Rescuing the Panda from a Reforming China

The year 1976 was monumental for China with the loss of important state leaders, and a tragic earthquake. Amidst all of the government’s active response to a panda starvation scare demonstrates the importance of this animal to China. A repeat starvation scare in the mid-1980s creates an opportunity to trace the transformation of China from Mao Zedong era to the Deng Xiaoping era by juxtaposing the two panda-starvation scares. The responses to these two scares demonstrate a shift in the perception of nature from one of state ownership to one of popular ownership and illustrate the dramatic increase in international participation in the study of the panda and the efforts to preserve this national treasure.

Biology · China · Development economics · Economics · Economy · Government (linguistics) · Political economy · Political science · Sociology · Starvation · State (computer science) · Treasure · Chinese history and philosophy · History · Law