Panda diplomacy is the practice of sending giant pandas from China to other countries as a tool of diplomacy. From 1941 to 1984, China gifted pandas to other countries. After a change in policy in 1984, pandas were leased instead of gifted. Imperial China While there are few ancient records of the giant panda, “During the Manchu dynasty skins of this animal [bei-shung, presumed to be the panda] were sent as tribute to the government of China by the aborigines of western Szechuan and eastern Tibet,” according to David Crockett Graham, Republican Era diplomacy The first instance of Panda Diplomacy in the modern era was arranged by Soong Mei-ling (Madame Chiang) in 1941. China was under siege by Japan, the U.S. had been sending aid to the Kuomintang (Nationalist Government) in China, and Madame Chiang wanted a dramatic way of saying thank you. There had been previous pandas sent to the U.S., including one named Su Lin sold to the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago by Ruth Harkness in 1937, a second one named Mei-Mei brought back by Harkness in 1938 and also sold to the Brookfield Zoo, one named Pandora sent to the Bronx Zoo by David Crockett Graham in 1938, and a second named Pan sent to the Bronx Zoo in 1939. Besides the two live Pandas sent to the Bronx Zoo, Graham had also collected a number of skins and skeletons that that were sent to the Smithsonian. In the summer of 1941, Madame Chiang enlisted David Crockett Graham to capture a live panda. Eventually, two were caught. After spending some time at Graham’s house in Chengdu, they were brought to Chungking where there was to be a radio broadcast before they were sent off to the U.S. William J. Dunn, a CBS radio reporter who happened to be in Chungking at the time, was enlisted to MC the broadcast on XGOY, “Voice of China” radio, to be carried on CBS during prime time in the U.S. Annalee Whitmore, then working as publicity manager for United China Relief, interviewed the participants and wrote the transcript. The broadcast was to include Madame Chiang, her sister Soong Ai-ling (Madame Kung), David Crockett Graham, and John Tee-Van who had just arrived from the Bronx Zoo to take the Pandas to the U.S. The broadcast was to be beamed to RCA communications in Manila and then to San Francisco. At 4am in