The giant pandas Xiangxiang, Yongming, Sakurahama, and Momohama in Japan have recently returned to China, and the giant panda Yaya in the United States, who is in poor health, also plans to return to China no later than April 7, in addition to the United States and Japan, the United Kingdom and Finland also plan to return the giant pandas... Recently, giant pandas living abroad have attracted great attention from Chinese at home and abroad.
How are pandas treated in other places, and have they been abused as rumors on the Internet? Many countries have returned giant pandas in a pile, is it because they can't afford to raise "national treasures"? What role did overseas pandas play in promoting China's diplomacy? We took an inventory of 66 giant pandas living overseas and found that this was a complete misunderstanding.
The largest number of giant pandas now live in the United States
Speaking of "panda diplomacy", we can go back as far as before the founding of New China. In 1941, in order to thank the United States for its support to China's War of Resistance Against Japan, Soong Meiling presented two giant pandas to the United States on behalf of the government, creating a political gift model of "panda diplomacy".
After the founding of the People's Republic of China, the political donation model continued to continue, and 9 countries, including the Soviet Union, North Korea and the United States, were donated Chinese giant pandas, and a total of 23 giant pandas became "friendly messengers", conveying to the world the kindness and enthusiasm of the Chinese people and the willingness to take the road of peaceful development.
But in 1982, in response to the global call to protect endangered animals, the mainland announced that it would stop giving giant pandas abroad, and pandas mainly "traveled abroad" in the form of roving exhibitions or commercial loans.
In the mid-to-late 90s of last century, in order to better protect giant pandas, the mainland further announced that it would stop the rental of pandas for commercial purposes, and overseas countries could only lease giant pandas from China under the premise of breeding, protection and research.
According to incomplete statistics, there are currently 66 giant pandas living overseas in the mainland.
Among them, 11 giant pandas live in the United States, in addition to "Lele", who has lived in the Memphis Zoo for 20 years, and 10 giant pandas are located in Zoo Atlanta and the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington, D.C.
There are also a large number of pandas rented in Japan, with a total of 9, and the Hama family, bred by "Yongming", is the largest giant panda family overseas.
"Expired" pandas need to be returned
After the panda becomes a "scientific research exchange ambassador", the rental period is strictly limited, and it is necessary to sign a giant panda breeding research cooperation agreement with the Chinese side, generally leasing a pair of healthy and reproductive giant pandas, with a 10-15 year cycle, and the contract can be renewed appropriately after expiration.
If the panda gives birth during the lease period, the baby panda will also be owned by China, and according to the provisions of the international breeding program, it will be returned to China after 2-4 years of birth.
Recently, Japan, the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries have returned giant pandas, all of which are normal returns after the expiration of the agreement. For example, Yaya arrived in the United States in 2003, renewed the 10-year agreement in 2013, and returned home this year as planned.
At the end of last year, the Memphis Zoo announced the return of "Yaya" and said that it would cooperate with China to transfer it in the coming months. The spokesman said that "Yaya" has now entered the old age stage, exceeding the life expectancy of giant pandas in the wild by nearly 10 years, and it is time for the leaves to return to their roots.
Due to the impact of the epidemic, the return date of some pandas to China has been slightly delayed. Born in June 2017, Xiangxiang was scheduled to be returned to China at the end of December 2020, but was postponed to this year due to the pandemic. Similarly, the giant pandas "Mei Xiang" and "Tiantian" in the United States and the giant pandas "Tiantian" and "Sunshine" in the United Kingdom will also return to China after the expiration of the agreement within the year.
There are also some zoos, which were previously difficult to provide for the normal life of giant pandas due to the impact of the epidemic. For these giant pandas in need of assistance, the research plan will be suspended, and the pandas will be returned to China in advance, and the giant pandas will not be wronged at all. For example, due to the impact of the new crown epidemic and food shortages, two giant pandas "Da Mao" and "Er Shun" living at the Calgary Zoo in Canada returned to China early at the end of 2020. At the end of January this year, Finland's Ahteli Zoo, which has hit the tourism industry hard due to the epidemic and is in trouble with its operations, also plans to return two giant pandas ahead of schedule.
At least nine giant pandas are expected to return to the embrace of the motherland this year.
Enjoy VIP treatment overseas
After arriving in the rental country, the mainland giant pandas all enjoy the top living treatment. Major zoos have built luxurious panda pavilions for fear of wronging the national treasures.
According to incomplete statistics, the overseas panda halls cover an area of more than 1,000 square meters and have a wide range of activity space. The cost of the venue is also generally more than 5 million US dollars, which can be described as the "most expensive single room". Most of these panda houses mimic the topography of giant panda habitats in the mountainous areas of southwest China, and planted exclusive bamboo forests to provide comfortable living conditions for pandas.
