[WHY] Why is one of Korea's superstars a giant panda?

Social Affairs

Published: 30 Mar. 2024, 07:30 Updated: 23 Apr. 2024, 15:49

[WHY] Why is one of Korea's superstars a giant panda?

Fu Bao, the first giant panda born in Korea that left for China on April 3, is seen at Panda World in Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi, on March 3, 2024. [YONHAP]

On April 3, one of Korea’s biggest celebrities left the country forever. She dominated social media, had tens of thousands of fans flocking to get a glimpse of her, and saw exclusive merchandise featuring her sell out. Who is this superstar?

It’s not a person, but Fu Bao the giant panda.

The first giant panda born and bred in Korea, Fu Bao is so universally popular in the country that if you open KakaoTalk, by far the most popular messenger app, you are likely to count at least a handful of people with the panda's picture as their profile photo. Fu Bao also dominated the news, YouTube, social media like Instagram and X (formerly Twitter) and daily conversation.

Because the Chinese government leases out all pandas, even those born outside of the country, they all must return after four years, and the Korean public had to say farewell to Fu Bao. Some claimed that Korea would become a bit more depressed as a whole after she leaves.

This all begs the following questions: why are Koreans so crazy about Fu Bao, is the giant panda the only animal friend who has become a celebrity here, and what are the actual living conditions and treatment of zoo animals like in Korea?

Reporters and the public take photos of Fu Bao on the last day she was shown to the public at Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi on March 3. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

Celebrity zoo animals

Fu Bao may be the most popular animal celebrity to date, but she isn't the only one Korea has seen.

Back in 2018, Everland — coincidentally the same theme park and zoo where Fu Bao was also born and raised — in Yongin, Gyeonggi, welcomed its first set of Siberian tigers, a couple named Geon-gon, a female tiger, and Tae-ho, a male tiger.

Geon-gon and Tae-ho were both born in the Shanghai Wild Animal Park in China, and came to Korea to mate. They gave birth to a set of twins and a set of quintuplets in February 2020 and July 2021, respectively. The parent tigers and their seven offspring have seen consistent popularity, with documentaries featuring them being produced and a slot dedicated to them in one of the longest-running animal-themed television programs, SBS’ “Animal Farm” (2001-present).

Geon-gon and Tae-ho, a Siberian tiger couple at the zoo in Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi, are seen on Dec. 29, 2023. [EVERLAND]

Another animal celebrity out of Everland is the red panda Lea, who was born in Assiniboine Park Zoo in Winnipeg, Canada, in 2019. Initially named Rose, Lea received a new name and came to Korea in November 2022. She is Fu Bao’s neighbor in the Panda World section of the zoo in Everland, and has earned the affectionate nickname “Princess Lea.”

Lea is currently in a breeding program at the zoo with another red panda named Lessi. If it is successful and a baby red panda is born in Everland, it will be the first of its species ever born in Korea — and perhaps another superstar such as Fu Bao could be coming our way.

The red panda Lea, affectionately nicknamed ″Princess Lea,″ is shown at Panda World in Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi, on March 12. [EVERLAND]

Why Fu Bao in particular?

"Because she feels like ours and ours only,” said Park Hee-jin, a university student and die-hard Fu Bao fan who runs an account on Instagram dedicated to the panda. “The other animals, as lovely too as they are, were born outside Korea, but Fu Bao is different. We met her when she was a tiny little thing and have seen her entire growth, and I think that’s why Koreans are so attached.”

On Instagram alone, the tag “Fu Bao” in Korean has over 163,000 followers, and if related tags like “Fu Bao grandpa” — referring to the giant panda’s zookeepers and caretakers — and “Fu Bao fans” are taken into account, the number shoots into the millions. Park, whose account also has over 2,000 followers, said the sheer popularity of Fu Bao is itself a reason why being a fan is so fun.

“It feels like a community on its own, this group of Fu Bao and animal lovers,” said Park. “I used to be a fan of a K-pop idols, and the sense of community and how people interact on social media about Fu Bao as a subject is similar to how we do deokjil.”

A screen display shows videos of Fu Bao at Terminal 1 in Incheon International Airport on March 21. [YONHAP]

A portmanteau of a Korean word stemming from the Japanese term otaku referring to engagement in a certain interest or subculture, and the colloquial noun for “doing something,” deokjil is mainly used in K-pop and other K-content fan bases to describe activities like taking, collecting and editing photos, producing handmade merchandise and interacting with other fans.

“The scope and subject matter of deokjil culture has expanded beyond just human individuals, and this has had an impact on the unprecedented popularity of Fu Bao,” said cultural critic Kim Heon-sik. “The fact that she was born in Korea has led to an endowment effect, in which Koreans feel closer to Fu Bao, of course, but there is also the element that content regarding Fu Bao has been actively produced, shared and promoted by Everland, which in turn contributed to her stardom.”

Fu Bao’s appeal also comes from her appearance itself — resembling a human baby, with circular features, short arms and legs and baby-like posture, according to experts.

