Living in a cave or
under a rock would likely still not protect you from the connection between
pandas ("Da Song Mao") and China. My initial reference linking China
and pandas was when I was 9 years old and Richard Nixon was all over the news
for something good: shaking hands with Chairman Mao and
acquiring Ling-Ling and
Hsing-Hsing for the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. Many folks remember Nixon
for Watergate. But, at nine, the thing that stuck in my grey matter was Nixon,
China, Pandas.
I remember various
photos of the seemingly happy Ling-Ling and Hsing-Hsing. There were also
periodic news reports of the poor couple’s inability to mate, or mate
successfully (several pregnancies resulted in dead or quick-to-die cubs). A
match made by Mao and Nixon. No wonder they couldn’t get it on with any good
results. Theirs seems like a tragic international love story, but one that
riveted many people: the panda couple brought to America only to suffer a sad
life of frustrated breeding. Something in the bamboo, I presume?
One would think that
pandas would be everywhere in China. Not so. Not so. In fact, very few exist in
the wild, their habitat destroyed by “progress and development,” their eons-old
mating habits a futile exercise in an ever-shrinking gene pool. If one wants to
see pandas in China, one needs to go to Chengdu, specifically the Chengdu
Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
Chengdu is plane ride
(about 90 minutes) or a train ride (about 12 hours) from Xi’an. We chose the
plane due to time constraints.
If you were paying
attention to the news last week, you knew that Michelle Obama was in China. She
came on a “girls’ trip” (daughters + grandma). There was a stop in Xi’an for
one day (see the Warriors, walk around the Old City Wall, meet some high school
students for some softball Q and A: check, check, check, and moving on . . .).
I am fairly certain that the cultural highlight of their trip to China was not
Xi’an, The Great Wall, or the Forbidden City. It was a visit to see the pandas,
at the preserve in Chengdu.
We landed in Chengdu a
short 48 hours after Michelle et. al. left. Unlike the First Lady, we were not
offered the opportunity to feed the pandas apples on sticks. But that is OK. We
were still wowed and wooed by the big black and white bears (although we were
told they have a completely different genetic lineage from other bears, so can
we really call them "bears"?) who ambled around and lounged about
like sloths. Even if we didn’t feed them an apple, Z got to get up close and
personal with a baby named HeXing.
F
or a “donation” (a
fairly steep donation, to be sure), you can cuddle and hold a baby panda while it
slurps honey off the end of a bamboo shoot. The moment I booked the trip to
Chengdu, Zephaniah could not stop talking about how he was going to cuddle a
baby panda. He had various ongoing fantasies
 |
| Panda Kissing |
about what it would be like, what
he would say, what the panda would think, and how much they would both love
each other for those few minutes of cross-species ecstasy.
The donation to hold a
panda was a foregone conclusion before we even packed our bags to go to
Chengdu.
I was skeptical about
the preserve, being no fan of zoos or any other type of animal enclosure (see
my post in October “Trip to the Zoo”). However, I was surprised and impressed
by the Chengdu preserve. Not only was the area a beautiful idyll of bamboo,
trees, and forested paths but there were several pavilions throughout the
preserve devoted to education on the history of pandas, breeding habits, what
the scientists were working on at the preserve, and why the preserve was
essential to keep the pandas from disappearing from the planet. There were labs
that could be observed in action. The panda nursery was off limits, but for a
few minutes in the morning, the curtains parted and we could view baby pandas
while they were being fed and handled. The areas where the pandas roamed were
better than any I have seen, much better than a zoo – lots of natural landscape
as well as human-made benefits added for panda pleasure (structures to climb
and trees to perch in).
After moving through
several of the educational pavilions and watching a documentary on the mating
and birthing habits of pandas, it was abundantly clear to me that if humans had
not intervened, we would no longer have this species on the planet. Development
has destroyed much of panda habitat; add to that a small gene pool that creates
a real barrier to breeding healthy offspring. These twin curses will quickly
result in the demise of any species.
The scientists who
work at the preserve are most interested in creating healthy babies. They have
gone to great lengths to make that happen. Each panda’s genetics are mapped and
they are then presented with mates which are least like them genetically. But
that is only the beginning. For pandas who are raised at the preserve,
they really don’t “get” how the whole mating thing goes. Most animals learn by
watching other animals mate. But with a small population, there is little
chance pandas at the preserve will happen upon a couple of pandas coupling.
