Introduction: animals in contemporary China

In 1988, I was a graduate student from China studying international relations in the United States. In that year’s hot summer, I visited the National Zoo in Washington D.C. What impressed me most were the letters to the pandas written by young American children. Perhaps no Chinese celebrity in the world, be it Jackie Chan or Yao Ming, is more famous than the giant panda, the unofficial national emblem of China. This adorable bear subspecies is the sweetheart of children around the world. It would be unforgivably negligent to allow this magnificent animal to go extinct. Since 1961, the World