The giant panda: symbol of China and diplomatic tool

Sitting in a tangle of green stems, the animal grips a cane of bamboo between its paws, turns it with surprising dexterity, and crunches without haste, eyes half closed. Everything about it breathes nonchalance: the black-and-white fur, the patches around the eyes that give it a perpetually tender look, the slowness of its movements. This bear unlike any other has become, all by itself, the face of an entire country — the giant panda.

The giant panda is a bear endemic to the mountains of central China, famous for its two-tone coat and its diet made almost exclusively of bamboo. Having become a national emblem, a worldwide symbol of nature conservation and an actor in a singular diplomacy, it condenses nature, politics and imagination. To understand it is to see how an animal became a message.

A bear that lives only on bamboo#

The giant panda inhabits a few mountain ranges in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, in damp, cool high-altitude forests. Classed among the carnivores, it is nevertheless, in fact, almost entirely herbivorous: bamboo makes up about 99% of its diet. As this plant is not very nutritious, the animal must swallow enormous quantities — up to a dozen kilos a day — and devote twelve to fourteen hours to it, which explains its effort-sparing life.

Evolution has given it a surprising tool: a "false thumb," an elongated wrist bone that works like a sixth finger and lets it grip the stems with precision. Its body, however, has remained that of a carnivore, ill-adapted to digesting cellulose — hence the paradox of a bear condemned to eat endlessly a plant it digests poorly. In the panda, nature seems to have improvised a fragile compromise.

The panda is a carnivore that chose grass, a loner turned ambassador, a fragile animal transformed into a symbol of quiet strength.

From endangered species to saved icon#

Long threatened by the destruction of its habitat and the fragmentation of the bamboo forests, the giant panda has become the world symbol of conservation. As early as 1961, the brand-new World Wildlife Fund (WWF) chose for its emblem a panda named Chi-Chi, then a star of the London zoo: the black and white, cheap to print, and the animal's endearing look made it a perfect logo. The panda became the face of the animal cause.

Chinese efforts — the creation of reserves, captive breeding programmes, the restoration of bamboo corridors — eventually bore fruit. In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified the species from "endangered" to "vulnerable," the sign of a real but still fragile recovery. The wild population, long estimated at around 1,800 individuals, remains dependent on constant protection of its habitat.

Panda diplomacy#

China has made the panda a diplomatic instrument unique in the world, to the point that people speak of "panda diplomacy" (熊猫外交, xióngmāo wàijiāo). The practice of offering pandas to foreign courts is said to go back to the Tang dynasty. In the modern era, it took a spectacular dimension in 1972: after President Nixon's historic visit, China gave two pandas to the United States, a gesture hailed as a symbol of warming between the two powers.

Since the 1980s, China no longer gives its pandas: it lends them, generally for about ten years, in return for a financial contribution earmarked for conservation, with any panda born abroad remaining Chinese property. Each arrival or departure of a panda in a foreign zoo becomes a media event and, often, the discreet barometer of relations between Beijing and the host country. The good-natured bear has thus become a subtle actor in geopolitics.

A furry ambassador#

Today, the giant panda remains the most beloved and recognisable animal in China, the mascot of events, the star of zoos and the undisputed celebrity of countless online videos. Yet behind the endearing image a serious stake is playing out: the survival of a species and the preservation of the forests that shelter it, a victory still reversible.

From the misty forests of Sichuan to the enclosures of the world's great zoos, the giant panda embodies, better than any speech, the meeting of nature and politics. To discover it is to gauge the power of a symbol — and to learn Chinese is to be able to read dàxióngmāo on a reserve sign and understand, behind the living plush toy, the story of a country that knew how to make a bear into an ambassador.

FAQ#

What does the giant panda eat? The giant panda feeds about 99% on bamboo, which it eats in very large quantities (up to a dozen kilos a day) because the plant is not very nutritious. Although classed among the carnivores, it is in fact almost entirely herbivorous.

Is the giant panda still endangered? In 2016, the International Union for Conservation of Nature reclassified it from "endangered" to "vulnerable," thanks to efforts to protect its habitat and to breed it. Its survival nevertheless remains dependent on constant conservation of the bamboo forests.

What is panda diplomacy? It is China's practice of giving, then lending, pandas to other countries as a political gesture. Symbolised by the gift of two pandas to the United States in 1972, this practice makes the panda a barometer of Beijing's diplomatic relations.

Why does the panda have a "false thumb"? It is an elongated wrist bone, distinct from the five fingers, that works like an opposable thumb. This adaptation lets it grip and turn bamboo stems with great precision in order to eat them.

Photo credits: the images used in this article come from Pexels and Unsplash and are royalty-free.