The story of the mode specimen origin of the giant panda in Dengchigou, where the rivers flow southwest: Written by Yongchen Wang
Today, we are going to a place I visited seven years ago. This is the origin of the unique Chinese giant panda mode specimen, located in Dengchigou, Baoxing County, Sichuan Province. Before arriving, I heard that there was a hydropower station built here as well. However, according to reports, in order to protect the habitat of the giant panda, adjustments were made to the power station under construction.
However, today when we arrived at the sign of Fengtongzhai Dengchigou, we also saw the water diversion pipe built for power generation extending high from the mountain all the way down to the river at the mouth of the valley. After entering this canyon, another power station had cemented the mountains in the valley and piled up rubble on what should have been a rushing riverbed.
Li, the director of the Publicity Department of the Forestry Bureau of Sichuan who accompanied us from Chengdu, told us that although this place is a World Heritage site, when UNESCO came for an inspection, they questioned this power station but eventually showed understanding. Director Li said that the power station built at the mouth of the valley basically solved the electricity problem for the local villagers. As for why it needed to be built again, Director Li's explanation was that it was built by one boss who hoped to sell the electricity generated in the future. I asked if such a power station would destroy the local landscape, affect the local ecology, and what benefits it would bring to the local people? In front of our camera, Director Li said from the perspective of the Forestry Bureau, he opposed the construction of this hydropower station. He said that although this is the buffer zone of the heritage site, the destruction of flora and fauna is evident.
From yesterday when I met Director Li, he has been talking about returning farmland to forest and ecological compensation. He said that 27 provinces across the country have already implemented ecological compensation mechanisms. But not yet in Sichuan. In his jurisdiction, farmers receive only 5 yuan per mu for the protected forests. For farmers, cutting down a small tree in the forest is worth more than that. So how can this guarantee the life of farmers? For this forestry official, all he can do now is to keep appealing everywhere.
Today, I am entering Dengchigou, while another photography team is heading to Jiajin Mountain. The river at the foot of this famous mountain in the history of the Chinese revolution, which I visited in 2001 with splashing waves, today's journalists counted six hydropower stations. These six hydropower stations have divided a large river into segments without any water visible.
An interesting interview today took place in the Catholic church built by British missionary David, who first brought out a giant panda skin from China. We met a peasant woman there. In front of our camera, she told us about reporting to the nature reserve last year when she saw a giant panda in the mountains, and how once several villagers gathered together watching TV, someone shouted "Look outside!" Everyone turned their heads to the window and found a giant panda standing outside the window watching TV with them so attentively.
Because of the pleasant chat, it was almost two o'clock in the afternoon, and we hadn't eaten yet. We asked the villager if we could eat at her house. We received a warm invitation. In their kitchen, the first thing we saw was a huge string of cured meat hanging over the stove. Someone joked and laughed, saying "Your family lives quite well." The peasant woman replied, "What's the use of just eating meat? All expenses require money these days."
This family has two daughters. The elder daughter dropped out of school after junior high. The younger daughter is having better luck, first getting into a junior college and now upgrading to a bachelor’s degree, studying foreign languages.
I said an interesting interview was asking the male head of the household. Has the construction of the power station in the valley affected your life? He said it hasn't. But his wife disagreed, saying the river has dried up and the corn isn't growing. We asked again, does building the hydropower station affect the pandas? The male head again said probably not. But the female head responded: How could it not? If there's no water in the river, what will the pandas drink? This peasant woman is now the vice-chairman of the church. She said, promoting environmental protection is something we religious believers should do. What worries me this time is if the trend of building power stations in the birthplace of the giant panda mode specimen doesn't slow down, I don't know what the big mountains and rivers will look like when I come next time.
Yesterday, I mentioned during the third giant panda census, the most pandas were seen in Baoxing. Today, it was confirmed as somewhat inaccurate. Baoxing should be the third. The first should be near Wolong in Sichuan, and the second is Wanglang in Sichuan.
