Outrageous: Different treatment of Pandas and Cousins of Formosa Black Bears Mirrors China-Taiwan relations

I have just started watching a new Sky1 TV series called 'An Idiot Abroad'.  Ricky Gervais and Steven Merchant send one of their little englander friends to exotic places to see the seven wonders of the world and hopefully transform their friend from a reactive and suspicious xenophobe into a more cosmopolitan and worldly man.  In episode 1 of series 1, the anti-hero travelled to China to see the Great Wall.  When he got there, amongst other things he saw the following:

Now to my eyes those bears appear to be a close cousin of the Formosa Black Bear, a protected species indigenous to Taiwan.  Here below are some stills from the video that illustrate the conditions the bears live in.

Now compare the conditions of these Black Bears to the Pandas in Taipei Zoo:

The pandas have an indoor and outdoor enclosure, lots of bamboo and a stylised design that supposedly makes them 'feel at home'.  Nothing like that for the cousins of the Formosa Black Bears.  They get a sand pit with some climbing equipment and food thrown at them by tourists.  The difference in treatment is the same as the Hilton and the average squat.

This serves as a clear analogy in my mind.  Taiwanese are the Black Bears, locked into an enclosure they can't get out of (ROC) being thrown scraps by tourists (Purchasing visits by Chinese delegations) whilst pandas (Chinese executives such as Chen Yunlin) are given 5 star VIP treatment.

The pandas are supposed to signify warming relations but some truth of China's attitude to Taiwan is seen in their treatment of a close relative of our protected indigenous species.

Will the Taiwanese Government protest this cheap and tacky exploitation of cousins of the Formosa Black Bears in China? Unlikely - that would be 'troublemaking'.  Pandas, cute. Asiatic and Formosan Black Bears, scary.

Also, if Chen's acquittal is to become a reason for Taiwanese not to vote for the DPP then surely the treatment of these cousins of Formosa Black Bears by China at the same time the Ma Government is bending over backwards to please China is a reason for voters to not believe anything the Ma government says about Taiwan-China relations and to vote for a pro-Taiwan party instead.

And for those who will argue that Ma's Government is standing up to China, just wait until after the elections when again the word 'Taiwan' will again disappear from ministers' lexicons to be replaced by ad nausea mantric repetition of 'Brand ROC' as the lead in to the non-event of the ROC centennial starts to ramp up.

UPDATE: Roy made a good comment that I should more carefully check that the bears in the video are verifiably Formosan Black Bears.  Here's a wiki article on the Taiwan variety. The pics I took seem to confirm that they are at the very least very close cousins of the Formosan Black Bears - see the V and white chin.  The Asiatic Black Bear is found here (not all have the white V though):

The Formosan Black Bear (台灣黑熊, Ursus thibetanus formosanus, or Selenarctos thibetanus formosanus), also known as the white-throated bear, is a subspecies of the Asiatic Black Bear. Formosan black bears are an endemic species to Taiwan.  Because of severe exploitation and habitat degradation in recent decades, populations of wild Formosan black bears have been declining. This species was listed as "endangered" under Taiwan's Cultural Heritage and Preservation Law (Traditional Chinese: 文化資產保存法) in 1989. Their geographic distribution is restricted to remote, rugged areas at elevations of 1,000–3,500 metres (3,300–11,500 ft).  Its tail is inconspicuous and short — usually less than 10 cm long. Its body is well covered with rough, glossy, black hair, which can grow over 10 cm long around the neck. The tip of its chin is white. On the chest, there is a distinctive yellowish or whitish mark that is shaped like a "V" character or a crescent moon. As of January 30, 1989, Taiwan's Formosan black bears have been listed as an endangered species under the Natural and Cultural Heritage Act on, and was later listed as a Conserved Species Category I.


Three subspecies of Asiatic black bear occur in China: the Tibet subspecies (U. thibetanus thibetanus), the Si Chuan subspecies (U. thibetanus mupinensis), and the northeast subspecies (U. thibetanus ussuricus) which is the only subspecies of bear in northeastern China.


Conclusion: DNA testing would need to be done to see if the bears on display in China originated from Taiwan or from somewhere else in Asia.  I can't conclusively say that they are Formosan Black Bears but they are very close cousins of Formosan Black Bears so my analogy, whilst weakened, still has some visual symbolic potency. I have modified my post as a result.