A Panda the Nation Could not See

Before most Chinese citizens ever saw a giant panda in person, they had already fallen in love with it. This book reconstructs how Republican China developed an emotional, political, and media-driven relationship with the giant panda from the 1920s to the 1940s, tracing the emergence of panda diplomacy, celebrity culture, and the earliest forms of panda fandom.

Drawing on more than 2,000 Republican-era Chinese newspaper and magazine reports, this book uncovers a forgotten history of the giant panda in modern China. Combining media history, animal studies, and cultural analysis, it examines how the panda became a powerful national symbol through diplomacy, journalism, spectacle, commerce, science, and popular emotion. Through the story of “Miss Panda” and the emergence of early panda fandom, the book offers a new perspective on China’s relationship with animals, modernity, and international exchange during a period of war, instability, and social transformation.

A Panda the Nation Could Not See will be of interest to scholars and students of modern Chinese history, animal studies, media and cultural studies, and the environmental humanities.