Amid heated controversy over China’s panda diplomacy, news of the giant panda ‘Fubao’, born in Yongin, South Korea in 2020, appeared at the top of popular search terms on Chinese portal sites, attracting attention.
Zhongxin Spin, a video platform run by China’s Chinese newspaper network, became a hot topic on the 3rd when it released a video of Pubao, a panda living in Everland, Yongin, Korea, and Kang Kang-won, a professional breeder. In the middle of this video, Kang’s zookeeper introduced Pubao, who he is in charge of, using Chinese, and Chinese netizens are cheering.
In fact, the river breeder in the video said, “Le Bao (male, born in 2012), Ai Bao (female, born in 2013), and the Fu Bao family eat regularly, rest, exercise, and meet tourists in ‘Panda World’.” He eats more than his mother and is growing healthily.”
The video containing his introduction became a big topic right after it was reported through the media. Local media openly expressed their friendliness by calling the river keeper the nickname ‘panda’s grandfather’. Zookeeper Kang said in this video, “I found out online that people in China are interested in the Aibao panda family. Thank you.”
In particular, it was introduced through local media that the breeder had a strong affection for the panda, enough to accurately remember the time Fubao was born, as well as the weight at the time of birth and the number of days since he was born. However, it is known that Pubao, who is in charge of Kang Keeper, was born in South Korea but will return permanently to China within two years at the earliest.
There are a total of three pandas in Korea, including Fu Bao. When President Xi Jinping visited Korea in 2014, Ai Bao (female) and Le Bao (male) arrived in Korea promising to send a pair of pandas. was born in Fu Bao.
Although each of these pandas was sent as a gift from China or was born in Korea, they actually belong to the Chinese government and live in Korea on a ‘rental basis’. This is because China has been exporting all pandas abroad only in the form of rental since the 1980s. Although it still needs to be negotiated, it is known that Fu Bao will also go to China when she turns 4 years old.
On the other hand, the breeder of the river is called the so-called ‘panda father’ or ‘panda grandfather’. The only panda couple in Korea, Le Bao and Ai Bao, as well as Ming Ming and Li Li, who came to Korea in 1994 on the second anniversary of diplomatic ties between Korea and China, but returned to China after three years due to the IMF financial crisis, were also taken care of by breeder Kang.
Correspondent Lim Ji-yeon cci2006@naver.com