By Hu Jinchu

In 1972, Premier Zhou Enlai announced in Shanghaithat a pair of giant pandas would be given to the UnitedStates. "Panda Diplomacy" broke the barrier formed by differences in social system and ideology. The door tofriendship between the Chinese people and people in othercountries was reopened. Other countries and regions alsoshowed a strong desire to receive China's national treasure,the giant panda, hoping to enjoy the same treatment as theUnited States' President Nixon. However, the population ofgiant pandas was too small to meet the hopes of thesecountries. Premier Zhou, who was occupied with a myriadof state affairs, showed great concern towards this. In thewinter of 1973, the premier called a symposium in Beijingto examine the problem of the dwindling giant pandapopulation. After the symposium, the premier decided thatresearch on precious animal resources, especially giant pandas, would be conducted in Shanxi, Gansu and Sichuanprovinces, where pandas were mainly found.

Before long, I received an invitation from SichuanProvincial Forestry Department to establish the SichuanProvincial Precious Animal Resources Research Team.Thus ! left my work on the Yangtze River Water ResourcesResearch Team, which was set up in 1972 for theconstruction of the Three Gorges and Gezhouba reservoirs.After saying goodbye to life on the water with fish as my neighbors, I began to live as a native with mountains as myhome and birds as my companions, walking among the primeval forests.

In the spring of 1974 the Great Campaign of CriticizingConfucius and Lin Biao was in full swing nationwide. Loudspeakers and broadcasting vehicles took to every street and lane. Slogans and big letter posters covered every inch of school walls. Sichuan Province, in which signs of the destruction from the Cultural Revolution could still be seen, once again dropped into a disturbance.

A group of Choulaojiu ("the stinking ninth", derogatory term for intellectuals during the CulturalRevolution) left the oppressive environment and walked into a world of freedom in primeval forests. After suffering various humiliations during the Cultural Revolution, they immediately felt the sky higher and the ground broader.Naturally as biologists, they had a deep love of nature.Released from the pressure they faced as intellectuals during the Cul~ral Revolution, they had an even stronger love. Deep in the mountains, we faced a dangerous natural,environment and'unexpected difficulties and obstacles.These, however, could only make our group unite more closely. Under such circumstances, every group member had the same feeling: we could survive and accomplish our mission only when united as one. Discord within our group could lead us nowhere. The evil fires of distrust and hatred,which had been sown by the Cultural Revolution's endless political conflicts, were extinguished by the rainstorms and floods of nature.Walking into the Homeland of Giant Panda.