Tomorrow, we will enter a large canyon of the Dadu River. It will be my third visit there. Compared to my previous visits in 2004 and 2007, the canyon has changed a lot. I wonder what we will see tomorrow?
Related links: Below is an article I wrote after interviewing Fengtongzhai in 2001, telling a few small stories:
Looking back, on November 18, 2000, the first day I arrived at the Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve in Baoxing County, Sichuan, I saw a less-than-one-year-old giant panda cub named "Wugang". The staff there told me it was rescued by locals from the mountains on May Day 2000 and named "Wugang".
That day, a villager from Yongfu Township in Baoxing County was digging medicinal herbs on the mountain when he was startled by a furry object. Staring at the furry mass without blinking, he finally determined it was a baby panda.
Living in Fengtongzhai, known locally as the cradle of pandas, the villagers certainly wouldn’t harm a baby panda. He continued digging herbs on the mountain. On his way back home in the evening, he felt uneasy. Why was the baby panda still motionless? Where was its mother? Panda mothers generally don't leave their cubs. Therefore, he returned to the big tree to check if the baby panda was still there and if its mother had come back. Upon checking, he realized that the panda mother wasn't back yet, and the cub was already on its last breath.
In an emergency, the villager put down the herbs he had collected and ran all the way to report to the township government. The township government immediately reported the situation to the county Forestry Bureau's Public Security Section. Deputy Section Chief Su Kaili, upon hearing this, disregarded the fact that it was the May Day holiday and drove overnight along the winding mountain road straight to the big tree in Yongfu Township. When he arrived, the baby panda was still in the same spot, even closer to death.
After a long journey, on May 2nd, the baby panda was sent to the Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve. The reserve immediately organized a rescue team consisting of Dr. Gou Cunwu from Yancheng Township Hospital, veteran breeder Li Wuke from the reserve, and Director Yang Benqing of the reserve management office to rescue the cub. The County Party Committee and County Government instructed that the cub must be saved alive. Any issues should be reported immediately.
Upon examination, the baby panda was suffering from acute enteritis and dehydration. After two days and nights of intravenous fluids, injections, and medication, the baby panda named "Wugang" finally pulled through.
When I asked Yang Benqing why the baby panda wasn't with its mother, Yang Benqing said: One possibility is that its mother was eaten by wolves or jackals while searching for food in the wild. Another possibility is that it encountered some unexpected event—otherwise, the panda mother wouldn't leave "Wugang" alone and sick on the mountain at such a young age.
When I saw "Wugang," it had stopped diarrhea and restored its lively and adorable nature. Seeing me take pictures with my camera, it was extremely playful—either rolling on the ground hugging a bamboo stick, gnawing on it, or chasing after the keeper and pretending to bite.
Yang Benqing told me: Now "Wugang" is too small to determine whether it's male or female. They originally wanted to release it back into the wild. But since it was rescued too young and still breastfeeding, its survival ability in the wild would be a severe test after being released. Additionally, I noticed that Yang Benqing had his own private thoughts: With eco-tourism becoming popular, if the reserve didn't have a panda, tourists coming and not seeing one would be disappointed. If possible, the reserve staff wanted to keep "Wugang." However, in August 2000, the State Forestry Administration issued a document requiring "Wugang" to be sent to the Wolong Nature Reserve, where it might participate in the artificial breeding program for pandas.
Mentioning pandas, people may immediately think of Wolong, but the origin of the panda mode specimen—the Fengtongzhai—is relatively unknown. However, in France, the name Dengchigou written on this photo is very famous.
David
In 1862, a 36-year-old Frenchman named Jean Pierre David was sent to work at the hard labor mission in China. While serving the mission, David was also interested in natural history science.
