Photo credit: Misc.
Washington, DC CNN: “China’s new panda diplomats touch down in DC. Two giant pandas from China have landed in Washington, marking the first time the US capital has welcomed a new set of furry diplomats from Beijing in 24 years. The FedEx cargo plane dubbed “Panda Express,” carrying Bao Li and Qing Bao, both 3 years old, landed at Washington Dulles Airport at 9:53 a.m. Tuesday.”
Here are some interesting facts about the Panda diplomacy that might surprise you.
Pat Nixon played a significant role in the 1972 Panda diplomacy, which involved the exchange of giant pandas between the United States and China. During President Richard Nixon’s historic visit to China, Pat Nixon accompanied him and was instrumental in fostering goodwill between the two nations.She visited the Beijing Zoo, where she met the pandas and expressed her admiration for them, which helped to promote a positive image of the U.S.-China relationship. Following the visit, the Chinese government presented the U.S. with two giant pandas, Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing, as a gesture of friendship. This exchange was symbolic of the warming relations between the two countries during a time of significant diplomatic change. Pat Nixon’s involvement helped humanize the diplomacy and made the pandas a lasting symbol of U.S.-China relations.
Pat Nixon welcomes the Pandas to The National Zoo. Photo credit: Youtube creative commons
We were stunned to learn that Pat Nixon was the most traveled First Lady and responsible for ‘Panda diplomacy’ when attending a book launch for Anita and Giovanna McBride’s First Ladies Make History at the White House Historical Association. “Pat Nixon brought her own brand of personal diplomacy on all her foreign trips. President Nixon’s 1972 trip may have opened the world to China but Pat revealed its culture and its people and what Americans saw of China they saw through Pat’s eyes – including the pandas. She was charming and open in her dinner conversation with Communist Premier Zhou en Lai which resulted in China’s gift of pandas to our National Zoo,” Anita McBride told us.
A look back courtesy of C-SPAN:
