Pandas bring Beijing and Berlin closer

The steady downpour was no deterrent. Curious tourists from Berlin, Spain, Eastern Europe and even South America gathered in small groups before a glass enclosure, peering inside and breaking into excited cheers now and then.

They were at the Panda Garden in the Berlin Zoological Garden, home to the panda couple Meng Meng and Jiao Qing and their two babies. It was here in July 2017 that President Xi Jinping, together with then German chancellor Angela Merkel, jointly hosted the opening of the pavilion and welcomed the two pandas to their new home.

For Philine Hachmeister, a staff member at the Berlin Zoological Garden, the memory of that grand opening is still vivid. "We had Chinese music playing and cultural events and everybody was looking for the Panda Garden here," she said, pointing toward the entrance. "It was brand new, the crowd was excited, and an atmosphere of happiness filled the air."

Hachmeister recalled how Xi and Merkel delivered speeches, how visitors brought and waved small Chinese national flags and how children stood on tiptoes trying to see the pandas even before the opening ceremony had ended.

In his speech that day, President Xi said that the resumption of China-Germany cooperation for giant panda protection and research on the 45th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations was extremely significant. He noted that China and Germany had long cooperated on panda research projects, and he hoped the pair would serve as new envoys of Sino-German friendship.

Andreas Knieriem, director of the Berlin Zoological Garden, said that giant pandas bring people together and help them understand one another because they connect not only humans and nature, but also different countries and cultures, building bridges of friendship between them.

Hachmeister is a part of a team led by Florian Sicks, director of the Panda Garden, that cares for and studies the giant pandas. Thanks to their efforts, in the past eight years, the original pair of pandas has produced four cubs, growing a thriving, prosperous little family.

Anyone familiar with pandas will know how miraculous such achievements have been. According to Sicks, the perfect window to get the pandas to mate lasts only 72 hours in a year.

On the day of the panda pavilion's opening ceremony, President Xi also expressed his wish that the friendship between the people of China and Germany would continue to yield new fruit. As he wished, people-to-people exchanges between the two countries, much like the family of Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, have prospered over the past eight years.

"In 2017, the year the Panda Garden opened at the Berlin Zoological Garden, China-Germany relations were visibly at their best," said Wu Jiang, a professor at the Beijing Foreign Studies University's School of German Studies.

It was amid the prosperous bilateral relationship that Xi paid a state visit to Germany that year.

The two sides talked about deepening political mutual trust, expanding practical cooperation and reinforcing cooperation within the framework of the Group of 20 major economies, and discussed other regional and global issues. The two sides also inked a series of cooperation agreements.

The same year witnessed a series of cultural activities called "China Today", covering music, theater, dance and film, in Germany. The China-Germany high-level people-to-people exchange mechanism was launched in May, while the exhibition, Deutschland 8: German Art in China, was held in China in October that year.

Five performances across four German cities made up the Shaanxi Culture Week in 2020. In August 2022, to celebrate the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations, the Chinese embassy in Berlin hosted a concert attended by more than a hundred distinguished guests.

The role of the giant pandas cannot be underestimated in the process. After Meng Xiang and Meng Yuan, or Pit and Paule, two more panda cubs Meng Hao and Meng Tian were born in August 2024, setting off another round of panda mania at the Berlin Zoo. Zoo director Knieriem recalled the day the cubs made their public debut. There was a serpentine queue and visitors waited hours to catch a glimpse of the beloved baby bears.

The enthusiasm about the pandas persists. In late January, the China Wildlife Conservation Association signed a cooperation agreement with Munich's Hellabrunn Zoo on giant panda conservation, under which two giant pandas from China will be sent to the zoo for a 10-year program.

Ahead of his visit to Germany in 2017, President Xi also published a signed article titled "To Make the World a Better Place" in mainstream German media, in which he said that "China-Germany practical cooperation is yielding rich fruits".

Experts said that the strong economic link between China and Germany plays a vital role in promoting people-to-people exchanges.

In 2016, China for the first time surpassed the United States and France to become Germany's largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching approximately 170 billion euros ($195.75 billion).

In 2019, bilateral trade between China and Germany reached a peak of 206 billion euros. Although during the pandemic the volume of trade fell for a few years, it rebounded to $201.88 billion in 2024.

According to the latest data from Germany's Federal Statistical Office, bilateral goods trade reached 251.8 billion euros last year, surpassing the 240.5 billion euros of Germany-US trade.

China and Germany have also established over 100 pairs of sister provinces, states and cities, with Beijing and Berlin establishing a sister-city relationship in 1994.