The Lady and the Panda Page 33

  45 Born in Japan in 1882 Catton, Pandas, p. 13.

  45 Here he wore suits Smith's résumé, Smith Papers.

  46 From 1930 to 1932 Smith's letters to sister.

  46 mammals, reptiles, birds William G. Sheldon, The Wilderness Home of the Giant Panda (Amherst: University of Massachusetts Press, 1975), p. 73. In 1935 the Sage expedition to west China collected 1,150 animals in just six weeks.

  46 his desire for a panda Clipped article came from Smith Papers, with a handwritten note: China Herald & Examiner, Dec. 20, '32. Smith to Ruth Woodhull Tangier Smith, 25 June 1931, and 3 Feb. 1932; and 6 Mar. 1932, “I am highly expectant over what may have been accomplished while I have been away,” he writes, “and even dare to hope that a live panda or takin or two may be eating out of hand when I reach the various present headquarters,” Smith Papers.

  46 But the exhausting work Details of Smith's life in the field from his correspondence with Field Museum, 17 Jan. 1931; Mar., June 23, 1931; 9 Oct. 1931; 27 Nov. 1930; and 6 Mar. 1936, Field Museum archives.

  47 In the words Russell to Reynolds, 1 Apr. 1965.

  47 The haggard and luckless China Journal, Oct. 1934, p. 171.

  48 “always just around the corner” Harkness to Perkins, 25 July 1936.

  48 In fact, Smith Smith correspondence with Field Museum, 6 May and 30 June 1936, Field Museum archives.

  48 Smith had faced Elizabeth Smith to Ruth Woodhull Tangier Smith, 23 Dec. 1936.

  48 “I think Ajax is out” Harkness to Perkins, 25 July 1936; sentiment echoed in letter of 6 Aug. 1936.

  48 the diplomatic corps was Tuchman, Stilwell, p. 145.

  48 From high in the air Harkness to Perkins, 27 July 1936.

  49 The moment Harkness presented Information from Harkness to Perkins and Pierce, 25 July 1936, and from Political Graveyard website: http://www.politicalgraveyard.com: Nelson Trusler Johnson (1887–1954), Ambassador to China starting 1935.

  49 Ambassador Nelson Trusler Johnson Details about Johnson from Tuchman, Stilwell, p. 148.

  50 “Now be sure” Foreign embassies were already beginning to move down to Nanking: “British Envoy to Quit Peiping for Nanking,” Christian Science Monitor, 3 Aug. 1936.

  50 She must have smiled Tuchman, Stilwell, p. 120.

  50 Sunlight and the dust NASA photographs of the phenomenon on 25 Apr. 2001; Associated Press report (6 April 2000) that a million tons of Gobi Desert dust hit Beijing. Also Tuchman, Stilwell, p. 65.

  50 “A sudden feeling” Harkness, Lady and the Panda, pp. 37–38.

  50 “horse, guide, and mentor” Harkness to Perkins, 6 Aug. 1936.

  50 There were the dazzling Picture in National Geographic, Dec. 1936, plate 15.

  CHAPTER THREE: GAINING THE WHIP HAND

  53 Gerry Russell finally arrived Harkness to Perkins and Anne Pierce, 25 July 1936.

  53 Initially Harkness Harkness to Perkins, 25 Aug. 1936.

  53 A case of dysentery Harkness to Perkins, 6 Aug. 1936.

  53 The illness was Tuchman, Stilwell, p. 192, mentions that the French attaché died of it in the late 1930s.

  53 Doubled over Harkness to Perkins, 6 Aug. 1936. Undated letter from Perkins to Harkness refers to a possible operation. The letter clearly was written after Harkness's Beijing trip. Perkins's return letter from Aug. 1936 refers to the recommendation of “an operation.” See also World Health Organization's fact sheet on dysentery; and Columbia Encyclopedia, 6th edition (New York: Columbia University Press, 2003).

  53 “out of the question” Harkness to Perkins, 6 Aug. 1936.

  54 “a minor repair job” Harkness to Perkins, 17 Aug. 1936.

  54 However gently Harkness to Perkins, 27 Sept. 1936.

  54 Russell, Harkness Russell to Reynolds, 1 Apr. 1965.

  54 Too broke Elizabeth Smith to Ruth Woodhull Tangier Smith, 8 Dec. 1936, Smith Papers. It is clear that Smith was broke in December, and likely that he was in the same or a similar state in September.

  54 “Ajax is being” Harkness to Perkins, misdated 12 July 1936, should be 12 Aug. 1936.

  54 There had been seven… for another surgery Smith to Spalding, 5 Mar. 1936, Field Museum archives. Though Smith doesn't say clearly what the operation was, he reports later that further growths appeared on Bill's neck, so they must have prompted the first hospitalization.