On March 11, 1869, David recorded his first encounter with a panda skin: "On my way back to the church, the main landowner of this valley—a man surnamed Li—invited us to his home for tea. At his home, I saw a spread-out skin of the famous black-and-white bear. This skin was very peculiar, and my hunter informed me that I would soon encounter this animal. I learned that the hunters were setting out the next day to hunt this carnivorous animal, which might become an interesting new species in science."
Later in David's diary on May 4 of the same year: "My hunters waited for two weeks in the eastern region of Muping (now Donghe area of Baoxing County) and brought me a black-and-white bear and six snub-nosed monkeys. This black-and-white bear was particularly cute."
After obtaining it, David intended to send this live "black-and-white bear" back to Paris, France, but due to the hardships of long-distance transportation, the "black-and-white bear" couldn't withstand the bumpy mountain roads and changing climate conditions and died en route. David had no choice but to painfully send its skin to the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, France.
After the Paris museum exhibited the panda skin, no one recognized it. People saw it had a round white face with deep black circles around its eyes, like wearing sunglasses. Some judged that such an animal did not exist, and the skin was fake!
Others said it was a strange kind of bear. Later, after thorough research by the museum director Millet Edwards, it was determined: it was neither a bear nor a cat, but rather a larger kind of red panda discovered in Tibet, China.
Thus, it was officially named "Giant Panda." From then on, the modern name "Giant Panda" was born.
It is said that in ancient China, this rare animal "Giant Panda" was called Pi Xiu, Mo, Mo, Zou Yu, etc., as recorded in works like "Erya" and "Shijing." However, the formal naming and becoming a type specimen was achieved by this Giant Panda brought back to Paris by David.
Before the 1930s, except for China, no other country in the world had a live Giant Panda, despite foreigners trying every possible method and paying any price. In the end, all they managed to obtain was a Giant Panda specimen made from a skin.
Since David obtained the first Giant Panda specimen in France in 1869, over 60 years, several "Panda Fever" episodes occurred worldwide. Each time after the fever subsided, someone tried to take live Pandas out of China, but none succeeded.
Between 1891 and 1894, two people named Podanning and Beresovsky collected Pandas in Pingwu and Songpan counties in northwestern Sichuan, China, obtaining only one Giant Panda skin, preserved in the British Museum and now over 100 years old.
In 1910, a German named Veigel obtained a live Giant Panda in Wenchuan, Sichuan. Unfortunately, this live Giant Panda soon died and couldn't be taken back to Germany. Later, he obtained four skeletons and one skin of Giant Pandas, which were brought back to Germany and preserved in the Berlin Museum.
In 1934, American zoologists Sakai and Selden shot a male Giant Panda in Wenchuan County, Sichuan, and the specimen is preserved in the New York Museum.
The first person to bring a Giant Panda out of China in modern times was not an animal scientist or a zoo worker, but an American female fashion designer named Ruth Harkness.
Ruth brought the Giant Panda to America.
Ruth's husband was named William Harkness, an animal scientist and explorer. During his studies, he learned that the Giant Panda, a living fossil of the world's rare animals, existed only in China. Based on relevant data from David's explorations and discoveries of Giant Pandas in China, William clarified the geographical location of the mountainous areas in western Sichuan, gaining preliminary knowledge about the living habits of Giant Pandas. He decided to personally go to the northwest mountainous areas of China and shared this idea with his newlywed wife Ruth.
Unfortunately, William reached China but fell ill suddenly in Shanghai before entering the Giant Panda production area. Left in New York, Ruth, upon hearing this unfortunate news, was deeply saddened and made a surprising decision—to complete her husband's unfinished work and go to China to find a live Giant Panda. She hired two Chinese-Americans born in the U.S. as bodyguards and translators, arriving in Shanghai, China. Then, she traveled upstream along the Yangtze River, disembarked in Leshan after passing through the Min River Valley, entered the Giant Panda production area in Sichuan, first searching in Beigou north of Wenchuan but failed. She then went to the Donghe area of Baoxing, where David had discovered and studied Giant Pandas over 60 years ago.
