It was my first day in Taiwan and I went to visit the Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall. I was surprised to see a lot of toy pandas scattered on the ground in front of the hall. It was the 1600 Pandas World Tour and their stop at that time was Taipei. Chiang Kai-Shek Memorial Hall was their last stop in Taipei, after being displayed in Taipei City Hall, the Taipei MRT and other scenic places in Taipei. So I was lucky enough to see these pandas at the same time as my visit at the memorial hall.

The logo of the World Wildlife Fund or WWF is a giant panda based on a real-life panda named Chi Chi. The panda was transferred from Beijing Zoo to London Zoo in 1958, three years before WWF became established. It’s no surprise that the 1600 Pandas World Tour was launched by WWF themselves.

The project was launched in 2008 with 1600 paper mache panda art crafted by the acclaimed French artist Paulo Grangeon from recycled materials. The number 1600 was meaningful as this is the number of living pandas left in the wild at that time. So since then, the pandas exhibition went to different locations across the globe to advocate awareness on endangered species conservation and sustainable development.

I wish to see them again somewhere else in the future.