老外在中国：熊猫——传播善意的外交名片

从1972年起，中国的“熊猫外交”已经存在很多年了。如今，已经有14个海外国家拥有象征着中华人民共和国友谊的熊猫特使。

By John Lydon

Germany was buzzing late last month with news that a long-awaited giant panda pair had arrived at the Berlin Zoo. The zoo had been without a panda since the death of Bao Bao five years earlier, and panda mania gripped the nation as the public waited to see Meng Meng and Jiao Qing.

6月下旬，德国民众开始沸腾，资讯报道称民众盼望已久的一对大熊猫已经抵达柏林动物园。自从5年前熊猫“宝宝”去世后，柏林动物园中就再也没有熊猫的身影了。德国民众对“梦梦”和“娇庆”翘首以盼之时，熊猫热潮已席卷德国。

On July 5, the day before the new $10 million Chinese-themed enclosure would open, the zoo held a welcoming ceremony for the pandas. Visiting President Xi Jinping toured the enclosure with German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

7月5日，在造价千万美元的中国风大熊猫馆开放的前一天，动物园为熊猫们举行了一场欢迎仪式。德国总理安格拉•默克尔陪同来访的中国国家主席习近平参观了大熊猫馆。

Merkel was overjoyed with the arrival of the "special envoys", telling Xi they were a "symbol for the relationship between our two countries".

默克尔对“熊猫特使”的到来感到十分欣喜，并对习近平表示，它们是“两国关系的象征”。

How right she was.

默克尔说的非常正确。

"Panda diplomacy" has been around for years.

“熊猫外交”已经存在很多年了。

In February 1972, US president Richard Nixon traveled with his wife, Pat, and adviser Henry Kissinger to Beijing to meet Mao Zedong and Zhou Enlai, dramatically ending Washington's diplomatic cold shoulder toward the New China. Beijing, to underscore its goodwill toward the United States, sent two giant pandas to Washington the following month.

1972年2月，美国总统理查德•尼克松与妻子帕特、顾问亨利•基辛格一起访华，并与毛泽东和周恩来会晤，结束了美方对新中国的外交孤立政策。北京为了表示对美国的善意，于同年3月将两只大熊猫赠送给华盛顿动物园。

It’s a gesture that China has often repeated in various countries. In March, for instance, two pandas were sent to the Netherlands. Fourteen foreign countries now have giant pandas, sent as a token of friendship by the People's Republic.

这是中国外交经常出现的一种姿态。例如，2017年3月，两只大熊猫被送往荷兰。如今，已有海外14个国家拥有象征着中华人民共和国友谊的大熊猫。

It’s such a heartwarming diplomatic gesture, you have to wonder why other countries haven't followed suit.

这是一种暖人心房的外交手段，你一定想知道，为什么其他国家没有效仿。

Sure, after the National Zoo in Washington received the gift in 1972, Nixon reciprocated by sending a pair of Alaskan muskoxen to China. But it's not the same. A muskox just doesn't say “Greetings from the US”.

当然，在1972年美国华盛顿国家动物园收到中国的礼物之后，美国总统尼克松也送了中国一对阿拉斯加麝牛作为回礼。但二者的意义是不一样的。一只麝牛确实不能被看成“来自美国的问候”。

For that you’d need the bald eagle, the US national bird, as seen on dollar bills, or the American bison, the national mammal.

如果非要以动物来代表美国的问候，你需要的是美钞上的美国国鸟秃鹰，或者美国国兽美洲野牛。

Most countries have a designated national animal, such as Russia's Eurasian brown bear or India's Bengal tiger. Some chose birds, like France's Gallic rooster and Colombia’s Andean condor, and some reptiles, like Indonesia's Komodo dragon.

大多数国家都有代表本国的特定动物，如俄罗斯的欧亚棕熊或印度的孟加拉虎。一些国家选择鸟类作为代表国家的动物，比如，法国的高卢雄鸡和哥伦比亚的安第斯神鹫，还有一些国家选择了爬行动物，如印度尼西亚的科莫多巨蜥。

One could imagine a pair of any of these creatures serving as a diplomatic greeting card to a foreign country.

你可以想象一下，如果将从上述生物中选两只作为外交名片送到他国去，会是什么结果。

Still, the panda seems to have an inexplicable universal charm.

然而，熊猫似乎拥有一种神奇的万能魅力。

In the excitement leading up to the arrival of Xing Ya and Wu Wen at Ouwehands Zoo in the Netherlands, de Volkskrant newspaper in Amsterdam published an explanation of the phenomenon.

“星雅”和“武雯”到达荷兰欧维汉兹动物园后，荷兰民众激动不已，总部位于阿姆斯特丹的荷兰《人民报》刊文解释了此现象。

According to de Volkskrant, human beings are psychologically wired to feel tenderness for pandas. It's called the "baby effect". As with human infants, the pupils of a panda's eyes appear proportionately too big.

《人民报》认为，受心理影响，人类认为熊猫有着其他动物不具备的讨喜气质。这种气质被称为“婴儿效应”。因为熊猫和人类婴儿一样，眼睛瞳孔的比例都非常大。

"The panda's eye patches, moreover, sit just right, with the corner of the eye lower, a shape that people associate with supplication and subservience," the newspaper quoted psychologist Mariska Kret of Leiden University as saying. "Turn them the other way around and you get an angry looking face."

“此外，熊猫黑眼圈的位置也是恰到好处。向下倾斜的形状会给人恳求和服从的感觉”，该报援引荷兰莱顿大学心理学家玛丽斯卡•克列特的话称，“如果把熊猫的黑眼圈换个方向，就会产生完全不同的效果。你会看到一张愤怒的脸。”

Add the round ears, small snout and head that looks proportionately too big, de Volkskrant added, and it's like a baby, huggable.

《人民报》还写道，再加上圆圆的耳朵，小鼻子和看起来比例过大的头，它就像一个婴儿，招人喜爱。

I can't imagine saying that about a bald eagle.

你说秃头鹰也像婴儿一样讨喜？我无法想象。