Credit: Smithsonian’s National Zoo
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Mei Xiang and Tian Tian came to the Washington Zoo in 2000 on an initial tenyear loan, which was extended more than once
Item information
- Author: Alessandra Corrêa
- Roll, from Washington to BBC News Brasil
October 4, 2023
At a dinner in Beijing during then American President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China in February 1972, Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai gave the United States two giant pandas.
The weeklong trip, during which Nixon met Chinese leader Mao Zedong, came after more than 20 years of extremely limited relations between the American government and the People’s Republic of China, which was founded in 1949 when the Communist Party took power.
According to reports, American First Lady Pat Nixon sat next to Zhou Enlai at one of the official events.
Pat Nixon made a comment about the “cuteness” of pandas he saw on a trip to the Beijing Zoo. In response, the Prime Minister promised to send a couple to Washington as a gift.
A few months later, in April of the same year, male HsingHsing and female LingLing, presented by the White House as a “gift from the people of the People’s Republic of China to the people of the United States,” were welcomed with a grand party in the American capital .
At the time, socalled “panda diplomacy,” China’s strategy of giving bears to other countries to deepen relations, was already hundreds of years old.
The American government itself had received a pair of puppies decades earlier, in 1941, as a thank you for supporting the Japanese invasion during the Second SinoJapanese War.
But HsingHsing and LingLing were the first pandas that Communist China gave to the United States, at a time that marked a new phase in relations between the two countries after decades of tension and isolation.
The Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington won a competition between institutions across the country and was chosen as the animals’ new home.
In the more than 50 years since, the zoo’s many pandas have been not only the star attraction but also a symbol of relations between the United States and China.
Now, however, the American capital is preparing to say goodbye to its current panda family: the female Mei Xiang, 25 years old, and the male Tian Tian, 26 years old, who arrived in Washington in 2000, and the boy Xiao Qi Threeyearold Ji, who was born at the zoo during the pandemic and whose name means “little miracle.”
Unlike the original pair, the current pandas were not a gift, but are on loan to the zoo from China, part of a research, conservation and breeding partnership that has been regularly renewed.
However, this time there was no extension and the Bears have until December 7th to return to China.
The same thing is happening in other cities and countries whose loans have not been extended and which have recently been forced to return their bears or will have to do so in the coming months.
With the family’s departure from Washington, the only pandas remaining in the United States will be the four from the Atlanta Zoo in Georgia, whose contract expires at the end of next year.
Rising tension
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Zoo
caption,
The cub, Xiao Qi Ji (pictured with his mother, Mei Xiang), was born in 2020 during the pandemic
There is no official explanation as to why the loans were not extended, but the Pandas’ departure comes at a time of rising tensions between Washington and Beijing over a range of economic, trade, military and diplomatic issues.
“Panda diplomacy” and China have undergone profound changes in the half century since Nixon’s visit.
While the Chinese government tried a charm offensive in the 1970s and gave other countries bears “as a gesture of friendship and goodwill,” China is now a world power.
“In the early 1970s, China was an extremely isolated country. Not only isolated from the US, but also from the Soviet Union,” says Chinese political expert Mary Gallagher, a professor at the University of Michigan in the US. to BBC News Brazil. United.
“Panda diplomacy has been used very effectively to make China seem not only friendlier but also more familiar to people. To enable China to reenter global society, so to speak.”
However, according to Gallagher, this has changed and now “panda diplomacy” reflects China’s growing power.
“Pandas are no longer just a way to make China attractive, as the country has many other attractive things to offer. Instead, they are used as a tool of influence.”
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Zoo
caption,
HsingHsing and LingLing were the first pandas gifted to the United States by Communist China in 1972 after Richard Nixon’s historic visit to Beijing
national treasure
Giant pandas are considered a symbol of China and a national treasure.
Historical accounts suggest that the strategy of offering these animals to other governments to strengthen relations dates back at least to the 7th century, when the Tang Dynasty Chinese Empress Wu Zetian (624 to 705) brought a pair of bears to Japan sent.
The practice gained popularity after the Chinese Revolution. They originally went to countries such as North Korea and the Soviet Union, but from the 1970s onwards the range of recipients expanded to include capitalist governments such as the United States and the United Kingdom.
Over the years, “panda diplomacy” has helped China promote political and economic ties with dozens of governments, improve its image, and project “soft power,” the ability to influence other countries not through coercion but through others to influence cultural and diplomatic aspects.
Pandas have also often helped the country advance trade partnerships.
The rules have changed since the 1980s. Instead of giving the animals away, China began lending them out under rental agreements in which recipients pay up to $1 million (around 5 million reais) per year.
The Chinese government is eager to invest this money in protecting the animals on its territory and the bamboo forests they inhabit.
In this regard, in 2000, the Washington Zoo signed a cooperative agreement on giant panda research and reproduction with the China Wildlife Conservation Association to welcome Mei Xiang and Tian Tian.
LingLing died in 1992 and HsingHsing in late 1999. All of the couple’s cubs had also died within days of birth, and the zoo was in danger of running out of pandas, its main characters.
