The flowering of the bamboo creates a food shortage for the giant panda.

The year is 1989. and Zhang Zhihe has just graduated from college. He becomes a vet at Chengdu Zoo. For the first time, he becomes involved in saving a giant panda.

By the time he sees the pandas again, seven years later, Zhang Zhihe is a researcher at the panda base. But he faces an immediate problem in his work. The giant pandas are too old. Although two cubs were born at the base, they died soon afterwards.

It’s 1997, and faced with little alternative, Zhang Zhihe starts an experiment on the use of artificial insemination. The first step is to collect semen from a panda under anesthetic.

The giant panda knows what anesthesia is all about, so he runs away at the sight of Zhang Zhihe.

For Zhang Zhihe, collecting the semen turns into a nightmare.

So, despite the physical pain they are causing the panda, they aren’t always able to collect the semen. The panda they have chosen for the experiment refuses to eat and drink afterwards. So, the experiment has to be suspended.

By 1998, Zhang Zhihe is facing a dilemma – to continue or not to continue. In an attempt to improve the situation, he proposes inviting scientists from overseas to conduct research jointly. To his surprise, almost all of his colleagues say – no.

And so a team of American scientists arrived at the Chengdu giant panda research base. Even though they had never worked with giant pandas before, they brought with them the new equipment Zhang Zhihe wanted.

At normal temperatures, the semen is only good for 72 hours after it’s collected. A female giant panda ovulates only once a year. So the artificial insemination had to be conducted within 24 hours to make pregnancy possible. So right away, Zhang Zhihe starts preparing Susu, the female giant panda on heat.

However, the liquid inseminated dribbles straight out again. There is no chance of achieving pregnancy.

With every minute counting. Zhang Zhihe asks what equipment is available. He attempts the insemination again. But at the critical moment, something terrible happens. The glass tube breaks inside the panda.

The accident teaches Zhang Zhihe of the need to be extra careful.

Six years later, when artificial insemination appears to be the only option for Er Yatou, the inseminator is no longer made of glass, but macromolecular plastic. In addition, the insemination techniques have been vastly improved.

In time, after artificial insemination, Er Yatou and Qi Zhen, another adult female giant panda, show signs of being pregnant. But Zhang Zhihe is still not 100 per cent certain that the pregnancies are real. And even if they are, there is still the matter of whether the pregnancies will go smoothly,

Editor:Yang