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These photos generated rumors on Chinese social media that the pandas were being fed substandard bamboo and contaminated water. Much of the outrage and concern, expressed across millions of social media posts, was couched in nationalist terms.

One Weibo user commented:

Another complained:

Many called for the abolition of panda diplomacy .

The Chinese government responds

The Memphis Zoo controversy happened at one of the lowest points in the recent history of relations between the US and China.

Former President Joe Biden had just ordered the destruction of a Chinese surveillance balloon that had spent weeks in American airspace. Planned diplomatic talks had been cancelled, and both sides were accusing each other of infringing their sovereignty.

Under these circumstances, we might expect the Chinese government to exploit popular nationalist outrage directed at the United States. Instead, its response to the death and illness of the Memphis pandas was measured and conciliatory.

Following Lele's death and just before Yaya's return, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters the pandas had received

Chinese zoological authorities confirmed Lele and Yaya's conditions were normal for pandas“in the geriatric phase of their lives.” They declared that the Memphis Zoo's care of the pandas was“excellent.”

The hawkish state-owned newspaper Global Times ran editorials exonerating the Americans, even while acknowledging nationalist concerns. It would also exonerate a zoo in Thailand where a panda died a few months later. Other newspapers ran stories about the broader benefits to China of panda diplomacy.

A symbol with many meanings

Both the online nationalist outrage and the calming state response to the Memphis controversy show the emotional weight and political importance of pandas in China.

How did they get to be so important? Historians have documented that pandas were virtually absent from Chinese art, literature and culture until the 20th century.

In historical terms, the panda is an unusual political symbol. Many national animal symbols are chosen for their ferocity, such as lions , eagles, and the dragons that long symbolised Imperial China.

Pandas, on the other hand, are loved for their roundness, innocence and clumsiness. If a dragon can be seen as a nation's protective parent, a panda is more like its vulnerable child.

The fact that wild pandas are only found in China deepens this attachment, much as it does for Australians with koalas or New Zealanders with kiwis .

Our search for mentions of xiongmao (panda) in China's People's Daily newspaper shows a developing consciousness of pandas as a rare national animal from the 1950s onwards. This was accelerated in the 1970s by the popularity of pandas gifted to other countries , and the widespread commercialization of panda images.

In 1983, the wild panda population in Sichuan was brought to the brink of starvation by the flowering and death of bamboo plants. This led to the mass mobilisation of the population to save the precious bears through donations and volunteering.

This incident enshrined the language of pandas as“national treasures.” It also elevated the panda as a global icon of wildlife conservation. Today, conservation research is China's main public reason for sending pandas abroad.