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Nearly a hundred years ago, the Museum of Paris in France exhibited a special specimen, this specimen is black and white, vivid, some people say it is a bear, some people say it is a tiger, attracting countless visitors to stop and admire.
And when everyone looked at the information curiously, they realized that this was an animal called "panda", and they couldn't help but be surprised.
Even the well-informed high-class aristocrats had never heard of the existence of this animal, and the news spread ten or ten hundred, setting off a "panda boom".
The beginning of this series of events originated from a missionary named Armand David, whose indissoluble relationship with the panda was actually only due to a coincidence.
David who first heard about pandas
In the mid-nineteenth century, the dictatorship of the Qing government was incompetent, the great powers of various countries invaded the territory of the mainland, the already fragile government was once on the verge of collapse, and famine and poverty filled the lives of the people.
Against the backdrop of such times, groups of religious personnel set foot on the mainland.
They are a special group of beings, not only to serve the foreigners who are invading the mainland, but also to preach to the people of various regions.
But without exception, these foreigners were impressed by the continent's rich natural resources.
They recorded what they saw and heard here in various books, telling their compatriots on the other side of the coast about this "mysterious" continent.
And in the diary of a certain missionary, there is a story that reads: "When I was on my way back to church, the hunters in the valley invited me to my house for tea, and when I came to his house, I found an unfolded and very peculiar black and white bear skin, which looked very peculiar, and the hunter told me that I would see this strange animal at once, and the hunters said that tomorrow they would go to the forest to hunt this black and white bear." ”
The missionary, named Armand David, was a Frenchman who was deeply touched by his trip to China.
One of the things he remembered most was the encounter with the hunter, because he had never heard of a bear in black and white.
The most common in France is the brown bear, which is brown, in addition to the more famous grizzly bears, polar bears and so on. And the black and white bear in his pen is the national treasure rare animal of the mainland today - the panda.
Panda has a long history, accompanied by our Chinese people for thousands of years, almost in every dynasty has relevant records, but due to the limitations of the times, the ancient people of different dynasties did not have a unified view of pandas.
Because of the strange appearance of pandas, some people called them iron-eating beasts, flower bears and so on in ancient times.
Many people think that pandas only eat bamboo leaves and bamboo shoots, but pandas are actually omnivores, and meat was once one of the staple foods of pandas.
Unlike the cute and cute appearance, the adult panda's combat power is very terrifying.
It is often said that foreign brown bears can shoot off half of a human's head with one slap, and the palm strength of pandas is comparable to that of them, and there are records of bringing pandas to the battlefield in ancient times.
Each panda will divide its own territory, they like to live alone, in the group situation is prone to fighting, so it is also known as the "bamboo forest hermit".
Pandas have a relatively withdrawn temperament, so they have been very rare since modern times, but in the deep mountains, many pandas can still be seen active.
David became very interested in pandas after talking to hunters, and he hired a group of hunters to go deep into the mountains to catch a panda and hope to send it to France.
Because of the lack of understanding of the panda, the panda was not well protected during the transportation process, and it was not shipped out of the customs, the panda could not withstand the fatigue of the long journey and died.
In desperation, David had to make this panda into a specimen, which was later sent to the Museum of Paris, France, for display, attracting a large number of tourists to appreciate, and it is also the first model specimen of the panda in history.
In foreign countries, in addition to biological experts and related departments, few people know about the existence of pandas, so at the Museum in Paris, France, many people prefer to think that this is a new species, but do not know that the reproduction of the panda race has passed eight million years, and it should be more appropriate to call it a "living fossil".
The emergence of a new thing is bound to attract the attention of people from all walks of life, especially for capitalists, which may be a valuable business opportunity.
And the keen explorers also quickly realized this, and everyone speculated that there must be many dignitaries who are willing to collect panda specimens at a high price, and if the price of a living panda is even more difficult to estimate.
Such sayings spread among the city, inspiring the explorers' "cat hunting enthusiasm" and laying the groundwork for the subsequent "panda boom".
Who brought the pandas to the United States
After the publicity of David's case, in the next few decades, explorers from all over the world began to come to the mainland to find the traces of giant pandas.
For example, in 1934, American zoologists Sacchi and Selden brought back a panda specimen for the United States, but more explorers did not return.
Ordinary explorers lack sufficient funds, coupled with the interference of unfamiliar environments, these explorers have no money before they can find the traces of giant pandas, and even if they find them, they can only make specimens, and it is nonsense to want to bring back a living giant panda, and this phenomenon has not been reversed until the sacrifice of an explorer.
In 1936, William Hakness, who came to China from a well-known background, was not only an avid explorer but also a rich man, and this time he set his sights on the challenge of how to safely bring pandas abroad.
After a period of investigation, William found several areas where the locals often heard that pandas were frequented, but unfortunately, the weather did not go according to people's wishes, and just when he was about to leave, he suddenly fell seriously ill and died tragically in Shanghai.
The news soon reached his wife, Ruth Harkness.
Ruth and William are very much in love, when she learned the bad news of her husband's death, she quickly rushed to China, inherited her husband's inheritance, determined to fulfill her last will and testament for her husband, and reorganized a group of expeditions based on william's research before his death.
There were twenty people in this expedition, of which sixteen were porters, which showed how strong Ruth's determination to fulfill her husband's last wish was, and also showed that Ruth's trip was inevitable.
By November 9, 1936, Ruth had spent two months searching from Beigoubao District to Jiajin Mountain.
Finally on this day, they came to a snowy mountain, and Ruth suddenly heard several cries from a bamboo forest on the way.
When they arrived at the scene, they found that the cry came from a tree hole, and the hunters who were traveling with them identified that the small animal hidden in the tree hole was the panda that Ruth had been looking for, and it was a panda cub.
