![]() While the Pandas did get attention, they weren’t the top of the news across the nation as had been hoped. Unfortunately, while they were en route, Pearl Harbor was bombed : 95–97 and, when they arrived in San Francisco, front page news was all about war. From there, they took a circuitous route by ship to San Francisco. : 60 The Pandas were then flown to Hong Kong under cover of night and from there to the Philippines on the Hong Kong Clipper. In the end, the atmospheric conditions prevented the broadcast from going through, and the American public had to get the news from the daily press. At 4am in the morning, Chungking time, in early November, 1941, they were unable to get a response from RCA and went ahead with the broadcast blind. The broadcast was to be beamed to RCA communications in Manila and then to San Francisco. : 198–200 The broadcast was to include Madame Chiang, her sister Soong Ai-ling (Madame Kung), David Crockett Graham, and John Tee-Van who had just arrived from the Bronx Zoo to take the Pandas to the U.S. : 59–60 Annalee Whitmore, then working as publicity manager for United China Relief, interviewed the participants and wrote the transcript. Dunn, a CBS radio reporter who happened to be in Chungking at the time, was enlisted to MC the broadcast on XGOY, “Voice of China” radio, to be carried on CBS during prime time in the U.S. After spending some time at Graham’s house in Chengdu, they were brought to Chungking where there was to be a radio broadcast before they were sent off to the U.S. : 55 In the summer of 1941, Madame Chiang enlisted David Crockett Graham to capture a live panda. : 92 Besides the two live Pandas sent to the Bronx Zoo, Graham had also collected a number of skins and skeletons that that were sent to the Smithsonian. There had been previous pandas sent to the U.S., including one named Su Lin sold to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago by Ruth Harkness in 1937, a second one named Mei-Mei brought back by Harkness in 1938 and also sold to the Brookfield Zoo, one named Pandora sent to the Bronx Zoo by David Crockett Graham in 1938, and a second named Pan sent to the Bronx Zoo in 1939. had been sending aid to the Kuomintang (Nationalist Government) in China, and Madame Chiang wanted a dramatic way of saying thank you. The first instance of Panda Diplomacy in the modern era was arranged by Soong Mei-ling (Madame Chiang) in 1941. ![]() Madam Chiang and John Tee-Van of the Bronx Zoo, USA, with the baby Panda in Madam Chiang’s yard in Chongqing, November 9, 1941. Five Principles of Peaceful Coexistence.Visa policy of China ( Hong Kong Macau).Visa requirements for Chinese citizens ( Hong Kong, Macau).State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs.International Military Cooperation Office.International Development Cooperation Agency.Diplomatic missions of China / in China. ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |