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When Ya Ya, a giant panda from China, landed in the United States in 2003, several hundred spectators at the Memphis International Airport broke into cheers to welcome the fluffy goodwill ambassador from Beijing.
The moment encapsulated a high-point in US-China relations, coming two years after China joined the World Trade Organization with American support, and as the two countries deepened engagement in areas ranging from the economy to counter-terrorism.
Two decades later, as Ya Ya bid farewell to the US and boarded a plane heading back to China on Wednesday, she has become a symbol of deteriorating relations between the world’s two superpowers, which have fallen to their lowest point in half a century.
She is set to land in Shanghai later Thursday, carried home on board a special FedEx “panda express” plane, Chinese state media reported.
For nearly three months, heated discussions in China about the treatment of Ya Ya by the Memphis Zoo have served to highlight just how antagonistic the US-China relationship has become.
Unlike the chubby, fluffy image of her younger self, 22-year-old Ya Ya has appeared skinny in recent photos, with her black and white coat missing clumps of fur.
Many in China have been shocked and saddened by her condition. Some believed she had not been given proper care and attention – an accusation first levied by animal advocates in 2021 but denied repeatedly by the Memphis Zoo.
Ya Ya and her male companion, Le Le, were due to return to China this year after the end of a 20-year loan. But Le Le died suddenly of heart disease in early February, further fueling suspicions of mistreatment.
As part of China’s “panda diplomacy,” these bears are meant to serve as an envoy of friendship between China and their host country. But for Chinese nationalists, Ya Ya has become a glaring symbol of what they see as America’s bullying and suppression of China.
“Treating our national treasure with such an attitude is an outright provocation of China,” said a comment on Weibo, China’s heavily censored Twitter-like platform.
Meanwhile, videos of two playful, energetic pandas at the Moscow Zoo went viral on Chinese social media, drawing effusive praise for Russia for its care of the Chinese bears.
The apparent contrast between the pandas in the US and Russia was seized on by Chinese state media, which has taken on a pro-Russian stance since Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine and regularly fanned anti-US sentiment.
Determined to rescue Ya Ya from her perceived ordeal, Chinese internet users rallied to bring the panda home as soon as possible.
Some joined an online petition calling for her immediate return, others followed her every move on the zoo’s panda cams livestreams. Chinese people living in the US also took turns to visit her and shared updates on her condition – some flying in from as far as Los Angeles.
Throughout the past weeks, Ya Ya regularly appeared as a top trending topic on Weibo, each time attracting hundreds of millions of views. Photos of her were placed on advertising billboards from New York to Shanghai, along with the message:”Ya Ya, we’re waiting for you to come home.”
Like her arrival in the US, her return to China is laden with symbolism – this time not of growing friendship, but of mounting animosity and distrust.
Diplomatic tool
For eight decades, pandas have served as a something of a barometer of China’s international relations.
