--- title: Panda Photos: Meet Cold War Baby Panda Chi Chi description: Chi Chi was deemed "enemy goods" and kept from entering the U.S.; later attempts to find her a mate were considered "East-West fraternizing" canonical: https://time.com/4153592/panda-photos-chi-chi/ author: Olivia B. Waxman article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-15T13:00:07.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:46:45.358Z og:title: See The Adorable Baby Panda at the Center of a Cold War Conflict og:description: She was deemed to be "enemy goods" og:url: https://time.com/4153592/panda-photos-chi-chi/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaed8895aeb2d72f/698875ddab6d777b256a7a16/151217-baby-panda-china-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2100 og:image:height: 1181 og:image:alt: Chi Chi Giant Panda og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: See The Adorable Baby Panda at the Center of a Cold War Conflict twitter:description: She was deemed to be "enemy goods" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltfaed8895aeb2d72f/698875ddab6d777b256a7a16/151217-baby-panda-china-01.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # This Adorable Panda Was at the Center of a Cold War Conflict > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription.  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 15, 2017 1:00 PM UTC  Caption from LIFE. Chi Chi munches on wheat which she holds in her unique six-clawed paws. Though bearlike in appearance, she is related to raccoons. Caption from LIFE. Chi Chi munches on wheat which she holds in her unique six-clawed paws. Though bearlike in appearance, she is related to raccoons. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  by [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/)  ## Olivia B. Waxman Staff Writer Mar 15, 2017 1:00 PM UTC If anything could bring the gap between nations and ideologies, even at a time of tension and war, it just might be an adorable baby panda. But, even for a panda, such a task is far from easy. Just look at Chi Chi. As LIFE explained in its Jun. 16, 1958, edition, which [featured](https://books.google.com/books?id=E0oEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA77&dq=%22chi-chi%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjUpdD7sMfSAhXENSYKHUu2BRIQ6AEIIDAB#v=onepage&q=%22chi-chi%22&f=false) photos of 130-lb., 1.5-year-old Chi Chi, she had been acquired in Beijing (then still identified as Peking) by animal dealer Heini Demmer. From her cage in Frankfurt, Germany, she was then in the middle of what the magazine called “a small international trade crisis.” Zoos across the U.S. put in bids to acquire the rare creature, but a “U.S. embargo forbids all trade with Red China, and the Treasury Department refused to make Chi Chi an exception.” And on top of all of that, her keepers had run low on bamboo and had to try feeding her wheat and rice with sugar. She ended up settling down halfway at the London Zoo, when the British bought her for $28,000\. Because she’d been deemed “enemy goods” by the U.S., “British children can thank the Cold War that they are privileged to visit her,” [LIFE joked in 1964.](https://books.google.com/books?id=lkEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA62&lpg=PA62&dq=%22British+children+can+thank+the+Cold+War+that+they+are+privileged+to+visit+her.%22&source=bl&ots=BAQyCElS%5Fd&sig=4fFnoRcNtLXAE3zwNNGmJ8Bu8eM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiAttnp6bjSAhUD7iYKHSGQCPgQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%22British%20children%20can%20thank%20the%20Cold%20War%20that%20they%20are%20privileged%20to%20visit%20her.%22&f=false) But she continued to cause _panda_\-monium throughout the 1960s. The London Zoo had been trying to set her up on a blind date with the only other captive panda living outside China at the time, An-An, who had been sent to the USSR as a token of Sino-Soviet friendship in 1959\. (Both pandas were variably identified with and without their hyphens throughout the years, and An-An occasionally appeared as Ang-Ang.) But the Russians “frowned on any East-West fraternizing,” LIFE reported in the [July 15, 1966, issue](https://books.google.com/books?id=olUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA66&dq=%22chi-chi%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpi5Db4bjSAhWG4yYKHeKLBq4Q6AEIKDAD#v=onepage&q=%22chi-chi%22&f=false), so it took years to make the meeting happen. Eventually, the knowledge that panda rarity and the continuing Cold War would make it nearly impossible to acquire another panda from China, both sides agreed to temporarily put their differences aside for the sake of panda breeding. However, despite living through the historic period of sexual revolution and women’s liberation that was the 1960s, it seemed as though Chi Chi could not care less about sex. The [Nov. 11, 