Chengdu report

From Mr. Yu (crossposted at Tigers on the Road)

We left Lijiang for Chengdu on a late afternoon flight. While we waited in the airport, a bunch of high school kids from the city of Chongqing became curious about our kids. They soon approached them to start a cordial conversation and of course a photo session. They even wrote down Mr. Yu's phone number with which they would contact our kids again once we get to Chongqing on July 4.
The flight took only 1 hour and 10 minutes. We were greeted by the local guide whose name is Lily. Half an hour later we checked into the Minhang Hotel which is located right in the busy business area of Chengdu where Chinese department stores, restaurants and fast-food eateries like McDonald, KFC, and Pizza Hut are plentiful. I think there are at least three McDonalds within 5 blocks of the hotel.
On June 30, we first visited the International Studies Office of Sichuan University which has a student enrollment of more than 70000. They have about 450 international students from over 40 countries including USA and Canada. The monthly expenses including tuition, room and board would be about $400.00. Next our students sat in a level 2 Chinese class held for some college students from New York. Some of our kids became very encouraged because they could understand much of the contents.

Then we were taken to meet with some Chinese airplane engineers who were studying English at the university. They were engaged in a heated discussion for about an hour until it was time for us to go for lunch. In the afternoon we visited the Jinsha Museam which helps pushing Chengdu's history back to 3000 years ago. Other than the new technology used in this museum, the tour was boring. Then we were taken to tour the replica of Old Town Chengdu called the Broad & Narrow Back Alleys which are like any other reconstructed old towns in China we have visited. For dinner we had the famous Sichuan Hot Pot.
Over the course of this night, some kids spent their accumulated energy (there had been much physical activity as of late) running around in the hallway. A gymnastics meet was believed to have been held in one of the guest rooms. Complaints from other innocent travelers were delivered to the hotel management. So a curfew had to be declared to request all kids be in their rooms by 10:45 each night.
On July 1, we visited Chengdu Panda Breeding Center in the morning. Our kids were excited to finally meet with cute pandas face to face. Four students spent 1000 yuan each to hold a baby panda when posing for pictures. The price used to be 100 yuan but since the 2008 earthquake destroyed another panda facility 100 miles away. Of course this charge is categorized as a donation so each of the paying kids received a certificate commending their goodwill and generosity.

For lunch we went to a Buddhist Temple to feast on a Buddhist vegetarian banquet. It was very delicious. In the afternoon we toured the Wuhou Shrine dedicated to the Chief Counsul to Liu Bei in the Three Kingdoms Era. Around this temple there is another ancient street or a newly remodeled street in ancient styles called Jingling Avenue. It was said to be very crowded. In the evening we watched a live show featuring rapid face masks changing, acrobatics, dances, and other performances. They kids all enjoyed the show. This was evident in their elevated level of excitement when checking back into the hotel.
The weather in Chengdu has been nice. It was a bit humid occasionally. Other than that it has been tolerable.
The next two days will be free days. Some kids have made up their mind to sleep in late. They have been advised not to spend all their time and money in the western style eateries.

Giant pandas

When I asked my daughter what she was most excited about seeing in  China, she replied immediately, "Pandas."

First, baby panda cuteness.


Giant panda males are filmed in the wild by David Attenborough for the BBC, as they mark their territory. Pandas live solitary lives in the wild:


This great National Geographic documentary "Young Explorers: Secrets of the Wild Panda" gives a lot of detail about how pandas live in the wild, (see the whole thing here).
Watch more free documentaries

It has proven very difficult for pandas in captivity to breed or for their babies to survive their first year.  Their wild habitat has been so degraded by human expansion that  one in ten pandas now lives in captivity, as various places attempt to breed pandas in captivity in ways that might ensure their survival. All pandas on loan from China, and any of their offspring, must be returned to China eventually.

The biologist Professor Pan Wenshi has dedicated himself to studying pandas in the wild, and his research has been very important for improving the care of pandas in captivity with the hopes of releasing more pandas into the wild.

The baby panda is born about the size of a stick of butter, naked and blind. Within three weeks its eyes will open and it gains weight rapidly. One discovery from studying baby pandas in the wild is that the mother will leave the cub for hours to feed on bamboo; this was mistakenly interpreted as abandonment, and cubs were taken from the mothers, but did not thrive. Now, zoos have better understanding of how mothers care for cubs, and some zoos that have more successfully raised cubs recently include the Smithsonian, Atlanta, San Diego, Madrid, and zoos in Thailand and Japan.

Pan Wenshi's work has shown that habitat conservation is crucial to panda survival. His own imprisonment during the Cultural Revolution has shaped his drive to study pandas in the wild. He also showed how species conservation is directly linked to alleviating human poverty in a region to relieve pressure on habitat. In addition to pandas, Prof. Pan has contributed to the conservation of other species such as langurs and dolphins.