Vanessa's Journal

Jan. 17

Lao Yang and Lao Fan brought up a whole bunch of goat meat to the traps today. They reported business as usual out there on the trails, except for the fact that there is a lot of snow accumulating.  I think we are at the point now where the snow will continue to get deeper and deeper. 

Today I jumped up to Chapter 5 of the third panda survey book (but will go back later).  This chapter is about the status of the captive giant panda population. They report that as of the end of 2002, there were 152 captive giant pandas in the world (there are more since then). They are housed at 28 institutions, 22 in China and six abroad.  One thing I didn’t realize is that 12 of these institutions only have one panda.  I think that now in 2008 we are closer to 200 captive giant pandas but I’m not sure of the exact number.  In my mind, there has historically been a large gap between research on captive giant pandas and research in the wild, so I was pleased to see that this book allotted a chapter, albeit short, to discussing captive conditions. 

On the English reading front, I finished Thomas Berry a few days ago and have started an ethnography called “Chopsticks Only Work in Pairs: Gender unity and gender equality among the Lahu of southwest China” by Shanshan Du.  I have a growing obsession with ethnographies and have wanted to read this one for a while now.  It is absolutely fascinating and is one of the most detailed ethnographies I’ve read.

China has 50-plus recognized minority groups and they all have unique cultures.  In that sense, I think China has more diversity than some people realize. This minority group called the Lahu is one that is not well known or researched and it is unique because it is marked by a rare gender egalitarian society. The Lahu view the world in pairs - even their God is a paired male/female deity. As a result, men and women take joint roles in every aspect of life.  It is such an addicting book.