THe Giant Panda Research Center/Duck Soup

The reason there isn't a picture of a panda in this post isn't the usual one. i.e., that I did not see a panda that day, but one uniquely related to the local culture. One of my classmates, Max, has been telling me that I was invited to go with his host mother and father to the Panda Research Center this weekend. The "Giant Panda Breeding Research Base" is located only about ten miles out of Chengdu and, like it says, is a place for doing breeding research (as well as the actual breeding of) pandas. I had been hoping to go there and was looking forward to going there this weekend, but by Friday Max said his family still could not tell him when they were going, and by Saturday morning I had actually forgotten about the whole thing. I had gotten back from my run and finished breakfast and was actually planning on taking the bus into town and scoping out my campus when there was a knock at my door and Mr. Z was excitedly saying something I could not deciphter but it soon became apparent there was someone on the line. It turns out it was Max's houseparents and that we were to leave now. This was not a miscommunication or a failure of Max to let me know. This is how things happen here, in a last minute or last second fashion and one must adjust. So I just put on my shorts and shirt and headed out the door and by the time I was downstairs they were ready to go.

It was certainly worth the inconvenience. I had seen a panda once before about fifteen years ago at the zoo in Washington, but I got to see about twenty or so out here. Although they can roam around, the ones we saw were in their cages either sleeping or eating bamboo. The highlight though was the panda nursery. The first twin pandas in the world this year had been born on August 6th and were in incubators. They were literally no bigger than mice. When you consider the size of a full grown panda, which is after all a bear, it is hard to believe they start out this small. I gather that two babies is very hard on mama pandas so they were in incubators to take care of them and assist the mother who would nurse one at a time. We also saw in the panda video that mama pandas can sometiimes be a bit rough with their newborn and this may have been a bit of protective custody. Anyway, I hope to get some pictures ultimately because Max's father was snapping up quite a few, and when I do I'll let you know.

Max's parents (who I should say are probably in their early 30s) took us to try a Sichuan speciality for lunch. It is known as "old duck soup." The tables at the restaurant have a sort of souppot built into the table. In the pot is a duck that has bee stewing in water for quite some time. And importantly, it is an old duck, because supposedly old ducks are better for your health. You order some things to throw into the pot: vegetables, dumplings, etc. After having some broth and picking some duck off the bone, the vegetables, dumplings, etc, are thrown in and allowed to boil for a water, and you pick the vegetables and dumplings out. It was quite good, though I'm sure the duck would have a different opinion of the whole thing.