The Memphis Zoo pandas touched a nerve on Chinese social media

After 20 years in the Memphis Zoo, the giant panda Yā Yā 丫丫, who is 23 years old, is due to fly home to China by the end of this month. She will land in Shanghai Pudong Airport, be quarantined for a month (in accordance with Chinese animal importation regulations), and finish her journey at Beijing Zoo.

Her journey is being closely watched. “The cute Ya Ya is finally going to return; be strong Ya Ya, eat a bit more, there are many friends waiting to play with you,” reads one comment on Chinese social media. The hashtag 丫丫将回国 (Yā Yā jiāng huíguó — “Yaya is returning home”) on the social media platform Weibo is currently trending at No. 2.

Public concern for her well being reached a fever pitch in China in early February, when her partner Lè Lè 乐乐 died in their enclosure. The incident has been elevated into one of national concern.

The two pandas were loaned to Memphis Zoo through China’s panda diplomacy in 2003. For months before Le Le’s death, people on Chinese social media complained — without much factual basis — that the Memphis Zoo was mistreating the pair, claiming the pandas were given substandard bamboo, malnourished, and lacked enrichment.

All of this despite the fact that the pandas are the centerpiece of a China exhibit at the Memphis Zoo, and treated like stars. Last April, the zoo released a joint statement with the Chinese Association of Zoological Gardens (CAZG) stating that “CAZG feels that the panda bears at Memphis Zoo receive excellent care…The animal care team at the Memphis Zoo works diligently to keep the bears healthy and happy.”

Determined to find fault though, social media users cited photos and videos of Le Le and Ya Ya purportedly looking dirty and emaciated, pacing and engaging in self-harming behavior. One photo in particular, in which Ya Ya sits on a rock looking upwards, has become the basis for numerous artworks:

If these memes seem overwrought and the reaction on social media seems a bit much…there’s more.

A social media-fueled controversy

An autopsy determined Le Le’s death was likely caused by heart disease, and Memphis Zoo has repeatedly refuted accusations of mistreatment. In February 2022, it published an article on its website titled “Memphis Zoo responds to misinformation about pandas,” detailing the regular physical exams Ya Ya and Le Le have undergone. It also noted that Ya Ya “lives with a chronic skin and fur condition which is inherently related to her immune system and directly impacted by hormonal fluctuations,” which is why her fur looks “thin and patchy.”

The vice president of CAZG told China Daily that Ya Ya first began to shed fur in 2006, with her condition worsening in 2014. Treatment by experts from both Memphis Zoo and China were attempted, but did not yield good results.

A zoo spokesperson told Reuters that Ya Ya’s return has nothing to do with the public outcry, but rather because China requires loan pandas to return and spend their final days on Chinese soil. The Memphis pandas have exceeded giant panda life expectancy in the wild by almost 10 years, the spokesperson said. (According to the Smithsonian, scientists estimate the lifespan of pandas in the wild to be around 15 to 20 years, while those in human care often live to be around 30.)

That hasn’t stopped people from spreading rumors online. If nothing else, this is because pandas get clicks.

On Weibo, the topic @孟菲斯的丫丫乐乐 (“Memphis’s Ya Ya and Le Le”), which has more than 119,000 posts, has been viewed 1.7 billion times, with the topic’s 136,000 followers meticulously combing through footage from Memphis Zoo’s livestreamed “panda cam” and mobile videos of zoo visitors. Posters point out what they believe to be behavioral abnormalities or low-quality bamboo, make unfounded observations that the pandas are given contaminated water, or that Ya Ya has not been let out of her enclosure for a while.

There’s occasionally a tinge of nationalism in these posts. Users believe that the intervention of Chinese veterinarians has led to an improvement in Ya Ya’s living conditions. Over the last month, social media users say color is returning to Ya Ya’s face, her fur seems to be recovering, and she is even becoming a bit chubby.

Is panda diplomacy outdated?

Concern for pandas on loan to other locations has also emerged. Users are especially concerned that Tiān Tiān 添添, a panda currently residing in Washington, D.C., may follow in Le Le’s footsteps, after Tian Tian was seen throwing up and lying with an exposed rectum.

Last Thursday, the 21-year-old panda Lín Huì 林慧, who was on loan to Thailand, died, six months before she was due to return to China. According to Chiang Mai Zoo, she became suddenly ill on the morning of April 18 and was seen with a nosebleed, and her condition quickly deteriorated despite being rushed to the care of a joint Thai-Chinese veterinary team. Chinese social media reacted to Lin Hui’s death similarly to when Le Le died, spreading images of Lin Hui’s nosebleed, comparing the two deaths, and making unsubstantiated observations about the zoo’s care of Lin Hui.

Some people are now advocating against panda diplomacy as a whole.

“They don’t care about Le Le and Ya Ya’s life or death, since they see pandas as a diplomatic asset,” one Weibo user wrote a few weeks after Le Le’s death. “Le Le’s sudden death disrupted their rhythm, and awakened us to protect Ya Ya, to protect our human conscience.”

“I am just an ordinary citizen, am not qualified to discuss matters of national importance, and don’t know much about the political landscape — but there’s something I really need to get off my chest: I oppose panda diplomacy,” a Weibo user wrote after Lin Hui’s death. “I ask the country to thoroughly investigate the panda breeding industry and create the conditions to allow our pandas to return to their true homeland!”

“Please do not lower the heat!! Please, will the government quickly bring Ya Ya home! Including Le Le’s body!” another user wrote more recently. “Stop loaning pandas to America! Stop panda diplomacy!”

Update: A few hours after we published the above, China’s Foreign Ministry spokesperson answered a question about pandas from a state TV journalist at a press briefing (English, Chinese), and noted the following:

During the giant pandas’ stay at the Memphis Zoo, they received good care from the zoo and great affection from the American people. The collaborative research on the conservation of giant panda has made positive contributions to the conservation and public education