Image source: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/17/ming-ming-oldest-panda

In the mid-20th century, China gave giant pandas to other countries as diplomatic gifts. These exchanges weren’t just about animals. They carried symbolic weight. As Marcel Mauss explains, gifts create ongoing ties between giver and receiver. Pandas functioned exactly this way: they signaled friendship, goodwill, and long-term political connection.

In 1984, China shifted from gifting pandas to loaning them under formal agreements. Even with contracts in place, the emotional and diplomatic meaning remained. Many people continued to talk about pandas as “friendship gifts” or “ambassadors,” showing how the spirit of the earlier gift tradition still shapes how panda exchanges are understood today.

Image source: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-41263223

Sometimes the line between "gift" and "loan" can be blurry, so people talk about the pandas in different ways. The emotional/ symbolic viewpoint often uses words like "gift" or "ambassador", even if the legal status is a loan. 

Although pandas are legally loans, the exchange often behaves more like a gift relationship. Drawing on Mauss, all gifts, even symbolic or diplomatic ones, carry a sense of obligation and connection. Panda loans mirror this dynamic. The host country invests heavily in care, habitat construction, and public education, while China maintains ownership and the ability to recall the pandas. This creates a hybrid situation:

• Legally: pandas are loaned, time-limited, and governed by contract.

• Symbolically: they function like gifts that carry the “spirit” of reciprocity such as friendship, ongoing cooperation, and diplomatic signaling.

• Practically: the host takes on the cost and care, while China receives both financial support and a strengthened diplomatic presence.

Because of this, the line between gift and loan can feel blurred. Panda diplomacy is ultimately a system where contracts meet cultural meaning, and where the exchange of animals continues to express the relationship between nations.