Ruth was fortunate to receive help from Tibetan hunter Kun Ting in the mountain forests and bamboo groves above 2,000 meters altitude. After continuous searches for several days, they found nothing. One day, as they were crossing a patch of arrow bamboo, they suddenly heard a sound like a baby crying from the hollow of a broken branch of a walnut tree. Ruth didn't know what it was and dared not move. Only when Kun Ting approached the walnut tree hollow and handed her a warm, furry little creature did Ruth realize this was the mysterious animal that had been talked about in Western countries for over half a century, many people dreaming of finding—a baby Giant Panda. Ruth was ecstatic. She later wrote in her diary: "The little round ball with black and white patterns rubbed its nose against my shirt and instinctively found my breast." At that time, the baby Giant Panda weighed less than two pounds and was only a month or so old.
A few days later, Kun Ting hired a strong horse for Ruth to ride and prepared a small basket woven from慈竹 (bamboo), filled with soft old cotton padding for the baby panda to rest in. They left the foot of Jiajin Mountain, passed through Ya'an and Chengdu, and flew to Shanghai. In Shanghai, due to incomplete procedures, problems arose. During her stay in Shanghai, Ruth used what she considered the most beautiful words to name the baby panda "Su Ling" and cared for "Su Ling" like a nurturing mother.
Later, with the help of American friends in Shanghai, Ruth bribed customs officials with just two dollars and boarded the American ship "President McKinley." She carried the large bamboo basket woven by Tibetan hunter Kun Ting, and on the customs registration form, it was noted as "one Pekingese dog," thus sneaking out of China.
When Ruth carried this bamboo basket, occasionally emitting baby-like cries, and landed on the coast of San Francisco, it was Christmas in 1936. The New York Explorers Club held a grand welcome ceremony for the little "Su Ling." In the spring of 1937, "Su Ling" was sent to the Brookfield Zoo and immediately became an animal star in Chicago, attracting up to 40,000 visitors in one day. Since then, America also began designing Giant Panda toys for children.
This photo was taken in December 2000. A pair of Giant Pandas borrowed by the Washington Zoo in the United States had just arrived and were still adapting and had not yet met the public. The "Giant Pandas" in the zoo's souvenir shop were flourishing, temporarily becoming the favorite toys of children.
This is the church built by the French missionary David who lived in Dengchigou, Fengtongzhai, where devout believers still pray regularly. Protecting the safety of Giant Pandas is also their wish.
Giant Panda research expert Hu Dake said that Giant Pandas are one of the oldest animals in the world, ancient to what extent? According to historical evidence provided by Professor Pei Wenzhong, former chairman of the Association of Natural Scientists Museums of China and discoverer of the Peking Man skull fossils in Zhoukoudian, Beijing, in his "Brief History of the Development of the Giant Panda": "The earliest Giant Panda was the small species of the early Pleistocene era (about 120,000-3 million years ago). It was already a member of the Giant Panda genus... When Matthew and Langzhi of the United States jointly studied the Giant Pandas of Yanchenggou in 1923, they believed that the geological age of Yanchenggou in Sichuan was the Pliocene era (about 3 million-12 million years ago). Also, other places in southern China, such as Guangxi and the Heshang Cave in Yunnan, have discovered similar places with Giant Pandas."
Scientific research suggests that after the mid-Pleistocene, by the late Pleistocene, the initial distribution and size of Giant Pandas gradually decreased and became smaller, close to the size of the current species. Around the end of the Paleolithic era (from 2-3 million years ago to about 100,000 years ago), humans developed, and large bamboo forests were destroyed. The food sources for Giant Pandas decreased, and those relying on bamboo forests for life gradually exposed themselves. Coupled with attacks from natural predators, their distribution range became increasingly smaller.