1966](https://books.google.com/books?id=D1MEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA93&dq=%22chi-chi%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj008PQz7jSAhWDQyYKHaSICNgQ6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%22chi-chi%22&f=false), issue of LIFE detailed the “honeymoon” in Moscow that was finally arranged for the 9½-year-old “spoiled” “spinster” and the 9-year-old “bachelor” panda who loved bubble baths. The attempt at inspiring a courtship was a disaster. “Unaware of the purpose of her visit, he flew at her in anger—’like an arrow,’ as the Russians put it—and bit her on the right side,” LIFE [reported](https://books.google.com/books?id=D1MEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA93&dq=%22chi-chi%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpi5Db4bjSAhWG4yYKHeKLBq4Q6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%22chi-chi%22&f=false). “Though he behaved impeccably thereafter, Chi-Chi never forgave him.” Though [some humans](http://time.com/4388565/zero-population-growth-world-population-day-2016/) at the time were making a conscious effort not to reproduce too much, in order to address fears about overpopulation, Chi Chi’s problem was a [different](https://www.nytimes.com/2016/10/01/world/what-in-the-world/lousy-libidos-why-do-pandas-have-so-little-sex.html) one. And, in a strange twist, it turned out she was more interested in human males than male pandas. As her keeper at the London Zoo, Dr. Desmond Morris, [told LIFE](https://books.google.com/books?id=D1MEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA93&dq=%22chi-chi%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjpi5Db4bjSAhWG4yYKHeKLBq4Q6AEIHDAA#v=onepage&q=%22chi-chi%22&f=false), “One night \[during her trip to Moscow\], Chi-Chi started bleating, a sure sign of interest. Imagine my surprise when we discovered she was bleating not at An-An, but at _me._ From that moment on, I knew it was all over. Chi-Chi was humanized.” Or maybe Chi Chi was just more comfortable in her own digs. Two years later, An-An was allowed to pay a visit to Chi Chi in London. A photo spread in the Dec. 6, 1968, edition captured the two cavorting — at one point in front of a crowd of up to 40,000 people, [as the magazine reported.](https://books.google.com/books?id=7VMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA88&dq=%22chi-chi%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwih3Oqg-LjSAhUK5iYKHedwAzIQ6AEILDAE#v=onepage&q=%22chi-chi%22&f=false) When she wasn’t chewing An-An’s ear, he could be seen climbing up and down poles in her enclosure. Their fling was only supposed to be just a little over two months long, but the Russians let their panda stay a while longer. [As LIFE put it](https://books.google.com/books?id=7VMEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA88&dq=%22chi-chi%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwih3Oqg-LjSAhUK5iYKHedwAzIQ6AEILDAE#v=onepage&q=%22chi-chi%22&f=false), “Love might yet conquer all.” Though the attempt to mate Chi Chi and An-An was ultimately unsuccessful, the international cooperation fostered by the animals did not pass unnoticed. _Liz Ronk, who edited this gallery, is the Photo Editor for LIFE.com. Follow her on Twitter_ [_@lizabethronk_](https://twitter.com/LizabethRonk)_._  Caption from LIFE. Chi Chi munches on wheat which she holds in her unique six-clawed paws. Though bearlike in appearance, she is related to raccoons. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Heini Demmer, Chi Chi's owner, lifts her from packing box. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. A stomach rub pleases Chi Chi as her owner rolls her around and wrestles with her. She is gentle but her playful nips and paw swipes can be painful. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Caption from LIFE. Climb in her cage is her favorite excercise. Although 130 pounds, Chi Chi is only a year and a half, and will not be full-grown 200 pounds until she is 3. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Chi Chi climbing in her cage. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Giant panda Chi Chi eating. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Giant panda Chi Chi walking on stone wall as small crowd watches. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Giant panda Chi Chi climbing over a stone wall. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Giant panda Chi Chi sitting in a chair. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Giant panda Chi Chi looking out her cage. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Heini Demmer with his giant panda Chi Chi outdoors as small crowds looking on. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Giant panda Chi Chi. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Giant panda Chi Chi looking in her cage. Michael Rougier—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images  Giant panda Chi Chi taking a nap. 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