A large crowd waits for the gates of Everland in Yongin, Gyeonggi, to open to see Fu Bao on the last day she was shown to the public on March 3. [JOINT PRESS CORPS]

“The giant pandas’ round eyes, paddling and swaying movements like that of a human baby and other similar elements result in what we call ‘baby schema,’” said Lee Soo-hyun, a professor of psychology at Seoul National University in a recent interview with local media. “Baby schema leads to protective feelings over the panda by people who see her and a desire to engage more with the subject.”

Mental health experts have also pointed out that baby schema and engagement with content involving subjects perceived as cute can lower depressive moods and anxiety.

When we encounter something cute, it triggers rapid mental activity in areas linked to emotion and fulfillment, such as the orbitofrontal cortex in our brains, according to research lead by Morten Kringelbach, an associate professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford. Such neurological effects have been coined “cute aggression” by some scientists, who have pointed out behavioral underpinnings in the phenomenon, such as research done by Katherine Stavropoulos, a researcher in special education at the University of California Riverside.

It is, therefore, a combination of Fu Bao’s connection to Korea, the expansion of deokjil culture and our brains’ reactions to the panda that has made her so exceptionally popular.

A passerby walks past a display of videos featuring Fu Bao at Terminal 1 in Incheon International Airport on March 21. [YONHAP]

Pet craze in Korea

Beyond Fu Bao, other zoo celebrities like the tigers Geon-gon and Tae-ho and the red panda Lea, an animal-pet craze has swept Korea on a larger scale.

Last year, the population raising dogs or cats at home came to 6.02 million households and approximately 13 million individuals in total, up a whopping 65 percent from a decade ago, according to an annual report published by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs.

A “petconomy,” a portmanteau of "pet" and "economy," has descended upon Korea, where the market for pet products and services reached 8 trillion won ($5.93 billion) last year and is still growing at a steady pace of 10 percent annually, according to the Korea Rural Economic Institute.

A pet dog is waiting as her owner shops for pet products at the 2024 K Pet Fair Setec held at the Seoul Trade Exhibition & Convention in Gangnam District, southern Seoul, on March 15. [NEWS1]

The demographic trends of more single-person households, fewer marriages and declining childbirths have also contributed to the rise in the popularity of pets, according to a host of research and reports from sociologists and economists.

“My dog is like my family,” said a dog owner and resident in Mangwon-dong of Mapo District, western Seoul, an area with a high proportion of pet owners, pet shops and parks. “I think more and more people are becoming animal-aware and realizing that traditional families made up of people aren't the only option. I personally welcome the atmosphere that has come now of more people accepting animals as an important part of daily life and treating them better.”

Pet dogs enjoy a new pet-friendly facility at Terminal 1 in Incheon International Airport on March 21. Pet-friendly facilities have been increasing rapidly in recent years. [NEWS1]

Better conditions needed

But has the treatment of animals actually become better? Some perspectives call out zoos themselves as facilities that mistreat animals because of the nature of keeping them locked up and showcasing pandas, tigers and others for display and entertainment.

Literally tens of thousands of cases of animals being adopted as pets and then being abandoned permeate social media and the news, while the legal system is still weak against atrocities against animals such as abuse, cloning and experimenting for scientific purposes.

Veterinarians are in short supply as well, with 22,292 licensed vets in total and only about half of them active, according to the Agriculture Ministry. When it comes to animals that are typically not domesticated as pets, like farm animals such as cows, pigs and chickens, there are only 964 vets practicing in the entire country.

Pet dogs attend a university entrance ceremony at Tongmyong University in Busan on Feb. 2. The university opened a pet-focused college last March. [SONG BONG-GEUN]

The story of Sakura, a Thai-born elephant who died this year at Seoul Zoological Garden, broke people’s hearts when it came out.

Sakura was separated from her family at seven months old and adopted into an elephant family at a zoo in Japan, but she soon lost her adoptive mother and brother as well. The Japanese zoo closed down in 2003 and she soon lost her home. She was moved to Seoul Zoological Garden but did not get along with her intended mate. After nearly six decades of having to move homes and experiencing loneliness, Sakura died on Feb. 13.

To take better care of non-pet animals as well as household pets and to prevent tragic cases like that of Sakura, a holistic change needs to take place.

“An exact awareness and respect for the suffering and dignity of all animals is necessary and has to be promoted more in our society,” writes Lee Hyung-joo, president of Aware Korea, an animal welfare organization, in a column for the Korea Development Institute. “In recent surveys, it’s been revealed that more people are better aware and knowledgeable about animal rights, but an improved system of laws and implementation needs to follow.”

Sakura, an elephant that died on Feb. 13 at Seoul Zoological Garden, is photographed for the last time last year. [JOONGANG PHOTO]

Perhaps Fu Bao’s popularity and legacy could tie into the overall issue of better treatment for animals, argued critic Kim.

“Animal rights is a very hot topic that many Koreans are attentive toward nowadays, and because Fu Bao was treated so well and loved, more people could express their own attachment and the hype continued to grow,” said Kim. “After Fu Bao, how we can channel this increased interest and attention for animals into change is something to be anticipated in the future.”

BY LIM JEONG-WON [lim.jeongwon@joongang.co.kr]