Therefore, they are more in the dark about reproduction than a couple of
Jehovah Witness newlyweds.
 |
| Ke Lin (female ) watching a mating video to get the idea |
Last year the
scientists tried a little “adult panda video” strategy: they videotaped a pair
of pandas having some adult fun and then played the video for a female who was
having troubles allowing her male mate to mount her. It worked. By watching the
video attentively a few times through, the female panda was able to
successfully mate with her science-match male panda. This could be the
beginning of an entirely new market for panda porn. Watch out Hugh Hefner.
Getting a female
pregnant is the first step, but the problems of panda preservation do not end
there. Apparently the panda gestation cycle is as wild as a Midwest winter. She
could gestate for three months . . . or six months. Who knows? Apparently, no
one. Pandas are big and bulky, so her body size and shape doesn’t change much.
She births the baby when it is practically a fetus (about the size of a hot dog
and remarkably similar in appearance, only a hairy hot dog with a bleating
mouth, 3-5 ounces and 7 inches long). The fetus-hotdog-panda-cubs are easy to
lose or miss entirely (some pandas have given birth and walked off . . . “What
was that? Oh, just a hot dog. Wow! Is that thing noisy. I think I
need to head off to the old bamboo patch for a snack.”).
 |
| new born panda (naked-mole-rat-hot dog-fetus) |
Even if she does
notice and accepts that she has, in fact, given birth to a screaming hot dog
that she wants to nurture, the cubs are frail; they have a hard time surviving.
And, as we all know, motherhood is a thankless job. No matter how much you
might enjoy that hot dog-baby, carrying it around by your nipple for months on
end will try even the most patient mother. But leave it behind for a moment or
two for quick break and something is liable to gobble it up as an afternoon
snack.
There was some
riveting footage in the “panda cinema” pavilion that showed a mother who gave
birth and promptly was batting the baby around, as if trying to figure out what
it was or how to get rid of it. The baby, a squalling naked mole rat-looking
mess, would squeal piteously with each swipe of the mother’s giant paw. Panda
hockey. When the uninterested mother finally turned her back, a quick keeper
dashed in and saved the baby. Happy ending.
As these things go, some
mothers are better than others and take to child-rearing with aplomb. They
nurture, they nurse, they produce enough milk to feed the cub. But many are
unable to do any combination of the above tasks required to raise the cub, so
typically the babies are raised together in a nursery setting. It has taken the
scientists years to figure out the cocktail required to keep a panda baby alive
and thriving. It has also taken them years to figure out processes that monitor
hormone levels in females so they can predict when a pregnant female will give
birth. Add to that the years it took to figure out how to breed (artificial
sperm collection and insemination were du rigeur) a panda pair successfully and
it quickly became apparent to me that the pandas owe their current survival to
the scientists at the preserve.
 |
| Baby Panda Pile-Up |
Even so, the ultimate
goal is to return pandas to their natural habitat. I was happy to learn that
the preserve is starting to send pandas back into the wild. This process is
just beginning (only two have been released and are being monitored) and it requires
a whole different level of training and rearing for the pandas who need to be
able to identify predators, escape predators, find their own food, and be able
to problem solve without human intervention (“Uh, oh. I climbed too high in
this tree. It felt so nice climbing up. But now I can’t get down. Help!” or
“Oooh. That bamboo looks wonderful. But on the other side of
the river. Hmm. I bet I can walk across . . . oops. Slippery rocks. Oh, no.
Here I gooooooo.”).
Zhang Xiang, a
two-year-old female, was released into the wild in November after her “rigorous
training.” She is being monitored with a GPS collar and so far is doing well.
She was released in the same general area as a male, Tao Tao – he went through
the same training program and was released a few months previously. Tao Tao and
Zhang Xiang will likely meet each other for the first time in a panda
serendipity. “We’ve never met before . . . but I feel I must know you.
Nice collar.”
The Chengdu Research
Base of Giant Panda Breeding was one of the best things we have seen in China.
