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Episode details

World Service,12 Jan 2014,14 mins

The First Panda in the West

Witness History

Available for over a year

In 1936 American socialite Ruth Harkness and her Chinese-American guide, Quentin Young, captured a giant panda cub in the forests of China. Ruth Harkness took the panda to the USA and kept it in her New York flat, before selling it to a Chicago zoo. It was the first time the animal had been seen outside China and panda-mania ensued. It was named 'Su-Lin' and celebrities such as Shirley Temple and Al Capone flocked to see it. Hear from Quentin Young's neice, Jolly Young, about the expedition in search of the panda. ?

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