Analysis
BEIJING – Once pushed close to extinction by human activities, wild giant pandas in China are making a strong comeback. Today, in Baoxing County, southwest China’s Sichuan Province, where French naturalist Armand David first scientifically discovered the species, villagers and tourists are now treated to regular glimpses of these black-and-white wonders. In the first half of 2026 alone, five or six such sightings have already been recorded.
This change is no accident. Over the decades, China has set up many nature reserves to protect the giant panda. In 2021, the Giant Panda National Park was officially established, spanning the three provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu and covering about 22,000 square km.
China is now taking systematic action to better protect its national treasure. The wild giant panda population in the country has grown from about 1,100 in the 1980s to nearly 1,900, according to the 2025 data from the National Forestry and Grassland Administration.
FLAGSHIP SPECIES
In the 1980s, the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda started with just six pandas rescued from the wild and began exploring captive breeding.
At the center’s Shenshuping base in Sichuan, the natural mating season has just wrapped up, and many female pandas have successfully conceived. Cheng Jianbin, a captive breeding expert at the center, said that at the start of each year, the base selects healthy pandas of suitable age, assesses their genetic diversity and population value, and draws up detailed breeding plans. After the cubs are born, keepers stand guard 24 hours a day.
Every year, the base gives each panda at least one physical checkup and provides timely treatment if any health issues are found. “Whether they are in mating season, pregnant, elderly, sick or disabled, every panda receives meticulous one-on-one attention,” said Wang Xi, a giant panda healthcare specialist at the center.
According to Wu Honglin, deputy director of the base, it has bred a total of 199 giant pandas. By the end of 2025, China’s captive panda population had reached 808. “What we aim for is not simply an increase in numbers, but a steady, sustainable, high-quality growth of the panda population,” Wu said.
Since 2003, the center has led research into wild training and panda release. So far, 11 captive-bred pandas have been released into the wild, nine of which have survived. This growing confidence in returning pandas to nature stems from China’s dedicated, systematic efforts to protect and restore panda habitats.
Since the Giant Panda National Park was established, about 72 percent of wild giant pandas have been placed under strict protection. The protected panda habitat area has increased from 1.39 million hectares to 2.58 million hectares. The park has integrated 73 nature reserves across the three provinces, connecting the habitats of 13 local panda populations. In addition, six ecological corridors have been built to allow pandas to move freely within the region.
On June 11, the 10th cross-regional joint patrol of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu kicked off in Longnan City, Gansu. Since 2023, over 20 agencies from the three provinces, including park authorities, prosecutors and police, have set up a regular joint patrol system. The patrols focus on combating poaching, monitoring giant panda activity, protecting key wildlife and plant species, and identifying environmental and safety risks. Ten patrol routes have been set up, covering a total length of over 200 km.
“Joint patrols have turned protection efforts from fragmented actions into a coordinated network,” said Ma Junlin, director of the Shaanxi administration of the Giant Panda National Park.
The giant panda is a flagship species for biodiversity conservation. Its habitat is also home to thousands of other wild animals and plants, including crested ibis, golden snub-nosed monkey, snow leopard, and trees such as dove tree and Chinese yew. As the park’s ecological health improves, it provides a wider umbrella of protection, ensuring a safer haven for countless other species.
“In the past, it was hard to spot a bharal. Now we see them foraging in groups in the valley at any time,” said Zhou Tinghong, a staff member of the Huanglong National Scenic Area Administration Bureau in Sichuan. He added the recovery of the bharal population has also driven the return of apex predators. “This is direct proof that the local ecological chain is intact and improving.”
TECH POWER
At a wildlife rescue and breeding base in Wenxian County, northwest China’s Gansu Province, a screen tracks wild giant pandas in real time. Base director Liu Zhi can plan the next patrol route with just a few clicks – a far cry from over two decades ago, when rangers trudged through mountains guided only by luck and experience.
According to Liu, the area managed by the base is one of the regions with the highest density of wild giant pandas in the Giant Panda National Park. “The new technologies give us a more accurate understanding of population changes,” he said.
