1938 Trip to Wolong and Pandora the Panda
Item
-
Title
-
1938 Trip to Wolong and Pandora the Panda
-
Description
-
This event describes and illustrates the journey of Edward Beatty and Gilbert Vinden on the route to “Mao Shin Tze” [Maoshuizi] where Pandora the baby panda was captured in 1938. This town is near Wolongguan where another baby panda, Pandee, was captured in 1941. There is a panda reserve at Wolongguan today.
-
Commentary
-
In the spring of 1938, the mountainous region west of the Min River in Sichuan was swarming with bandits and defected soldiers who were ambushing travelers and villagers to take all their possessions and destroy their property. Traveling in this region was risky, but China Inland Mission (CIM) missionaries Edward Beatty and Gilbert Vinden embarked on a journey to take needed supplies to their station at Mowkung [Meixing], Sichuan (1). This took them through panda country which, in the 1930s, stretched between Ningyuenfu [Xichang] in the southwest and Songpan in the northeast (MAP_007 and MAP_008) (2). Much of this mountainous region was the Kingdom of Wassu, home to the Wassu hunters who were to become the most successful panda hunters (MAP_009).
Beatty’s account of the journey in the West China Missionary News traces the geography of the homelands of two famous giant pandas that were captured and lived in American zoos in the 1930s and 1940s (3). These were Pandora, who entertained visitors to the World’s Fair in New York in 1939 (4), and Pandee, the female panda who was captured in 1941 as a gift from Chiang Kaishek’s government to the “children of America.” Both these pandas were captured near Wolongguan (“Sleeping Dragon Town”), the site of a present-day panda preserve (5). Pandah, the male panda given by Chiang to the US was captured near T’ao Pai [Chaopo, or Caopoxiang], the location where Ruth Harkness captured Su-lin and Mei-Mei (see “Harkness Panda Maps”) (6).
To follow Beatty’s and Vinden’s route through panda territory, we can follow a segment of the map that YMCA missionary, George Helde, published in 1923 (MAP_010) (7). It provides the place names then in use, which correspond with those mentioned by Beatty. By aligning these with today’s place names on Google Maps, we can follow their journey through well-known cities and across trails that no longer exist today. Some key locations used for orientation are Chengdu, Kwanhsien [Dujiangyan] and Wo-Long-Kuan [Wolongguan] near the Wolong National Nature Reserve (MAP_011 and MAP_012).
The CIM missionaries embarked from Kwanhsien [Dujiangyan], which is about 45 miles northwest of Chengdu. At the confluence of the Min River at Shen K’eo [Xuankoucun], they headed west along the Dadu River. On this stage of their journey, the pair passed Shui Mo Ko [Shuimozhen] and San Chiang Ko [Sanjiangxiang], where they turned northwest along the Zhonghe River to reach T’sao P’in Pa [Caoping] on the second day (MAP_013).
From Caoping, they continued up the river as far as Maoshuizi, then they left the river behind to cross the Niu-T’eo-Shan pass [Niutoushangou, “Cow’s Head Pass”] to reach the P’i T’iao River [Shaotang River], which they followed to Wo-Long-Kuan [Wolongguan] by the fourth day. There is no road that traverses this route today (MAP_014).
Beatty and Vinden attempted to continue to Meixing, but they were turned back by near brushes with bandits. On their return trip they stopped in the tiny village of Maoshuizi where they encountered the baby panda, Pandora (MAP_015) (1). Vinden took the first known photo of Pandora with Beatty nudging her towards the camera (8).
Canadian educational missionary, Frank Dickinson, had promised to get a panda for Dean Sage and the Bronx Zoo in time for the New York City World’s Fair (9). Mrs. Dickinson, who was in Dujiangyan purchasing art supplies, caught word that there was a baby panda in captivity in a village in the interior. Den Wei Han, a natural science collector whom David Crockett Graham had trained, secured the baby Pandora for Frank Dickinson (2). Once Pandora arrived in Chengdu, she lived with David Crockett Graham near the Baptist residences while he taught her to eat different food, and then she was moved to the Dickinson compound on the “Canadian Row” across the WCUU campus (MAP_016) (2). On this website, the story of Pandora’s stay at WCUU and her journey to America are recounted in “Pandora the Panda in Chengdu” and “Pandora: From Sichuan to the World’s Fair.”
-
Event Date
-
1938-04-02 to 1938-04-13
-
References
-
1. Edward E. Beatty. “The Bandit Chief.” West China Missionary News 40, no. 11 (Nov. 1938): 389-391.
-
2. Graham, David Crockett. “How the Baby Pandas Were Captured.” Animal Kingdom 45, no. 1 (1942): 19-23.
-
3. For photographs of Beatty and Vinden’s journey, see Historical Photos of China:
-
TRIP TOWARDS MOWKUNG. / CANTILEVER BRIDGE OVER THE PI-TIAO RIVER - CARRIERS CROSSING. BEHIND BEATTY
-
TRIP TOWARDS MOWKUNG. / RIVER FROM TOP OF HILL, WEST OF KWANHSIEN. EAST OF SA K K
-
EARLY MORNING VIEWS FROM "COW'S HEAD" MOUNTAIN
-
G.VINDEN AND BEATTY AFTER TEN DAYS MOUNTAIN TRAVEL
-
4. Martin Douglas. “Yes, We Have No Bronx Pandas: The Bears Seem to Be Everywhere Except New York.” New York Times Oct. 5, 2000, B5.
-
5. DC Graham (Chengdu), to John Tee Van (Chicago), Nov. 30, 1941.
-
David Crockett Graham Digital Archives
-
6. Ruth Harkness. The Lady and the Panda. Carrick and Evans Inc., 1938, p. 166.
-
7. George G. Helde. “Map of Part of Tribes Country.” The Journal of the West China Border Research Society 1 (1922-1923): oversize insert.
-
8. HPC “Mr Beatty guiding a baby panda to face the camera”
-
https://hpcbristol.net/visual/GV02-32
-
9. Frank Dickinson (Chengdu) to Jesse Arnup (Toronto), July 15, 1938. UCCA 1983.047C United Church of Canada Board of Foreign Missions, West China, 6-136.
1941 Graham's Giant Panda Hunt
Pandora the Panda in Chengdu
Pandora: From Sichuan to the World’s Fair
WCMN The Bandit Chief, 1938
Annotated Google Map of Panda Territory
Annotated Map of the Route between Caoping and Wolongguan
Annotated Map of the Route between Xuankoucun and Caoping
Annotated Map of Tribal Regions in Sichuan's Southwest, 1920
Annotated Map of West China, 1920
Annotated Segment of Helde's "Part of Western Szechwan"
Map Detail of Region between Wolongguan and Maoshuizi
Map of Region between Chengdu and Wolongguan
Map of the West China Union University Campus
Map Showing Relation of Panda Captures to Panda Reserve