Saving China’s national animal from extinction has meant moving thousands of people and creating new industries
Gu Xiang has lived on China Panda Avenue for 15 years, but he’s never come close to China’s national animal. “I was born and raised in Sichuan, but I’ve never even seen panda poop,” the 35-year-old tells TWOC.
That hasn’t stopped the black and white, bamboo-munching bears from leaving their mark on his village, Maoshui—not just by lending their name to roads. In fact, Maoshui and its residents were moved to their current location in part to aide the conservation of giant pandas, most of which live in Sichuan province in China’s southwest. The village used to be deep in the mountains, and pandas would even occasionally roam around the neighborhood, Gu claims.
But since the Wenchuan earthquake in 2008, residents were moved to a newly built settlement sandwiched between Wolong National Nature Reserve and Sichuan Fengtongzhai National Nature Reserve, partly to make more space for pandas in their habitat. Though tourists now flock to the panda-themed town, where Gu owns a restaurant, the bears never turn up here.
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