  55 the tumors were malignant Details of Bill's illness: Smith to Spalding, 5 Mar. 1936.

  56 Apparently it was lonely “Explorer Harkness Dies of Cancer,” Shanghai Evening Post and Mercury, 20 Feb. 1936.

  56 There was a rumor Michael Kiefer, Chasing the Panda: How an Unlikely Pair of Adventurers Won the Race to Capture the Mythical White Bear (New York: Four Walls Eight Windows, 2002).

  56 Smith not only rebuffed Floyd Tangier Smith, document/letter, 12 Mar. 1937, House Papers.

  56 But Smith also contended Smith, letter/document, 12 Oct. 1937, Smith Papers.

  57 Although she joked Harkness to Perkins, 8 July 1936.

  57 “My God, Perkie” Harkness to Perkins, 30 Aug. 1936.

  57 “The messed up” Harkness to Perkins, 27 Aug. 1936.

  57 But years later Russell to Reynolds, 1 Apr. 1965.

  57 Just as Harkness Harkness, Lady and the Panda, p. 51.

  57 He was so dashing Jialing Young (Jack's daughter), conversation with author. All other information from Su-Lin Young, interview by author, Spruce Pines, N.C., Dec. 2001.

  57 Only twenty-five years old Jolly Young, e-mail to author, Jan. 2003, gives her father's birthdate: 13 Nov. 1910.

  58 Gongga Shan, in Sichuan Jon Krakauer, Eiger Dreams: Ventures Among Men and Mountains (New York: Anchor Books, 1990), p. 120.

  58 Americans Richard Burdsall and Terris Moore China Journal, Mar. 1936, p. 172.

  58 With his beautiful The prestigious China Journal was quite impressed with the Youngs, “who for several years have been carrying out hazardous expeditions into the wilds of the Chinese-Tibetan border lands to collect zoological specimens.” China Journal, Mar. 1936, p. 172.

  59 Despite his urbane look Harkness to Perkins, 25 Aug. 1936.

  59 Quentin was startled Su-Lin Young interview.

  59 “If much of young China” Harkness to Perkins, 13 Oct. 1936.

  60 The notion of finally Harkness, Lady and the Panda, p. 56.

  60 Shortly, a plan was in place Harkness to Perkins, 7 Sept. 1936.

  61 “barbarian” Harkness, Lady and the Panda, p. 69.

  61 Considering the constant “Mrs. Edward S. Harkness gives $150,000 to Conn. College,” Wall Street Journal, 14 Dec. 1933.

  61 “a poor working girl” Harkness to Perkins, 19 Sept. 1936.

  62 He was only Jane Reib Pollock (Reib's daughter), telephone conversation with author, 2 Dec. 2003.

  62 he was a “cyclone” Harkness to Perkins, 12 Sept. 1936; and Harkness, Lady and the Panda, p. 69.

  62 He had black Jane Reib Pollock, telephone conversation.

  62 Most of all Harkness to Perkins, 19 Sept. 1936.

  62 He had even been captured Harkness to Perkins, 12 Sept. 1936.

  62 He adored women Jane Reib Pollock conversation; Edward Charles Reib, (Reib's grandson), e-mail correspondence with author, 30 Nov. 2003.

  62 The second time he came Harkness to Perkins, 12 and 19 Sept. 1936.

  62 As an executive Harkness to Perkins, 9 Sept. 1936.

  63 It was an enormous gift Sherman Cochran, Encountering Chinese Networks (Berkeley: University of California Press, 2000), p. 39.

  63 In fact, Fortune “The Shanghai Boom,” Fortune, Jan. 1935.

  63 “everything from maps to brandy” Harkness to Perkins, 30 Sept. 1936.

  63 Reib, Harkness wrote home Harkness to Perkins, 27 Sept. 1936.

  63 “One gains sometimes” Harkness to Perkins, 19 Sept. 1936.

  63 Reib liked strong women Jane Reib Pollock conversation; and Edward Charles Reib e-mail correspondence. Case is Grigsby v. Reib, Texas Supreme Court, 1913.

  63 “a marvelous companionship” Har
kness to Perkins, 12 and 27 Sept. 1936.

  64 Of course, the funny thing Harkness to Perkins, n.d. but clearly late summer or fall 1936.

  64 He was a divorced man Harkness to Perkins, 19 Sept. 1936.

  64 “The speed” Baum, Shanghai '37, p. 364.

  64 “Shanghai gossip” Emily Hahn, China to Me (1944; E-Reads, 1999), p. 5.

  64 “The most intimate” Harkness to Perkins, n.d. but written before 24 Aug. 1936.

  64 “I am becoming” Harkness to Perkins, 19 Sept. 1936.

  64 met with Reib at any hour Ibid.

  64 sukiyaki dinners Harkness to Perkins, 30 Aug. 1936.

