Panda-monium sweeps China

Multiple levels of devotion exist within the panda fandom. A regular fan might be satisfied visiting the cuddly creatures in zoos just to enjoy their antics, while a "professional" one delves into pandas' diet, behavior, personality, family trees and more.

China's current top two panda stars, Meng Lan and He Hua are half-brother and sister. Meng Lan, the 8-year-old elder brother, rose to fame in December 2021, after he successfully broke out of his enclosure—in full view of visitors—at the Beijing Zoo. His lively personality has earned him a reputation as being the social butterfly of the panda celebrity circle.

His sister, He Hua, also known as Hua Hua, lives life at the opposite end of the spectrum. The 3-year-old is shy and slow in both moving and eating. She has shorter legs than most and can't climb trees, which is rare among pandas. Her slowness regularly leads to her food being eaten by others, but she seems to remain unfazed.

These two bears, along with their peers, have garnered a strong and growing fan base over the past two years. Ticket sales on March 1-12 at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, home to He Hua, were the highest of any scenic spot in Sichuan Province.

Meng Lan's presence has made Beijing Zoo a must-see destination for tourists to the capital. On weekends, the zoo has had to limit each visitor's duration in the observation area of Meng Lan's enclosure to only five minutes to control the traffic.

National treasures

A live-streamer surnamed Xing on Douyin, China's leading short video platform, has found an effective way of gaining followers—focusing his camera on Meng Lan and live-streaming his daily life at the Beijing Zoo, from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m., the opening hours of the panda pavilion.

Xing made his first live-stream on March 21, using a zoom lens to take a close-up video and giving a narrative on the events in Meng Lan's day. By April 12, he had gained 36,000 followers and now sees an average increase of around 3,000 followers per day.

Although Xing gets up before 6 a.m., there is still a long line of visitors at the zoo gate when he arrives there and begins preparing for his live-streaming at 7 a.m.

"They all come here for Meng Lan," he told Beijing Review. The zoo opens at 7:30 a.m. and the panda pavilion, 8:00 a.m. Securing a good position at the observation area requires not only an early start, but also running and sometimes a little jostling. As soon as the zoo gate opens, Xing rushes to the gate of the panda pavilion, waits for another 30 minutes for it to open, and then runs again into the observation area. "There is a glass wall separating the panda's enclosure and the visitors, all of whom try to squeeze to the front row for a better sight," he said.

"The observation area for Meng Lan's enclosure is always packed with visitors, regardless of the weather," he said. "Some stay here for hours waiting to see a possible 'performance' by the panda."

By "performance," Xing is mainly referring to the bear climbing into the fork of a dead tree in his enclosure and doing the splits in mid-air between the branches. In a viral video of Meng Lan's "prison break" in December 2021, the bear was seen balancing on a large toy ball to reach a cable suspended along the barrier of his enclosure. After reaching the cable, it managed to grasp the bars at the top and pull himself over.

The bear's vigor and agility won him the title of Kungfu Panda. However, the panda on which Abao, the main character of blockbuster Kung Fu Panda, is based is in fact Meng Lan's half-brother. To view Meng Lan's stunts, some especially well-prepared visitors research his daily schedule in advance so as to see him when he is not in sleep.

Born in July 2015 in Sichuan, Meng Lan was transferred to the Beijing Zoo in September 2017. His parents are also stars. His mother, Meng Meng, is renowned as the Queen of Acting at the Beijing Zoo because she is very active and good at posing in front of cameras. His father Mei Lan is the first giant panda to be born at Zoo Atlanta in the United States. As the third child of both his mother and father, Meng Lan has been given the nickname the Third Prince by his fans.

Now, Meng Lan has stolen most of the thunder from his mother, who is still living at the Beijing Zoo. There are currently nine pandas at the zoo and soon they will welcome a new member, Ya Ya, a female giant panda returning from the Memphis Zoo in the United States. It is expected that the number of visitors will reach a new high with this new bear's arrival.

Panda craze

Meng Lan and He Hua have the same father. Born in July 2020, He Hua is not only shy and slow, but also chubby and shorter than the other pandas her age, which has made her more recognizable and look cuter. Some netizens have said when she sits down, she looks like a triangular rice ball.

As the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is an open-range facility, visitors can't get as close to the pandas there as they can to pandas at the Beijing Zoo. But that hasn't dampened enthusiasm for the base. According to a Sichuan Television report, it is now common to see more than 1,000 visitors waiting at the gate before the base opens at 7:30 a.m.

Those who can't make to the base in person can still keep up with the pandas' lives. In addition to the many fan accounts on Douyin, the official account of the base also keeps their millions of followers up-to-date by continuously uploading short videos recording the pandas' daily activities.

In addition to being awed by how cute the pandas are, some fans claim to gain enlightenment from observing the pandas' "life philosophy."

"It is a great relief, after a long working day, to see these lovely pandas on the screen, taking their time, eating and walking at a very slow pace," a netizen commented on one of the videos. "It helps to remind me to slow down and take a break from my fast-paced life."