At the Fengtongzhai Giant Panda Nature Reserve, I coincidentally participated in a nationwide Giant Panda census conducted every 15 years. The second national Giant Panda census was in 1985. This was the third. That day, we just arrived at the nature reserve, worrying about how to interview the leader of the reserve, Yang Benqing, when a young man in his twenties asked to hitch a ride in the "minibus" we rented. He said their car hadn't come to pick him up. Initially, our Beijing reporters were reluctant to let a stranger on board. But when we learned he was a member of the Giant Panda census team, we not only invited him on but also immediately turned on the recorder.
As the car drove along the rugged mountain roads, he told us that this census mainly focused on counting the number of Giant Pandas, their habitats, and their co-existing animals. Takin, brown bears, and bamboo rats are all co-existing animals of the Giant Pandas. Additionally, the living conditions of the surrounding communities were also surveyed because these directly relate to the future conservation work of the reserve.
This census team member from the reserve told us: In April 1995, reserve employee Wang Bangjun discovered four Giant Pandas on a tree while patrolling the mountain. Observations revealed that the one on the treetop was female, and the three below were males. The males fought each other, and when the winner remained at the base of the tree, the female descended from the top to mate with the victorious male. To Wang Bangjun's regret, he didn't have a video camera at the time, missing the opportunity to capture this rare scene.
Hearing this, I asked: Did you see Giant Pandas in the wild during this census? The census team member said it was very difficult to see the actual creatures because Giant Pandas live deep in dense forests and steep mountain valleys. As a surveyor, it's not easy to see them even after several years.
"How can you count the existing number of Giant Pandas if you can't see the live ones?" This census team member continued: "Mainly by examining their droppings, and filling out very detailed forms daily. The content includes: location, altitude, climate, habitat, etc. After completing the forms, they are submitted to the expert group, who will calculate based on the data."
The census team member said: In our reserve, takins are often seen. That day, he saw a live one. Takins are also a first-class protected animal.
We were listening intently when he suddenly told the driver to stop, as their vehicle had arrived. We hadn't even asked his name yet when he got off. But he quickly returned and informed us that their vehicle carried the head of Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve, Yang Benqing. I hurriedly ran down and the first thing Yang Benqing told us was: "Last night, a surveyor fell from the mountain and was found 17 hours later, just sent to the hospital. Skull fracture. Last night, an animal approached him, fortunately, he still had consciousness, grabbed a handful of soil and threw it, scaring the animal away."
That night, I sat with Yang Benqing and Wang Hongjia, the leader of the third Giant Panda census in Sichuan from the Sichuan Wildlife Management Station. I learned that the third Giant Panda census was uniformly deployed by the National Forestry Administration and simultaneously carried out in Sichuan, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces. Compared to 1985, the status of Giant Pandas and their habitats have undergone significant changes.
What makes Wang Hongjia proud is that compared to the second census, the educational level of the survey personnel is much higher. Last time, a university student among the census team members was treated like a treasure. This time, Ph.D.s and master's students are not uncommon in the census team. In terms of equipment, many new gadgets are used this time. First, satellite positioning devices (GPS). Second, a geographic information system for Giant Panda management will be established on computers. Additionally, if possible, remote sensing technology via satellites will be used to investigate the vegetation of Giant Panda habitats.
Sichuan will have the presence of census team members in 37 counties, as there might be traces of Giant Panda activities there. The main food of Giant Pandas is cold arrow bamboo and Emei Yushan bamboo distributed at altitudes of 1800 meters to 3400 meters.
In 1983, the cold arrow bamboo in the Qionglai Mountains almost completely flowered and died. Cold arrow bamboo flowers approximately every 60 years, following a cycle of blooming, seeding, and dying, a pattern that has existed in nature for millions of years.
What changes have occurred in the current Giant Panda habitats compared to 1985? I asked Wang Hongjia. He said: Recently, the bamboo is flowering on a large scale again, which is a natural law.
Wang Hongjia said that according to the laws of nature, bamboo flowering is