A “space-air-ground” intelligent monitoring system is now in place, integrating satellite remote sensing, aerial photography, and ground sensor networks. With more than 1,500 infrared cameras and over 20 drones deployed, and linked to a smart forestry and grassland big data platform, the system enables round-the-clock, multidimensional monitoring of hydrology, meteorology, wildlife and plant life.
Today, technology does more than just pinpoint where wild giant pandas roam. It also allows the team to more accurately tell individual animals apart. In the Tangjiahe area of the Giant Panda National Park in Sichuan, technological upgrades now let staff collect fresh wild panda feces and perform DNA testing to identify individuals. This helps them get core data, including sex, age, health status, and activity patterns.
Building on this, the area achieved another technological breakthrough in panda conservation last year. “We have fully rolled out AI-powered ‘panda face recognition’ technology,” said Xiao Mei, an official with the administrative office of Tangjiahe National Nature Reserve.
The Tangjiahe area now operates a dual monitoring system that combines fecal DNA analysis with AI-powered panda face recognition. In 2025, the system detected a total of 44 individual giant pandas. It has clarified the size of the wild panda population, individual traits, and activity ranges in the area, providing scientific data to support wildlife conservation and regional ecosystem restoration.
Eco-environmental research experts from the Chinese Academy of Sciences noted that digital tools are shifting giant panda conservation from an “experience-driven” to a “data-driven” approach. With AI image recognition, the efficiency of monitoring wild panda populations can be increased by more than 40 percent.
SHARED HOME
China’s national park law, which took effect on Jan. 1 this year, divides national parks into core protection zones and general control zones. Core protection zones are strictly managed, while in general control zones, activities such as science education and eco-tourism can be reasonably planned. Luoyigou Village in Qingchuan County, Sichuan, is located in a general control zone of the Tangjiahe area.
Pu Youhai, 72, was once a hunter in his youth in the village. After the national hunting ban, he turned to farming. With the development of the Tangjiahe area, villagers moved from the core protection zone to the general control zone and started an eco-friendly beekeeping industry. Pu became a beekeeper.
The village now keeps more than 3,000 beehives, with an annual output value of about 1.6 million yuan, helping more than 60 households increase their annual income by 20,000 to 30,000 yuan. “We used to live on what the mountain offered, with an unstable income,” Pu said. “Now we make money from beekeeping, and our life is getting sweeter by the day.”
Villagers have made way for giant pandas, and the pandas are giving back to this land. With nature on the mend, tourists are flocking to the area. Many local young people have returned to their hometowns to start businesses, and rural restaurants and homestays are thriving.
“My husband and I used to work far from home, earning just a few tens of thousands of yuan a year,” villager Zhang Aihua said. “Now we run a homestay, and we can make 60,000 yuan in just two peak months.” Currently, Luoyigou has 72 homestays, receiving 150,000 visitors a year, with total annual tourism revenue exceeding 30 million yuan.
Zhang and more than 30 other villagers also work part-time as ecological rangers, protecting the national park’s gateway community, which covers more than 60 square km. “We will do a good job guarding the gate for the national park,” she said.
Yang Yong, a homestay owner in the village, now feels nothing but joy when black bears come to eat crops on his land. Familiar with the habits of local wildlife, he has also partnered with environmental organizations and become a nature education guide. In his spare time, he leads children who come for summer retreats and study tours into this “nature classroom.”
Similar efforts are also underway in other areas of the Giant Panda National Park. At a giant panda origin camp in Baoxing County, visitors can see panda feces turned into bookmarks and scented candles at study workshops, and can also make “wotou,” a type of steamed cornbread treat for pandas, by hand.
Earlier this month, He Xiaolong, a 63-year-old cycling enthusiast, took an 8-km detour with his companions to visit the camp. “I’ve seen giant pandas before, but I learned a lot more today. I’ll definitely study deeper when I get back,” he said.
Chen Yang, a nature education instructor at the camp, said that offering nature education programs in the Giant Panda National Park not only helps spread the concept of biodiversity conservation to the public but also boosts local industries. In 2025, Baoxing County received 4.63 million visitors, with total tourism revenue reaching 4.09 billion yuan. – AFP
Giant panda cubs are pictured during a group appearance event in celebration of the Spring Festival (Chinese Lunar New Year) at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, capital of Sichuan Province, on Feb. 4, 2026. – Xinhua