Ruth named the panda cub Su Lin, which means "precious thing", and she was quickly attracted to the cuteness of this Su Lin.
In her diary, she recorded her first feelings about meeting Su Lin: "The little round ball head of the black and white flower, it rubbed my shirt with its nose, wanting to drink milk." ”
In this way, the red panda was put into the luggage by Ruth and followed her back to Shanghai to board the ship.
Although the Qing government did not care whether anyone had taken a panda, it was not easy for Ruth to pass through customs, because her expedition attracted a lot of media attention.
When she arrived in Shanghai, various newspapers were preparing to photograph her whereabouts, causing the problem of theft to turn into a political problem in an instant, which affected the patriotic hearts of many people.
However, Ruth has already learned from other explorers about the precautions of smuggling pandas, and although there are no successful cases, it has also provided Ruth with a lot of valuable experience.
To this end, she successfully passed through customs, found a friend of hers, and through personal relations, she completed the formalities.
In fact, the fundamental reason for Ruth's success is that Su Lin's body size is very small, as long as she wears makeup, her appearance looks similar to that of a dog, and she cannot be detected without careful identification.
She wrote a sentence on the customs registration form, "Carry a pug with you," and boarded the ship back home with ease.
What happened after the panda came to the United States
The news that Ruth brought back a panda cub quickly set off a "panda fever" in the United States, and the famous Time newspaper called it a "first-class discovery".
In the eyes of foreigners, this panda is likely to open up a new path for the natural discipline.
So when Ruth had just returned home, she received a lot of calls from the zoo, and the mailbox was full of transfer invitations.
Ruth, who also knows how expensive the panda cubs are, offers a whopping $20,000 price in an offer with a zoo, which ends up selling for $8,750.
Even in the rapidly developing United States in the mid-nineteenth century, this was a very high price.
The panda cub Su Lin was sold to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago, and after entering the park, it brought a lot of traffic, and the popularity can be said to be the highest in the history of the park.
Because ordinary people have no idea what pandas look like, they have brought their relatives and friends to find out, and other animals in the zoo are overshadowed by comparison with new species.
In front of Su Lin's display stand, it was crowded with people.
Su Lin's furry appearance has fascinated many foreigners, and even the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago has had to adjust the opening hours for customers who have followed the previous servants, from the original half-day opening to two hours, which shows the love of foreign people for pandas.
Because of the story of bringing back a panda cub, Ruth also became the focus of everyone.
Her photo with Su Lin made headlines in the local news, and various reports and interviews flocked to the scene, and Americans referred to Ruth as "Lady Panda."
Of course, for the panda who was taken away by Ruth, Ruth was just a thief and a panda dealer, but because of the "panda interests", she was held up by the Americans.
And Ruth, who is sought after by everyone, also forgot her original intention and fell into a sweet pride, on the one hand, because of her reputation, on the other hand, because of the huge wealth that Su Lin brought to her.
At this moment, someone told Ruth that if she could complete such a "feat" again, she would definitely be able to harvest more wealth than she does now, which also contributed to Ruth bringing back a second panda, "meimei".
"meimei" is an adult panda, with the experience of the last time, it is much easier to capture it than Su Lin, this time Ruth only took a month to achieve the goal.
But "meimei" personality is different from other pandas, its personality is very strong, after being arrested, it even refused to eat, not long after the death, this incident brought Ruth a very big touch.
It is a pity that foreigners do not have the experience of raising giant pandas and do not take the correct approach to feeding, and they have heard that giant pandas like to eat bamboo.
However, bamboo usually grows in low latitudes, precipitation-rich areas, not suitable for climate growth in most parts of the United States, is a rare plant, very difficult to find, and can not meet the feeding needs of pandas.
They simply believe that the panda's behavior of eating bamboo should be regarded as proof that it is a vegetarian animal, so Su Lin is given some common dishes.
Hungry, Su Lin had to look for food in the zoo on her own, and when she chewed on an oak tree, she was unfortunately scratched by a branch and eventually died of infection.
Ruth, who heard about this, was also hit very hard, not knowing whether it was out of affection or money, but Ruth fell into a depressed predicament from then on.
Then World War II broke out, pandas became unattended, Ruth faded her stardom, and the last bit of news about her was that in 1947, she died in a bathtub.
She was 47 years old at the time, and some people thought it was suicide, but others thought she died of natural causes.
Because in the five years since she brought back the panda, she has been drinking wildly, living a chaotic daily life, squandering all the wealth she earned, and living a life of poverty.
After the founding of New China, our party deeply realized the importance of pandas as rare animals.
In ancient times, pandas were used as peace disciples, and in modern times, pandas have given the same deep meaning.
Its gentle temperament and ferocious fighting power are like a humble culture, and what other animal is more special than it?
The rising new China has attracted the attention of the world, and with the development of science and technology, more and more people have learned about the species of panda.
In its diplomacy with foreign countries, the mainland has adopted the diplomatic method of using pandas as a symbol of friendship, and has sent out 23 giant pandas in succession in the past 25 years.
The countries they went to were the United States, France, Japan, etc., and the same treatment as the pandas that Ruth brought out, and the 23 pandas set off a "panda boom" no matter which country they went to.
However, because of the problem of raising pandas, the mainland later changed the gift to a lease.
In this process, Chinese and foreign countries have also joined hands to carry out research on pandas, because at this time, pandas are facing the problem of extinction, and no one is willing to let the pandas disappear from people's vision.
So in 1961, after the establishment of the World Wide Fund for Nature, the panda was used as a symbol, calling on people to protect pandas and love pandas, and two years later, the mainland established a giant panda nature reserve.
Today, under the care of people from all walks of life, giant pandas have been reduced from endangered to vulnerable.