The workers, volunteers, and scientists at the base are doing A+ work and the
pandas not only seem well-cared for, but happy and surrounded by a lush,
diverse environment. And we learned a whole heck of a lot about all things
panda. Some panda facts:
-
Pandas have been around, genetically, for 2-3 million years. They are often
referred to as “living fossils.”
 |
| Doing what Pandas do |
-
Pandas are known for eating bamboo and consume about 30 pounds of bamboo every
day. Not only that, but they need to have a diverse diet of bamboo. There are
lots of different kinds of bamboo and each kind offers different nutritional
value to a panda. Because so many types of bamboo are no longer part of the
environment (due to human destruction), pandas often have a hard time feeding
themselves in the wild.
-
Pandas have a mouth like a carnivore (dog-like shape and teeth), so they can
eat meat, but have evolved to choosing meat as the very last choice, preferring
vegetation. They will eat a dead animal if they find it and are hungry enough,
but rarely kill. Sometimes they can fish and have the claws to be successful at
that. Z reported that the only uncomfortable thing about holding the baby panda
on his lap was that the back claws kept digging into his crotch.
-
There are only about 100 pandas in zoos around the world. There are 9 pandas in
United States zoos. If a panda mom in a zoo anywhere in the world has a baby,
at the age of four years, the baby must be returned to the base in Chengdu
(property of China).
-
In six months, a panda baby grows from “naked mole rat/hot dog” (7 inches/4
ounces) to “now you actually look like a panda” (50-60 pounds).
-
Baby pandas depend on their mothers for milk and protection for about one year
and then they are more independent, but it takes another year before they can
survive on their own.
Before we
visited the preserve everyone told us to get there early so we could see the
pandas at their most active: in the morning right after their breakfast.
Following that advice, we were the first ones through the gate at 8 a.m. on the
morning we visited. The preserve sprawls over several acres, so we had a
work-out climbing up and down paths and hills, shaded by trees and monster
bamboo plants reaching nearly twenty-feet high. But we didn’t see any pandas.
We would come upon areas where pandas were supposed to be, but nothing: as
deserted and barren as a 7 a.m. college bar.
Close to an hour after
we walked through the gates, Z asked for the tenth time, “Where are the
pandas?” I was beginning to think we had come all this way simply for a nice
hike. Finally we saw one. One. A big hulk of a guy who looked to be nursing a
hangover, asleep on his bamboo loft. We were thrilled. I took several photos of
him, as if he were the only thing we had come to see. Little did I know that in
a matter of minutes, we would be surrounded by pandas.
 |
| First Panda Sighting |
Come to find out,
pandas are lazy risers. The gates opened at 8, but it wasn’t until about 9:30
or so that the pandas began coming out and moving around. Suddenly they were
everywhere: pandas hanging in trees, piles of baby pandas wrestling on the
ground, pandas meandering through the bamboo. Everywhere we looked there were
adorable white faces peering curiously or politely ignoring us.
At one railing we came
across a cluster of tourists who were snapping photos and laughing with glee at
a lone panda. I took a gander to see what was so interesting. Ah, a panda
pooping, shooting out wads of digested bamboo in perfect view of waiting
cameras. I resisted that particular Kodak moment, but I am sure it would have
made a great “selfie.”
It wasn’t until about
11 a.m. that we came upon the pavilion where we could donate to the cause for a
photo op with a baby. The price is steep, so only a few people – all of us
foreign tourists – were able/willing to pony up the cash for the chance. The
preserve only allows six “donors” a day. There are about 10 panda babies that
are rotated through for the “donor photo shoots.” The babies are about 8-10
months old and weigh about 60 pounds; before that age they are too small to be
handled by people who don’t know what the heck they are doing; after eight
months, they are too heavy and unwieldy for a tourist lap. One panda baby can
be sat upon about three laps before he/she is rotated out and then back he/she
goes to the outdoor play area.
Two baby pandas
shaking their money maker for the preserve every day. Each baby panda sitting
on three tourist laps, looking adorable for the camera, being kissed and
cuddled because they are really so damned cute. Such a far, far cry from the
screaming hot dogs they were only months earlier.
Z got the last slot of
the day and he had to suit up in gloves, a surgical gown, and shoe covering to
go in for the photo op. The baby pandas rather like the photo sessions because
in order to get them to sit still, the handler gives them honey-coated bamboo
shoots.
As with any
eight-month old, the pandas would slurp the honey off the bamboo, toss the
shoot on the ground and then leeeaaan over, reaching out their
paws, to the handler for a new sweet stick to suck on, absolutely
oblivious to the tourist on whose lap they were sitting. The babies would go
through about five bamboo shoots in the minute or so photo shoot: lick, slurp,
slurp, clatter, lunge; lick, slurp, slurp, clatter, luuunge.
