The cutest diplomats
QUESTION Does China own all pandas?
Not quite. According to the World Wildlife Fund, there are 1,864 pandas left in the wild, with 600 in captivity, including 50 in zoos outside China.
of these, just two are not owned by the Chinese government. they are Xin Xin and Shuan Shuan at the Chapultepec Zoo in Mexico City. they are Mexican citizens, descendants of Ying Ying and Pe Pe, who were loaned by the Chinese government in 1975.
the first animals to be used in panda diplomacy were Pan Dah and Pan Dee. Soong May-ling, wife of Chiang Kai-shek, the then Chinese leader, presented them to the Bronx Zoo after the U.S. had entered World War II in December 1941.
In the 1950s, Chairman Mao sent pandas as gifts to China’s allies, such as North Korea and the Soviet Union.
Following President Richard Nixon’s China trip in 1972, after years of tension as a result of the Vietnam War, he was given an 18-month-old pair of pandas named Hsing-Hsing and Ling-Ling. they were sent to Washington D.C.’s National Zoo, where they caused a sensation.
In 1974, Chia-Chia, a male panda, and Ching-Ching, a female, were presented to the British people after prime minister ted Heath had visited China.
Panda diplomacy underwent a shift in 1984. Animals are now sent on ten-year loans for an annual fee of $1 million.
Any cubs that are born to the loaned pandas are deemed to be Chinese citizens, regardless of their place of birth. there is an additional one-off $400,000 baby tax.
London Zoo’s last pandas were Bao Bao and Ming Ming in the early 1990s. Edinburgh Zoo is home to tian tian, a female whose name means ‘sweetie’, and Yang Guang, a male whose name means ‘sunshine’. Arriving in 2011, their lease was due to expire in 2021, but has been extended until next year.
Louise Russell, Jedburgh, Borders.
QUESTION How is batterygrade lithium extracted from granite?
LITHIUM is a soft, silvery white to grey alkali metal that is useful in many chemical and metallurgical applications, such as lubricating greases, ceramics, glass, aluminium production and batteries.
Production is dominated by Australia, which accounted for 54 per cent of the total in 2017. Britain imports 2,300 tonnes each year.
Lithium is found in South-West England as a minor element in mica, a silicate mineral embedded in granite. theoretically, mica can be removed as a by-product of china clay extraction.
Minerals are extracted using flotation, which involves crushing the ore to liberate grains of various minerals, pulping the particles with water and then selectively rendering hydrophobic (water-hating) the surface of the mineral of interest.
Lithium can also be found in underground hot springs in Cornwall. these are enriched with geothermal fluids called brines, which contain minerals leached out of the granite in the Earth’s crust. Lithium can be extracted by passing the brines through a series of filters.
two companies, British Lithium and Cornish Lithium, hope to be able to exploit these deposits when they become financially viable.
Dr Ken Warren, Glasgow.
QUESTION Were soap and washing powder rationed during World War II?
IN JANUARY 1940, the Government introduced food rationing to ensure a fair share for everyone at a time of national shortage.
the Ministry of Food was responsible for overseeing rationing. Every citizen was given a ration book with coupons to be doled out before certain goods could be bought. Basic foods, such as sugar, meat, fats, bacon and cheese, were directly rationed, so housewives had to register with particular retailers.
Key commodities were also rationed: petrol in 1939; clothes in 1941; and soap in 1942.
As an advert from the Ministry of Food explained: ‘From Monday, February 9, soap may be bought only against a coupon or buying permit. the oils and fats used in soap manufacture occupy much shipping space and some of this must be saved for food.
‘You will have four coupons in each four-weekly period and will be able to use these how and when you like within the period. Each of the four coupons that make up a four-week ration will entitle you to buy any one of the following: either 4oz hard soap (common household soap in bars or pieces) or 3oz toilet soap or 3oz soap flakes or chips or 6oz soap powder No. 1 or 12oz soap powder No. 2 or 6oz soft soap.
‘Rationing will not apply to shaving soap or dental soaps, shampoo powders, liquid soap or scourers.’
Because shaving soap was not rationed, I recall my mother pressing it into service to clean bathtubs and toilet bowls. For the rest of her life after the war, she carried on collecting slivers of soap and squeezing them on to the new bar.
Jacob Finn, Sunderland.
ALL rationing had its hardships, but my mother always said soap was the worst. the pitifully small allocation was the same wherever you lived, taking no account of city grime vs clean country air, or hard vs soft water areas.
She said it must have been organised by a man who knew nothing at all about laundry. We lived in London, a hard water area and notorious for its polluted air.
People did not have washing machines or tumble dryers. Clothes washing was done by hand and hung outside to dry after the back-breaking work of mangling.
A very early memory from 1944, when my brother was a baby and I was three, is of my mother in tears. She had barely enough soap left to cope with my brother’s nappies and, having fetched the semi-dry laundry back indoors, had found the filthy air had made the shirts and bedding look dirtier than they had been before they had been washed.
Carola Morton, Hereford.
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