Once a neglected figure in ancient China’s folklore, literature and artefacts, the panda has become a national treasure and a defining symbol of the modern nation.
How did this black-and-white creature, long overlooked, come to occupy such an iconic place in a country’s cultural imagination?
Palaeontologists have discovered panda fossils across China, some dating back eight to nine million years.

According to early human scholar Wei Guangbiao, many of these ancient specimens show butchery marks, suggesting that prehistoric communities already ate pandas.
Advertisement
The earliest written records of ancient pandas in China appear in the Book of Documents from the pre-Qin period (Paleolithic Period – 221 BC), which describes the animal as “as large as a tiger, with the might of a divine beast.”
By the Three Kingdoms era (220–280), pandas were known as bai pi, or “white bears,” and regarded as ordinary prey.
Advertisement
Folklore even imagined that they could survive by eating iron, earning them the nickname “iron-eating beast.”

Don't Miss:
-
Gulf gamble: will South Korea step up for Strait of Hormuz security?
-
American flag blue? Algae turns Trump’s reflecting pool swamp green instead
-
SpaceX vaults past Amazon’s market value, briefly topping Microsoft
-
Latin America and Europe are bystanders in the US-China AI race, says Lula’s top adviser
-
Europe is gearing up for a trade fight with China. But will it change anything?

Thailand’s Ambitions To Become A Regional Air Hub
Ana Malinow on National Single Payer and Democratic Party off Ramps
America First — But who decides what that means?