After three tourists and about 12-15 honey sticks, they likely needed to go
work off that sugar high. Or collapse in a diabetic coma.
 |
| Panda Love |
I felt more than a
little dirty being complacent in this panda exploitation for tourist money. I
can’t justify it, so I won’t even try.
As we were waiting
around outside for the photos to be developed and presented, a Chinese-American
mother asked me, “Was it worth it?” She had two daughters trailing behind her,
pleading eyes asking for the chance to hold a baby panda. Crap. I looked at her.
What to say? I said, “It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.” She rolled her
eyes. I said, “I know. Shit. It is a donation. A good cause.” More eye-rolling.
Yup. My sentiments exactly. But I did it. I paid the cash. My son got to be the
privileged-class white American boy who held a baby panda for three minutes of
his life.
 |
| HeXing's Nursery Sign |
The panda’s name is
HeXing. He was born the day after Zephaniah’s birthday last July. He won’t
remember Zephaniah, but Zephaniah will remember him.
All Koreans Look Alike
My graduate student
class, “Linguistics, Language and Writing”, is comprised of 20 women and one
man. Because of the gender dynamics, I am filling my syllabus with readings
that pertain to women, the status of women, and gender issues. Last week they
read articles on body image, the influence of media on women’s self-esteem, and
the rise in plastic surgeries and body modification processes like Botox,
teeth-whitening, dieting, liposuction, breast implants, and eye surgeries.
During discussion,
someone stated that South Koreans regularly had plastic surgery. Interesting, I
said. “Why is that?” I asked.
Sidebar: one
frustrating thing about teaching in China is that it is difficult to find
accurate information about what the statistics are for Chinese social issues or
problems. I can find statistics for neighboring countries, but because of
government suppression of information, research in China and publication of
statistics is difficult. I looked, but could not find, information on rates of plastic
surgery in China. For another lesson, I could not find data on domestic
violence rates in China. A student finally located information that said 25% of
Chinese women will experience domestic violence, but the researcher cautioned
that the statistic was likely low because women fail to report incidences of
violence as “family issues are considered a private matter.” I have yet to find
a reliable source that will tell me the rate of HIV/AIDS infection in China,
the rate of abortion, or statistics on prostitution/child trafficking.
Regarding my inquiry
about why South Koreans have lots of plastic surgery, one student offered,
“Because all Koreans look alike. They have to get surgery so they look
different from one another.” I guffawed.
“Do you know what many
Americans say about Chinese people?” I asked. “That they all look alike!”
I looked around the
room at my diverse class. Yes, they all generally have the same color of hair,
skin, and eyes, but they all are individuals and look quite different. They all,
however, now looked startled. “How can we all look alike? That is untrue!”
someone said with surprised indignation.
Yes. Exactly. It is
stereotype created by people who are not paying attention . . . just like you saying
all Koreans look alike.
“No. Really.
Koreans do all look alike. But Chinese people all look very
different.”
O.K. Fine. Whatever.
At the dinner table, I
told this story about my class to Zephaniah. He said, “Are you kidding me?
How could they not believe that all Chinese look alike!”
Zephaniah, apparently
not one to pay attention to details like facial features, is constantly
confusing random people for someone he knows.
Z: “Look! There is
Juan!”
Me: “No. That is not
Juan. That is a woman with long hair and glasses. About the same age as Juan.
But that is not Juan.”
Z: “No. That’s Juan.
Hey! Juan!”
Me: “That’s NOT Juan,
Zephaniah!”
Z: “Hey! Juan! Hi!”
Miscellaneous Chinese
Woman (smiling politely at the American kid greeting her enthusiastically):
“!!??”
Me: (Hurrying Z along
and ferociously whispering) “That. Is. Not. Juan.”
Z: “Hey? Hey, why
didn’t she say hello? Hey! Juan!”
Me: “Oh, my GOD. Will
you STOP doing that? That isn’t Juan!”
Z: “Hey! Look! I see
Simon . . .”
Me: “That’s NOT . . .”
Arrrggggh. “Would you please pay attention? That is not Simon!”
Z: “Mom! That is Simon.
