--- title: First Lady Michelle Obama Feeds Giant Pandas at China Research Base description: No big deal canonical: https://time.com/38504/michelle-obama-feeds-pandas/ author: Samantha Grossman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-03-26T15:11:57.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:08:11.214Z og:title: Here's Michelle Obama Feeding Apples to Some Adorable Pandas In China og:description: No big deal og:url: https://time.com/38504/michelle-obama-feeds-pandas/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb56fdaf815495b3/6986874fe53aba3f234d1aed/rtr3ilmx.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: U.S. first lady Michelle Obama and her mother Marian Robinson feed apple to giant pandas as they visit Giant Panda Research Base in Chengdu og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's Michelle Obama Feeding Apples to Some Adorable Pandas In China twitter:description: No big deal twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb56fdaf815495b3/6986874fe53aba3f234d1aed/rtr3ilmx.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's Michelle Obama Just Feeding Apples to Some Pandas In China by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Mar 26, 2014 3:11 PM UTC  U.S. first lady Michelle Obama (L) and her mother Marian Robinson (R) feed apple to giant pandas as daughter Malia looks on during their visit at Giant Panda Research Base in Chengdu, Sichuan province, March 26, 2014. U.S. first lady Michelle Obama (L) and her mother Marian Robinson (R) feed apple to giant pandas as daughter Malia looks on during their visit at Giant Panda Research Base in Chengdu, Sichuan province, March 26, 2014.Petar Kujundzic / Reuters by [Samantha Grossman](https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/) ## Samantha Grossman Mar 26, 2014 3:11 PM UTC During her weeklong visit to China, First Lady Michelle Obama carved out some time to stop by the Giant Panda Research Base in Chengdu to hang out with some pandas. With the assistance of her mom, Marian Robinson, and daughter, Malia, the FLOTUS used a bamboo shoot to feed apples to some of the cuddly creatures and it was probably the cutest thing in political history. First Lady Michelle Obama Feeds Giant Pandas at China Research Base ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/38504/michelle-obama-feeds-pandas/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/38504/michelle-obama-feeds-pandas/"},"headline":"Here's Michelle Obama Just Feeding Apples to Some Pandas In China","datePublished":"2014-03-26T15:11:57.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:08:11.214Z","description":"No big deal","url":"https://time.com/38504/michelle-obama-feeds-pandas/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Obama","China","Michelle Obama","pandas","First Lady","flotus"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb56fdaf815495b3/6986874fe53aba3f234d1aed/rtr3ilmx.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Samantha Grossman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/samantha-grossman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blteb56fdaf815495b3/6986874fe53aba3f234d1aed/rtr3ilmx.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"U.S. first lady Michelle Obama and her mother Marian Robinson feed apple to giant pandas as they visit Giant Panda Research Base in Chengdu","caption":"U.S. first lady Michelle Obama and her mother Marian Robinson feed apple to giant pandas as they visit Giant Panda Research Base in Chengdu","creditText":"Petar Kujundzic / Reuters","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/38504/michelle-obama-feeds-pandas/","name":"Here's Michelle Obama Just Feeding Apples to Some Pandas In China"}}]}] ```