Embassy celebrates 'Pandaversary' with US friends

Pat Nixon, former First Lady of the United States, predicted that "panda-monium is going to break out right here at the Zoo" in April 1972, when the Smithsonian's National Zoo and Conservation Biology Institute received the gifts from China.

In February of that year, while visiting China with President Richard Nixon, the First Lady was captured admiring a panda at the Beijing Zoo on a cold winter day. 

Seated next to Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai at dinner, she talked about her trip to the zoo and mentioned her fondness for the pandas, according to a video posted by the White House Historical Association.

Nixon "screamed with joy" when she heard from Zhou that China would send two pandas to the US, according to Mao and Nixon: The Week that Changed the World, by Margaret MacMillan.

Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing had five cubs in the first 20 years, but none survived more than a few days.

Xiao Qi Ji, now the superstar at the zoo, is the fourth surviving cub born at the zoo over the past five decades.

The arrival of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian in 2000 ushered in a new era of giant panda breeding at the zoo. Since 2005, Mei Xiang has given birth to four surviving cubs: Tai Shan, Bao Bao, Bei Bei, and Xiao Qi Ji.

Three of the cubs have left for China to join the larger giant panda breeding program. Only Xiao Qi Ji lives with its parents at the zoo. 

To understand the popularity of giant pandas, Michael Brown-Palsgrove, curator of Asia Trail and giant pandas at Smithsonian's National Zoo, said the zoo has had thousands of people visiting them every day.

"We also have international fans who are watching our panda cam, and people couldn't even see the day he (Xiao Qi Ji) was born because the internet crashed, but people have been enjoying him both in-person and virtually since he was born in 2020," he said on Wednesday. 

There have been teary farewells each time a cub departs for China, and cries of joy each time a birthday party is thrown for the animal. 

Under an extension agreement signed between Smithsonian's National Zoo and the China Wildlife Conservation Association, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian and their son Xiao Qi Ji will stay at the zoo until December next year.

"We do know that at the end of that agreement that our pandas are expected to go back to China," Brandie Smith, director of Smithsonian's National Zoo, told China Daily.

"We have had such an incredibly successful partnership, I'm absolutely committed to 50 more years of giant panda care and success and celebration for all of our visitors, so I look forward to working with our colleagues in China, as we determine the future for our giant panda program."

The Giant Panda Cooperative Research and Breeding Agreement was first signed in 2000 for Mei Xiang and Tian Tian to stay at the zoo for a decade.

When that loan agreement expired, the zoo and the Chinese side renewed the pact twice, each for a five-year extension until Dec 7, 2020. It was then extended for another three years at the end of 2020.

Smith said the Zoo expects the conversations and negotiations with Chinese partners to lead to the same agreement as previously inked.

"We've actually had wonderful conversations, talking together to say what is the best not just for individual animals, but for the species," she said. "So we've done it before, and it's been a good experience, and I expect the same thing again."

Brown-Palsgrove said the collaboration between the US and China has been "extremely important" because both learned a lot from each other.

"It's been a very good way also to use science as a tool for diplomacy, and diplomacy as a tool for science," he said.