Learn how the extraordinary impact of the pandaxfrom obscurity to famexis also the story of Chinas transition from shy beginnings to center stage Giant pandas have been causing a stir ever since their formal scientific discovery just over years ago For almost a century they defied classification they outwitted hunters and escaped trappers left the public elbowing and zoo turnstiles spinning were sent on diplomatic journeys branded onto products and turned into company logos Thanks to the World Wide Fund for Nature this species became the face of global conservation Yet in spite of humankindxs evident obsession with the giant panda it is only in the last few decades that scientific research has begun to show us what this mysterious frequently misunderstood creature is really like Henry Nicholls uses the rich and curious history of the giant panda to do several things to ponder our changing attitudes towards the natural world to offer a compelling history of the conservation movement and to chart the rise of modern China on its journey to become the self-sufficient twenty-first-century superpower it is today pages of full-color photographs.
