Habitat-wise restricted entirely to China today, the giant panda bear is a symbol of peace and friendship for the Chinese people. The animal has been used by its government to maximise political effect for several years now as part of its 'panda diplomacy'.
Beginning in 1957, the People's Republic of China (PRC) has presented countries with its native giant pandas as a way to cement friendship...
and often held back the gift to express its unhappiness with the potential host.
The trend began 60 years ago when the PRC presented the erstwhile Soviet Union with 'Ping Ping'. This was followed by similar gifts to the United States and North Korea as a "token of friendship and goodwill", according to state-run Xinhua agency. However, in 1982, the government pulled the plug on this policy of giving bears away, as the animal became endangered.
Instead, China's cuddly diplomacy transformed and the bears began to be loaned out to select countries.
An Oxford University study from 2013 argues that China's panda loans coincide with important trade deals - the loan representing a "seal of approval".
The rent, currently pegged at $1 million per panda, goes toward panda conservation projects. The rented animals remain the property of China, along with any offspring they may produce.
The most recent receiver of this 'loan' was Germany, which received two giant pandas - Jiao Quing and Meng Meng - for 15 years. The arrival of the pandas has been a starry event from the very start. First welcomed by the mayor of Berlin and the Chinese ambassador to Germany, the animals were then visited by German Chancellor
Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping ahead of the G20 summit in Hamburg.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the welcome ceremony for Chinese panda bears Meng Meng and Jiao Qing in Berlin. (Reuters Photo)
While both leaders posed enthusiastically, there's more to the picture-perfect moment than meets the eye.
According to state-run Global Times, "Xi expressed the hope that Meng Meng and Jiao Qing will serve as new ambassadors promoting friendship between the two peoples."
Significantly, in what can be seen as a nod to China's use of soft power, Merkel said that her country would seize the opportunity to strengthen cultural exchange with China.
But panda diplomacy has not always generated such warm feelings between countries.
In early 2014, the disappearance of flight MH370 - which had atleast 150 Chinese passengers onboard - caused friction with Malaysia. The Chinese government and people felt that Malaysia had messed the investigation up. China reportedly postponed the arrival of two pandas that were to spend 10 years at a Kuala Lumpur zoo, in order to express its dissatisfaction with the way things were going.
Eventually the pandas did make it to Malaysia, albeit after a month's delay.
The significance attached to the pandas and the associated form of diplomacy can be gauged from the extreme reactions of the Taiwanese to a proposed loan of the animal in 2006.
The potential loan was viewed with suspicion by the then pro-independence government of Taiwan. On the other hand, common people seemed very accepting of the idea... even though the pandas' names - Yuan Yuan and Tuan Tuan - together mean 'reunion', a source of the strained history between China and Taiwan.
At a time when China has consistently focussed on spreading its cultural influence across the world - be it through the establishment of overseas universities or the mushrooming of cultural and language centres - panda diplomacy remains a novel way for the country to exercise its soft power.
