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Giant pandas are national first-class protected animals in the mainland, and many countries want to introduce giant pandas, the reason is that the cute appearance of giant pandas is very pleasant.
It is precisely because of the cute image that people love that the mainland often "lend" pandas to other countries diplomatically, and panda leasing was a way to export pandas abroad in the 80~early 90s.
Giant pandas on loan to Germany
But this practice is not new, as early as the Tang Dynasty, there were already pandas "rented" to other countries. According to the Old Book of Tang, in 685 BC, Japan sent envoys to the Tang Dynasty to learn the advanced technology and systems of the Tang Dynasty.
Giant panda image in ancient painting
At that time, the emperor of the Tang Dynasty was Li Dan of Tang Ruizong, and the actual ruler was Wu Zetian. At that time, in order to show the friendship of the Tang Dynasty, Wu Zetian gave Emperor Tianmu of Japan two giant pandas, which were brought back to Japan by sending Tang envoys.
Image map of the Japanese envoy
The giant pandas given during the Tang Dynasty were given as gifts to show the friendly side of big countries, while the current way of giant pandas going abroad is lease, which is for the purpose of research and breeding of giant pandas.
The picture originated from the Internet, and the copyright belongs to the original author