Zhi Chun

Basic Profile

Zhi Chun (Chinese: 知春, “Knowing Spring”), studbook number 800, is a female giant panda born on October 19, 2010 at the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas (CCRCGP) Ya’an Bifengxia Base. She was the last giant panda cub born anywhere in the world in 2010.

Her father is Lu Lu (芦芦) and her mother is You You (优优), making her the older sister of Bing Hua (冰华, studbook 929). Her siblings include Qian Qian, Duo Duo, Xin Ni’er, Xiang Lu, Yue Yue, Ban Ban, and Ya Nan.

Offspring

Zhi Chun is an experienced mother of five:

The Anyang Incident (2015–2017)

The Loan

On September 27, 2015, Zhi Chun and male panda Di Di (迪迪) were transferred to Anyang People’s Park in Henan for a three-year exhibition. Their arrival was met with excitement — local residents lined up to catch a glimpse of the city’s first pandas.

The Controversy

In June 2017, a visitor posted videos and photos online showing disturbing conditions at the Anyang panda facility:

• A keeper was smoking a cigarette while handling panda food
• The enclosure appeared dirty and poorly maintained
• Hygiene standards were visibly below acceptable levels

The posts went viral. In July 2017, the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas dispatched an inspection team. Their findings confirmed “irregularities in feeding management and husbandry practices.” CCRCGP issued a formal整改 (rectification) order, and the Anyang facility was forced to implement comprehensive improvements.

Zhi Chun and Di Di remained at Anyang until their loan period ended, but the incident became a widely cited case study in the importance of maintaining standards at panda exhibition facilities.

Wild Training Mother (2020–present)

The Mother-Rearing Method

In 2020, Zhi Chun returned to the Hetaoping Wild Training Base — but not for retirement. She was selected for CCRCGP’s wild reintroduction program, one of the center’s most demanding conservation initiatives.

The program uses a method called “母兽带崽法” (mother-rearing method) : instead of hand-rearing cubs in a nursery, mothers are placed in large, simulated-wild enclosures with their cubs from birth. The enclosures are designed to mimic natural habitat — dense bamboo groves, forest cover, steep slopes — with minimal human infrastructure visible.

Zhi Chun’s role: raise her cubs without human contact.

Keepers monitor from a distance, entering the enclosure only for essential cleaning. When they do enter, they wear camouflage suits smeared with panda feces to mask their human scent. The cubs learn everything — foraging, climbing, nest-building, predator avoidance — from their mother, not from humans.

2022: Wild Training Twins

On July 21, 2022, Zhi Chun gave birth to twins Yuan Fu (缘福) and Chun Xiao (春晓) inside her wild training enclosure. From their first breath, the cubs were raised in the simulated wild environment, with Zhi Chun serving as their sole teacher.

This birth was part of a remarkable 2022 season at Hetaoping: between June and July, six pregnant females were in the wild training program, and five of them delivered twins. Zhi Chun was the fifth.

By 2023, both Yuan Fu and Chun Xiao were approaching the age (1.5–2 years) at which they would be evaluated for potential release into fully wild environments. Yuan Fu was adopted by the game Onmyoji (阴阳师), with the adoption fees supporting the wild training program.

2019 Twins: Two Paths

Zhi Chun’s 2019 twins, Tao Su (桃苏) and Ai Lian (爱莲), followed different trajectories:

• Tao Su (nicknamed Xiao Song Guo/小松果) entered the wild training program with her mother but was withdrawn in July 2023 when she did not pass the release assessment. She now lives at the Wolong Shenshuping Base.
• Ai Lian was transferred to Chongqing Yongchuan Leheledu Animal Theme Park in December 2023, where he lives alongside Qing Hua (青花), Qing Lu (青露), and Qiao Yue (巧月).

Personality

Zhi Chun is described by her keepers at Hetaoping as a calm, capable mother — the kind of panda who adapts readily to the demands of wild training. She does not panic when keepers approach in their camouflage suits. She does not abandon her cubs. She teaches them what they need to know and lets them go when the time comes.

At the Hetaoping Base, keeper Feng Gaozhi puts it simply: “Pandas like Zhi Chun — they’re the ones who make this program work.”