. panda-free for the first time since rapprochement with China began in 1972, unless warming ties between the two countries continue.
This week, The Wire looks at China’s history of using pandas to conduct diplomacy with other countries and analyzes the message the Chinese government is trying to send by bringing the adorable animals home.
PANDA DIPLOMACY
The earliest example of panda diplomacy in modern Chinese history occurred during World War II, when Republic of China leader Chiang Kai-shek’s wife arranged for two bears to be gifted to the Bronx Zoo in New York as a thank-you for American support during the Japanese invasion. After 1949, the People’s Republic of China continued sending pandas as gifts, with 18 countries now hosting a furry ambassador.
“As China is building a relationship with a country and wants to demonstrate the people-to-people goodwill aspect of the relationship, they do this,” says Dennis Wilder, senior fellow at the Initiative for US-China Dialogue on Global Issues at Georgetown University. “It’s not quite so transactional as to tie it to trade agreements or even leader visits. It’s far more part of a warming relationship between two countries.”
The U.S. has continuously hosted pandas since 1972, when President Richard Nixon made his famous visit to China to begin the process of normalizing relations between the two countries. In celebration of Nixon’s visit, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai told the president’s wife — former first lady Pat Nixon, who had shared her affection for the animals — that China would give the U.S. two pandas.
Then First Lady Patricia Nixon attends a welcome ceremony for giant pandas Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, April 20, 1972. Credit: The Richard Nixon Presidential Library and Museum
Click here for more rare photos and unique details from Nixon’s landmark visit to China.
“The Chinese have very cleverly understood that this is a way into the hearts of American children,” says Wilder. “If you talk to the Smithsonian and others about the incredible popularity of the pandas, I don’t see how you can say this isn’t a very effective soft power tool.”
The gifting practice was gradually replaced by a loan agreement system in the 1980s and 1990s as China’s panda population declined. Receiving organizations began paying annual fees of between $500,000 to $1 million to host the pandas, with most of the proceeds going towards giant panda conservation efforts in China. For example, the Smithsonian Institution’s agreement with the China Wildlife Conservation Association specifies that 70 percent of its $500,000 fee should go towards conservation work.
In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature changed the giant panda’s conservation status from “endangered” to “vulnerable,” pointing to a 17 percent rise in the population in the decade to 2014. Inducing pandas to give birth in captivity remains difficult due to their extremely short fertility window, and some zoos have been unsuccessful in breeding cubs. Those zoos that do are normally required to arrange for their return to China after several years.
In 2022, after several years of heightened tensions between the U.S. and China, Chinese netizens reacted strongly to photos of the female giant panda Ya Ya, who had lived in Memphis Zoo since 2003. Photos showed her with patchy fur, giving rise to allegations that she was malnourished. Memphis Zoo was forced to clarify that Ya Ya’s chronic skin and fur condition was unrelated to her nutrition. The Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens also concluded after a review that Memphis Zoo had provided high-quality care to their pandas.
Ya Ya returned to China in April 2023 after the expiry of Memphis Zoo’s loan agreement, while the National Zoo’s pandas returned in November. Zoo Atlanta also hosts four pandas — twin cubs and their parents — and its loan agreement is set to expire in 2024.
“The pullout is likely a calculated measure from the PRC to signal, maybe in not-very-subtle terms, that we’re not very happy with what you’re doing over the years and how you’re treating us,” says Chee Meng Tan, assistant professor of business economics at the University of Nottingham Malaysia.
There are currently around 60 giant pandas outside China dotted across 18 countries, according to the Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the UK, the two giant pandas hosted by Edinburgh Zoo returned to China earlier this month, while in Australia, the two pandas staying at Adelaide Zoo will return in 2024 if the zoo’s loan agreement is not extended.
One of Adelaide Zoo’s two giant pandas, Wang Wang, enjoys a bubble bath and a Christmas-themed enrichment gift. Credit: Adelaide Zoo via FaceBook
Xi Jinping’s visit to San Francisco in November might signal a new beginning for panda loan programs in the U.S., as the Chinese president hinted that he was ready to send new pandas to American zoos.
Although precise details were not revealed during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, a return of China’s most adorable diplomats would be another sign that relations between the world’s two most powerful countries are stabilizing.
Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and Xiao Qi Ji depart from the Smithsonian’s National Zoo, via FedEx, November 8, 2023. Video courtesy of FedEx.
Aaron Mc Nicholas is a staff writer at The Wire based in Washington DC. He was previously based in Hong Kong, where he worked at Bloomberg and at Storyful, a news agency dedicated to verifying newsworthy social media content. He earned a Master of Arts in Asian Studies at Georgetown University and a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism from Dublin City University in Ireland.