Comparing the panda pavilions in various countries, it can be found that the Memphis Zoo Panda Pavilion, built in 2003, spent a huge investment of 16 million US dollars and covers an area of 3 hectares, both in terms of construction cost and space area, it is among the best. The giant panda "Yaya", who has recently attracted attention due to her health status, lives here. Communication between the China Zoo Association and Memphis Zoo shows that there is no problem with the living venue and bamboo supply of "Yaya", except for hair loss caused by skin diseases, it is in good physical condition and there is no problem of online abuse.
In fact, not only is it impossible to abuse, but people around the world can't wait to be kind to pandas.
Belgium's Paradise Zoo has opened up an exclusive 4-hectare bamboo forest for pandas, and the varieties of bamboo have also been carefully selected; In Thailand, Chiang Mai Zoo has built a 600-square-meter snow garden for giant pandas, which has been artificially snowed all year round to keep the park at minus 6-7 degrees Celsius; The Dutch Ovihan Zoo has invested more than 7 million euros to prepare a luxurious panda pavilion with a total area of 9,000 square meters, of which the living area is 3,400 square meters, and various functional areas are available.
The cute "gold-absorbing beast"
In addition to the "throwing a lot of money" in the sojourn place, the cost of living for giant pandas overseas is also quite high, and it is a veritable "four-legged gold-absorbing beast".
After renting pandas from overseas zoos, they bear the breeding and operating costs. Because pandas are picky about food, zoos have to grow bamboo nearby or regularly fly in from China. Among them, the cost of raising giant pandas at Zoo Atlanta in the United States is $500,000 per year; Malaysia Zoo spends up to RM200,000 (330,000 yuan) on giant pandas per month; Berlin Zoo spends nearly 1 million euros a year on panda feed such as bamboo, which accounts for a quarter of the park's total feed expenditure.
In addition to the cost of living, foreign parties also have to pay expensive rent and insurance costs to China. Each giant panda is rented for $1 million a year and insured at an annual cost of $50,000. If a baby panda is born during the lease period, you will need to pay a one-time "cub tax" of $400,000-600,000 to China.
According to National Geographic, renting a pair of giant pandas requires at least $1 million in rental fees, $300,000 in breeding fees, $600,000 in operation and management fees, and $600,000 in research and training program fees per year. Combined with the cost of site construction in the early stage and the increased expenditure after the panda gave birth, the cost increased exponentially.
The cost of renting pandas is so high, why are countries willing to rent pandas?
This is because the cute appearance of giant pandas is loved all over the world and has countless fans, and the traffic and operating income they generate for local zoos can easily cover the expensive rental and living costs.
In the first year of the giant panda's stay at the zoo, the number of visitors to the Adelaide Zoo in Australia increased from 349,000 to 595,000 a year; the annual number of visitors to the Beauvale Zoo in France jumped from 600,000 to 1.6 million, and every year it sold ten containers of plush toys imported from China.
After the birth of baby giant panda "Lin Bing", the number of visitors received by Chiang Mai Zoo reached 1.4 million, up from 800,000 before the birth of "Lin Bing". That year, the zoo's panda hall generated 35 million baht ($1.19 million) in ticket revenue, making it the zoo's main source of revenue.
The arrival of the giant pandas, "Sunshine" and "Sweet", completely changed the economic situation of the Royal Zoological Society, from a loss of £1.2 million a year to a profitable £2.4 million a year.
It seems that no matter what country it is in, giant pandas are "lucky cats".
The panda family continues to grow
With the care of people from all over the world and the promotion of Sino-foreign scientific research cooperation programs for giant pandas, the panda population around the world has been better protected.
By the end of 2022, the global population of giant pandas in captivity reached 673, nearly double the number of a decade ago. As the main habitat of giant pandas in China, the wild population of giant pandas has increased from 1114 in the 80s of the 20th century to 1864, and the protected giant panda habitat area has increased significantly.
With the continuous expansion of international and domestic cooperation and exchange platforms for giant pandas, the increasingly mature breeding technology of giant pandas, and the overseas families of giant pandas have also "bear" Ding prospered. More and more baby pandas are being born overseas, and 21 giant panda cubs have been born abroad.
When a baby panda is born, it always attracts the attention of the world, and people at home and abroad rush to vote for the cub to be named. Behind the beautiful names of Nuan Nuan, Tianbao, Fulfilled Dream, and Little Miracle‧‧‧‧‧‧ not only send good wishes to the baby panda, but also represent the confidence of people around the world in peaceful development.
It is believed that in the future, the cute, friendly and cute giant pandas will appear in more countries and contribute to promoting world peace and development.
Editor-in-chief: Zhang Mo, You Yingjie
Source: Author: Zhang Sirui Lian Junxiang