Pandas and the Chinese opera

In the morning I went to the Panda Breeding Center. I saw a few young Pandas, mid-age and one mom with a few-months old baby. The center is located on 30 some hectares and it will be enlarged into over 200 hectares in the near future. There are Giant Pandas and Red Pandas there. Giant Panda everybody knows: it's a bear (although some scientists believe it belongs to a racoon family) with black and white markings. The Red Panda does look more like a Racoon: its fur is red and it is much smaller than the Giant Panda. The animals have lots of space to run around and they look happy in the center. I am against any type of zoos or breeding centers - I think if people were foolish to let the animals become extinct they should just let the remaining ones die in peace and not keep them in cages. This center, however, looks quite nice, the animals don't look bored, they seem to enjoy their peaceful life there, maybe because their nature is rather sluggish anyways and they don't need so much running around as other species... I felt sorry for them at first, for not living in their natural habitat, but then I though that being so pampered (having enough food, company, having the medical care and not suffering from any diseases) the remaining ones have a much better life than any of the Chinese farmers, not to mention farm animals and cats and dogs which end up in a stew... I saw an interesting movie about the center. It started operating in 1995 with 40 individuals. Now there are about 1000 Giant Pandas in the world. It's impossible to avoid inbreeding when the species is being recreated from such a limited number of animals so eventually they are bound for extinction anyways. The scientists are doing genetic map of every animal that is born in captivity and some of them are hopeful that this, and eliminating genetical diseases, will save them. They are beautiful. They are born very little, a few kg (a grown up Panda is about 80 kg), and literally develop in her or his mom's arms for the first few months (the mom is holding the baby constantly, kissing it, caressing and feeding) and then doesn't live the mom's side until it is 1,5 years old. From the age of 5 to 18 Panda is in its mature and reproductive stage and after 18 it enters the senior age and lives to about 22 years of age. I observed the young ones play and they looked very much like Max and Buff playing: tugging each others ears, legs and tails, rolling over, sliding down the hills, jumping on each other, making noises similar to dogs. When they eat they sit on their bottoms with legs streached out in front of them, they take a twig and first rip off all the leaves from it and then start chewing them all together. They mostly feed on bambu leaves but only certain species of it. The Red Pandas are more active and they were running around, chasing each other, stumping their feet on trees and the ground, tup, tup, tup. They look more like racoon-cats than bears.

After I came from the center I just wrapped myself in blankets, got a pot of green tea, and lured two cats who live in the hostal (Mimi and Mimi since all cats in China are called Mimi) to serve as my space heaters. They liked it very much, one sat on my belly, the other on my legs and were collectively curing me of my cold with their wormth and energy. These colds and infections of mine really get on my nerves. I hope I will strengthen my body in Tibet and nothing will attack me anymore. I found a book by Elia Kazan "The Arrangement" and spent the time reading. And in the evening I went to see the Chinese opera. It consisted of a band, a short play, a soloist singing, puppets, shadow theater, gimnastics, colorful costumes and masks, but it wasn't anything special. I saw better Chinese opera in NY and I have some CDs so I know it can be much better. But the drive to the opera house was nice. Chengdu by night looks like a western city: lots of neons, shopping centers, restaurants... The driver also picked up two more passangers, a couple of British doctors who have lived in Shanghai for the past ten months. It was interesting to talk to them. I met yet more people who tell me Tibetan medicine is the best. I can't wait to see how it works...

About the Chinese countryside as seen through the windows of the train. It looked very poor. Guatemala and Nicaragua looks rich in comparison... Everything looks gray. There are factories everywhere and their huge chimneys emanate so much smog and soot that small but long farm houses in villages and apartment buildings in small cities are covered with gray dust. Also, nothing seems to be ever renovated, repaired or painted over. It seems that a building is built and it stands until it disintegrates... The train was going along a river most of the time and there were hills around it. Most of them were tarased for the crops. The soil in general looks rather unsuitable for farming so every suitable piece is used. In South America there's lots of color everywhere: the buses are painted in strangest colors, people wear colorful clothes, and music blares from every corner. Chinese countryside looks gray and quiet. People don't look sad, though. They laugh a lot, at least in Beijing they did and they do in Chengdu so I would assume this happiness comes from the culture. I will write about it in a minute, in the next entry so that I don't loose whatever I wrote so far.