  64 “It is rather uninteresting” Harkness to Perkins, 17 Aug. 1936.

  64 There was so much to do Harkness to Perkins, 19 Sept. 1936.

  65 In the lingering summer According to Harkness to Perkins, 3 Sept. 1936, she started the process that morning.

  65 Bill was to have enjoyed Harkness to Perkins, 3 Sept. 1936.

  65 rifles, shotguns, pistols, and bayonets Harkness to Perkins, 30 Aug. 1936.

  66 shrunk by a resourceful Chinese shoemaker North China Daily News, 28 Nov. 1936, describes clothes cut down, even “Tibetan boots.”

  Their expedition was to be a leaner proposition than others, Harkness declared. She would not be including the linens, silver, and “facilities for iced champagne” that some had been known to carry. In fact, she wouldn't even pack a fork.

  The majority of Bill Harkness's possessions would be sold. Almost two whole groups of items were jettisoned—the arsenal of guns and the enormous stock of sophisticated medical supplies, which contained anesthetics, surgical instruments, and suture silk. Harkness was petrified she would end up killing someone with articles from either group, so only the essentials of each were sorted and retained. Dan Reib would take over from here, arranging the auctioning off of the equipment that she couldn't use and turning it into cash, which she could.

  66 recurring nightmare Harkness, Lady and the Panda, p. 56.

  66 “When Quentin Young consented” Harkness as told to Adamson, “How I Caught the Rare Giant Panda,” part 3, “How Mrs. Harkness Kept the Baby Panda Alive,” New York American, 28 Feb. 1937.

  67 “much hooted-at expedition” Charles Poore, “Books of the Times,” New York Times, 15 Jan. 1938.

  67 interest these gentlemen took Telegram, 26 July 1934, from the files of the Wildlife Conservation Society, Bronx Zoo archives.

  67 “an innate dignity” Harkness to Perkins, 19 Sept. 1936.

  67 “Quentin says” Harkness to Perkins, 30 Aug. 1936.

  67 Ha Gansi Translation worked out by Professor Sarah Queen, Connecticut College.

  67 It was Reib's version Harkness, Lady and the Panda, p. 85.

  68 first Chinese woman explorer China Journal, Dec. 1936, p. 338.

  68 “glamorous” Hahn, China to Me.

  69 Once they were in the snowy Su-Lin Young interview.

  69 She could meditate Harkness to Perkins, n.d. but from the early 1940s.

  69 “I am looking for … the madness of the East” Harkness to Perkins, 9 Sept. 1936.

  69 “China has given me” Harkness to Perkins, 6 Aug. 1936.

  69 “After mature thought” Harkness to Perkins, 25 Aug. 1936.

  70 Some of the old issues Ruth Harkness to Hazel Perkins, 27 Aug. 1936.

  70 While complaining Floyd Tangier Smith to Field Museum, 19 Dec. 1935, Field Museum archives.

  70 As Russell raised Harkness to Perkins, 27 Aug. 1936.

  70 But the problems In Harkness to Perkins, 12 Sept. 1936, she says the Russell situation had been bothering her for nearly three weeks.

  70 “a day of Chinese rain” Harkness to Perkins, 9 Sept. 1936.

  71 The fact was that the more Harkness to Perkins, 12 Sept. 1936.

  71 Before she ever got to China Ruth Harkness to Hazel Perkins and others, 17 Oct. 1936.

  71 She didn't want anything Harkness to Perkins, 9 Sept. 1936.

  71 Over and over Smith, document/letter 12 Mar. 1937.

  71 Their differences had Harkness to Perkins, 12 Sept. 1936.

  71 “The VRYENGLISH GENTLEMAN” Harkness to Perkins, 7 Sept. 1936.

  72 Her dealings with Smith Harkness to Perkins, misdated 12 July 1936, should be 12 Aug. 1936.

  72 for his return ticket Harkness to Perkins, 12 Oct. 1936.

  72 She thought he loathed her Harkness to Perkins, 19 Sept. 1936. He did retaliate in some way, for she would write home mysteriously that she was shocked that Russell did “things that no ‘crude’ American would dream of.” Elizabeth Smith would later say that in the wake of it, Harkness had “dished Gerry.” What exactly it was didn't seem to bother her for long, and went unrecorded.

  72 “Jerry [sic] I think behaved rather badly” Harkness to Perkins, 27 Sept. 1936.

  72 Russell was about Harkness to Perkins, 12 Oct. 1936. The Yangtze flows eastward from Tibet to Shanghai.

  73 “That was sheer, unadulterated” Harkness as told to Adamson, “How Mrs. Harkness Kept the Baby Panda Alive,” part 3 of 3-part series New York American, 28 Feb. 1938.

