China’s First Panda Reserve: A Person, a People, and a National Cause

UC Berkeley's Center for Chinese Studies presents a talk by David Johnson on the roles of the government, individuals, and Baima ethnic community in panda protection efforts.

David Johnson, Professor, History Department, UC Berkeley

During the early 1960s China’s State Council called upon the provinces to set aside land for the sake of protecting China’s wildlife.  Sichuan responded quickly with a plan to create reserves to protect giant pandas and other precious animals.  The actual work of creating a panda reserve, however, became a local project.  A single man led the effort through a tremendous amount of difficult labor and a process that was as much about the local people as it was about the pandas in their vicinity.  The panda reserve became the first space demarcated for their preservation and thus the first experiment site in engaging local people in the national cause of panda protection.  This paper examines the roles of the government, individuals, and Baima ethnic community in defining nature and the nation and the ways that such local efforts reflect issues surrounding species protection beyond China.