Look! Hey! Simon! . . .”
Mark Henderson, who defended his MAA thesis on April 20, has been hired by Columbia College (Columbia, MO) to work as an instructional technologist. Mark begins work on June 1. 
Dr. Robert Bergland presented Mattew Hunt with the Outstanding Graduate in Convergent Media Award; Dr. Elizabeth Sawin presented Katie Walkup with the Outstanding Graduate in English award; Dr. Susan Martens and Mr. Tom Pankiewicz presented Jay Scott with the Outstanding Graduate in English Education award; Dr. Susie Hennessy presented Anna Guilkey with the Outstanding Graduate in French award; Dr. Miguel Rivera-Taupier presented Lauren Ferguson with the Outstanding Graduate in Spanish award. The EML literary studies committee presented the Sandra Jacobs Award in Literary Studies to Roxanne Chase. The award was presented by Dr. Trish Donaher.
The new initiates are Daniel Cobb, Krista Hague, Matthew Hunt, Betsy Lee, Casey Leslie, Joseph Tucker, and Jessica Voelk. 
Mercedes Lucero, a MWSU graduate in literature with a minor in creative writing, is working on her MA in English at Northwestern University in Evanston, IL. Mercedes was recently awarded a fellowship to attend the University of Kansas where she will pursue a PhD in English and continue her work in creative writing. She will begin her time in Lawrence in the fall of 2015.
Spring
means Foreign Language Day, which brings enthusiastic high school students from
the area to compete with each other. The approximately 150 young women and men
had the chance to demonstrate their skills in a foreign language by
participating in events such as the poetry recitation, poetry Slam, culture
bowl, spelling bee, and a “sell it” contest..JPG)
The students from Maur Hill Mount Academy used their
language skills and other talents to make an infomercial.
The event is an opportunity not only for the students
to practice language skills, but also for MWSU to keep close contact with foreign
language professionals in our region. We acknowledge the efforts of those
teachers; they give their students a jump start on skills that they can
continue developing at the college level. We hope to see many of them here
engaged in modern language course work at Missouri Western.
Alumna LeAnn Neal Reilly's latest novel, The Last Stratiote, is a contestant in the Amazon.com Breakthrough Novel Award. Last week she learned that her novel made it into the quarterfinals, which means that it is in the top 5% of the 10,000 entries. Publishers Weekly is reviewing quarterfinalists now and semifinalists will be announced on June 13.
On Wednesday, April 9, 2014, Dawn Terrick, Director
of Developmental Writing, hosted 80 people at the annual reception for the ENG
100 student publication Discovering the Student,
Discovering the Self. Dr.
Vartabedian kicked off the reception.
Then students received certificates and awards and read their original
work. Students were joined by their
family and friends as well as MWSU faculty, staff and administration and all
enjoyed an afternoon of celebration. 
This is the eighth edition of Discovering the Student, Discovering the Self. The essays that appear in this publication
were selected by the English 100 Committee from submissions from English 100
students. These student essays reflect
the struggle and the joy, the hard work and the rewards that these students
have experienced both in their lives and in the classroom. Furthermore, these essays reflect the
diversity of our English 100 students and the uniqueness of this course. Our students are entering college straight
out of high school and are returning to the classroom after years of work and
family, come from urban and rural areas, and represent different races and
cultures. And this work is truly their
work -- the committee has not made any revisions or corrections to the
essays. We invite you to read these
essays on our website and hope that you will discover the same things that the
students have discovered: during their
first semester in college they are discovering themselves, realizing that they
are part of many communities and defining themselves as individuals, students,
scholars and citizens.
a recipient of a College of Liberal Arts & Sciences Mentor Award. The award recognizes Stephanie's efforts to help develop positive relationships between the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (CLAS) and the students living in the resident halls who are studying in CLAS. She received her nomination from a student in her composition course.
Michelle is the first student to graduate from the exchange program with Xidian University in China. Students in the program complete coursework at Xidian, and then spend a year completing coursework at Missouri Western. They then return to Xidian to complete their thesis and defend it. Michelle's thesis is titled "A Contrastive Analysis of News Reports of Snowden Events in Chinese and American Newspapers from a CDA Perspective."
Dana
Andrews and Cynthia Bartels, Instructors of English, attended the Conference on
College Composition and Communication in Indianapolis, IN.
