People's Zoo
Anthony Smith visits Peking Zoo - the most visited zoo in the world - and in so doing looks through a window into China - China that few Westerners ever see.
Here, on the outskirts of Peking, within a zoo of lakes, trees, willow-pattern bridges - and Red Guards
- are the only pandas ever bred in captivity. The latest arrival, Jer Jer , plays like a puppy with ANTHONY SMITH. The zoo has a very good breeding record and yet some of its cages are dismal ... and some are superb.
Chinese attitudes show in the collections too. Three thousand carp i are there. The Chinese have bred goldfish fanatically for thousands of years. Surely in no other zoo could you ask a child what was her favourite animal and get the answer ' The big carp '?
Photography BUTCH CALDERWOOD Film editor LIZ THOYTS Producer mick Rhodes
Series editors MICHAEL ANDREWS and ANTHONY ISAACS
BBC Bristol. Preview p 17