James David Spellman

Opinion | Panda diplomacy: Washington needs another ‘little miracle’

Miracle baby Xiao Qi Ji and his parents are set to leave the National Zoo in Washington unless Beijing extends the panda loan. Dare we hope that the US and China can put their differences aside?

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Three-month-old Xiao Qi Ji, or Little Miracle, gets a checkup in November 2020. The giant panda was born via artificial insemination during the pandemic. More than a million watched his live-streamed birth take place at the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington. Photo: Handout via Xinhua

James David Spellman

Published: 5:30am, 30 Sep 2023Updated: 6:18am, 30 Sep 2023

Once upon a time, when Covid-19 forced the world to shut down and all seemed bleak, a Chinese panda in an American zoo gave birth to a “Little Miracle” – a pink, hairless and blind cub the size of a stick of butter.

For a world in isolation, for people feeling lost, inept, mortal and fearful of destiny, the coming of Xiao Qi Ji – which is Mandarin for “Little Miracle” – on August 21, 2020, revived a feeling of hope and optimism.

We learned the baby was coming mere days before the birth – we couldn’t contain our excitement. There are so many obstacles to the welcoming of a new life when giant pandas have just one chance a year to get pregnant – a precious window of a few days in spring – captive males tend to be uninterested, and false pregnancies are common.

Sadly, many cubs die. And the pregnant Mei Xiang was old at 22, having already delivered six cubs, three of which did not survive. Xiao Qi Ji would be an artificially inseminated baby, conjured up with frozen sperm from the father Tian Tian. Despite pandemic complications, the boy cub would be the first success of such a procedure at an American zoo – the Smithsonian’s National Zoo in Washington.

More than a million bore witness to Xiao Qi Ji’s live-streamed birth; we hoped for a strong future for him. With every bit of progress, from his one-month medical review to his wobbly first steps as a three-month-old, we celebrated.

His adorable personality quickly come into focus: playful, curious, distrustful of surprises like his father, sweet and sassy like his mother. He was weaned and became independent. His slide down the hill during Washington’s first snowstorm last year was pure joy to see. In August, he turned three, a college kid in panda years. Where did the years go? As he devoured his cake of frozen apple and pineapple juice in the torrid heat, who could help but be captivated?