The first-ever panda seen in the United Kingdom, named Ming, arrived in London in 1938, much earlier than many would expect.
As this year marks the 80th anniversary of the victory in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-45) and the World Anti-Fascist War, a new children’s picture book is set to revive Ming’s story, highlighting the value of peace.
Co-authored by Chinese-British illustrator Yu Rong and British writer Jake Hope, the English edition of Ming: The Panda is scheduled for release on 16 October.
Ming was born in China’s southwestern Sichuan province in 1937. At the time, as the nation was gripped by the brutal war against Japanese aggression and stretched too thin for wildlife preservation, Ming was unfortunately captured by hunters, taken by road to Hong Kong, and ended up in London on a snowy Christmas Eve in 1938.
The cuddly furball, acquired by London Zoo, soon became the talk of the town. Amid the turmoil of World War II, visits to see Ming offered a sense of normalcy and served as a morale booster for British children. Two young royals, Princess Elizabeth — later Queen Elizabeth II — and her younger sister, Princess Margaret, were also among the youngsters.
At the outbreak of the war, Ming was evacuated to another zoo about 37 miles from London, but made repeated return trips to the capital.
Yu believed that Ming’s story should be passed down through generations. Her courage in settling into a foreign country as a cub, the comfort and hope she brought to countless people during the darkest wartime years, and many other aspects of her life teach children important universal values, Yu said.
Most of all, the story shows how peace, hard-won, is something truly precious, she said.
“The world today is still full of conflicts and wars, and there are many places still striving for peace. That’s why we wanted to bring Ming’s story to life.
“It happened here in the UK, and at the time, the people who loved Ming the most were children. I hope that through this connection, young readers today can relate to the turbulence in the world and, through Ming’s spirit as a messenger of peace, be inspired to reflect on it.”
For the illustrator of Chinese heritage who grew up near a bamboo forest in Jiangsu province, creating the book also carries something more. “In such difficult times, our Ming, who came all the way from China, brought with her a spirit that I feel embodied an Eastern sense of gentleness, calm and peace. Although Ming has left us, we truly ought to applaud her,” Yu said.
Yu combines traditional Chinese folk art paper-cutting with pencil drawing in her works. She has won prizes and been short-listed for awards, including one of the most prestigious in her field — the Yoto Carnegie Medal for Illustration.
Ming survived most of the war, yet she died of unexplained causes at the end of 1944.
The whole country mourned its loss. The Times ran an obituary that read, “She could die happy in the knowledge that she gladdened the universal heart and even in the stress of war her death should not go unnoticed.”
It is said that an obituary for an animal was virtually unheard of at a time when only the deaths of the great and the good, and the not-so-good, appeared on the pages of The Times.
In 2015, a life-size statue of Ming, created by a group of artists in Sichuan, was donated to London Zoo to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of World War II and to serve as a testament to the friendship between China and the UK.
Chris Peterson contributed to this story.