The contract stipulated that Mei Xiang and Tian Tian would initially stay for ten years, for which the zoo would have to pay US$10 million (around R$50 million).
The amount was raised through private donations and since then the agreement has been extended three times, most recently in 2020 when the deadline was extended to December this year.
Photo credit: Richard Nixon Presidential Library
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The then American First Lady Pat Nixon welcomed the pandas at a large party in the American capital
According to Chinese government regulations, any cub born abroad must be returned after a few years to participate in breeding programs, and Xiao Qi Ji’s departure was expected soon, but not her parents’.
Before him, Mei Xiang’s other three surviving boys had already returned to China: Tai Shan, born in 2005 and returned in 2010, Bao Bao, born in 2013 and returned in 2017, and Bei Bei, born in 2015 and returned in 2019.
The cost of keeping the pandas goes beyond the millions of dollars paid to China and includes everything from building special shelters to feeding them, which consists of several kilograms of bamboo per day.
In return, zoos gain the expectation of attracting more visitors and revenue.
Partnerships around the world are important for the conservation of giant pandas and their habitat, not only through the funds allocated to these efforts in China, but also through collaboration with scientists around the world.
After being listed as an endangered species for years, they left that list in 2016 but are still considered “vulnerable.”
It is estimated that there are just over 1,800 individuals in the wild in scattered populations in central China.
The Washington Zoo points out that its scientists have “worked with colleagues in China for 51 years to advance conservation efforts for giant pandas in captivity and in the wild,” and says the partnership with the Chinese “represented an unprecedented opportunity to study the behavior, “health, reproduction and ecology” of these animals.
Credit: Smithsonian’s National Zoo
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In late September, the Washington Zoo hosted “Panda Palooza,” a farewell party for pandas
Changes in relationships
In addition to Washington, three other American cities received loans of pandas from China. But these contracts also expire after decades of extension.
The first was that of the San Diego Zoo in California, which said goodbye to its pandas in 2019 after more than 20 years of partnership.
Recently, other countries also had to return their pandas to China after the loans expired without extension, including Japan and the Netherlands. Others, like the United Kingdom and Australia, will have to send their bears soon.
The end of these partnerships comes with a deterioration in relations between China and the United States and other Western countries and reflects changes in Chinese foreign policy.
The list of points of tension is long and includes, among other things, trade disputes and the imposition of tariffs, rivalries in the technology sector, territorial disputes in the South China Sea, espionage allegations and human rights abuses against the Uyghur population.
In addition, Washington is also concerned about the rapprochement between China and Russia amid the war in Ukraine.
Russia was one of the countries that recently welcomed pandas. A pair of bears were sent to Moscow Zoo in 2019 under a 15year contract.
Mary Gallagher of the University of Michigan recalls that the American government, under both President Joe Biden and his predecessor Donald Trump, “has made it very clear that it sees China as a major competitor and a threat to the power of the United States.” “United States.” .
“This is not only due to (China’s) economic position, but also military competition in places like the South China Sea, diplomatic competition for countries in the Pacific and Latin America,” he lists.
“China’s perspective is that the United States sees the rise of China as something that needs to be contained.”
Gallagher says the current moment marks something of a “qualitative shift” in bilateral relations. “In the sense that they no longer see a shared destiny.”
“It used to feel like there was a lot of interdependence, but it was mutually beneficial. For different reasons, both sides no longer believe this makes sense,” he states.
A recent symbol of deteriorating relations was the return of the panda Ya Ya, who had lived at the Memphis Zoo in Tennessee since 2003.
She was brought back in April this year after her contract expired and rumors of mistreatment spread on social media and were denied by both the zoo and the Chinese government.
Photo credit: Alessandra Corrêa
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Announcements about “Panda Palooza” spread throughout the American capital, where pandas have been the zoo’s star attraction for more than half a century
Since at least 2019, Ya Ya has been seen in photos and videos thin and missing hair, raising concerns among visitors and animal rights activists.
American veterinarians and experts sent from China assured that Ya Ya was wellgroomed and healthy and that her patchy coat was due to skin problems and hormonal changes.
But the dissatisfaction of many Chinese people continued and intensified after the sudden death of Panda Le Le, Ya Ya’s companion, in February this year from heart problems. An online campaign began in China demanding Ya Ya’s immediate return.
“Given the nationalism we’ve seen on social media (in China), it’s also possible that the pandas’ return is more about domestic politics,” notes Gallagher.
In Washington, the zoo held a farewell party for the pandas called “Panda Palooza.”
Over nine days in late September, visitors enjoyed a series of musical performances, films and special activities, as well as calligraphy demonstrations and themed treats offered in collaboration with the Chinese Embassy.
“Millions of people grew up with Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their cubs, visited us in Washington and looked at our panda camera,” says zoo director Brandie Smith, referring to the camera that broadcasts the animals’ movements and is accompanied by millions of fans .
“While this farewell is bittersweet, we must celebrate these bears and their impact on fans, as well as our understanding, care and protection of their species.”