  73 She was a bear Diet is 98 percent bamboo in the wild; “Improved Nutrition and Infant Survival,” “Panda 2000, Conservation Priorities for the New Millennium,” workshop at the San Diego Zoo, Oct. 2000, http://www.sandiegozoo.org/conservation/fieldproject_panda2000.html.

  73 It looked to one zoologist Quote from Robert Bean of Brookfield Zoo, in “Baby Panda Here, Enjoys Its Bottle,” New York Times, 24 Dec. 1936.

  74 “They had lived” Harkness, Lady and the Panda, p. 268.

  74 Late at night Tess Johnston and Deke Erh, A Last Look: Western Architecture in Old Shanghai (Hong Kong: Old China Hand Press, 1993).

  74 cool swimming pool All About Shanghai, p. 88.

  75 mountains on this hot dreamy night Peggy McCleskey, interview by author, 29 Aug. 2002.

  75 “Collapse of Revolt” North China Herald, 22 July 1936.

  75 “Keeping the Reds” Ibid., 19 Aug. 1936.

  75 “Mrs. Ogden's” Ibid., 29 July 1936.

  75 Thousands of Communist Buck, My Several Worlds, p. 168.

  75 “roaming bandits” Spence, Search for Modern China, p. 386. And, in fact, during the Long March, Mao had joined forces with two bandit chiefs. But when Chiang Kai-shek dubbed his anti-Communist efforts the “bandit suppression” campaign, it really was some good old-fashioned Chinese namecalling. Throughout history, warlords had always claimed their rivals were “bandit chiefs.”

  76 But there was no getting Buck, My Several Worlds, p. 42.

  76 The adherents of the cause Tuchman, Stilwell, p. 32. J. A. G. Roberts, A Concise History of China (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1999), p. 201.

  76 subjugation to the Manchus Henrietta Harrison, The Making of the Republican Citizen (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), p. 31.

  76 In the eyes Spence, Search for Modern China, p. 143.

  77 imploded within five years Roberts, Concise History, p. 213; and Spence, Search for Modern China, p. 263. But there was much confusion and separatism. Sun became the president of the provisional Republic but quickly yielded power to a military powerhouse named Yuan Shih-kai.

  77 “to fill the void” Tuchman, Stilwell, p. 9.

  77 Without a unified government… his own government Ibid., pp. 40–105.

  77 The generalissimo Jonathan Spence, review of Jonathan Fenby's Chiang Kaishek, New York Times, 29 Feb. 2004.

  77 Making Chiang even more attractive Tuchman, Stilwell, p. 116.

  78 Whatever his religious leanings Ibid., p. 86.

  78 To critics Roberts, Concise History, p. 239.

  78 Independent provincial leaders Tuchman, Stilwell, p. 121.

  78 spawning discord and bloodshed Roberts, Concise History, pp. 234, 235.

  78 Students could gather Tuchman, Stilwell, pp. 146, 151.

  78 burying people alive Boye Lafayette De Mente, The Chinese Have a Word for It (Chicago: NTC, 1996), p. 118.


  78 or beheading them photo of severed heads of outlaws posted on Nanking billboard, National Geographic, June 1927, p. 709.

  78 One of the most important events Spence, Search for Modern China, p. A58.

  78 “in a very short time” Roberts, Concise History, p. 226.

  79 “I was told” Harkness, “How I Caught the Rare Giant Panda,” part 2.

  CHAPTER FOUR: WEST TO CHENGDU

  81 Well after midnight Harkness to Perkins, 30 Sept. 1936.

  81 Taking a drag Dong, Shanghai 1842–1949, p. 10.

  81 It was September 27 North China Daily News, 27 Sept. 36, “Passengers.”

  81 The steamer Whangpu Deidre Chetham, Before the Deluge: The Vanishing World of the Yangtze's Three Gorges (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2002).

  82 “dear, dear Perkie” Harkness, Lady and the Panda, p. 238. Harkness expresses the sentiment in very similar terms in a letter to Perkins, 19 Sept. 1936.

  82 The transformation startled Harkness to Perkins, 7 Sept. 1936.

  82 including Gerry Russell Harkness to Perkins and others, 17 Oct. 1936.

  82 Elizabeth and Floyd Tangier Smith Elizabeth Smith to Ruth Woodhull Tangier Smith, 8 Dec. 1936, Smith Papers, Library of Congress.

  82 In Shanghai, the trendsetting Boyden, “Changing Shanghai,” National Geographic, Oct. 1937, p. 491.

  82 Undoubtedly, Chen's powerful parents Kiefer, Chasing the Panda, p. 67.

  83 “First class accommodations” Details of boat trip from Harkness to Perkins, 30 Sept. 1936.

  84 “Shop after shop” Harkness to Perkins, 30 Sept. 1936.

  85 One of the panda hunters Dean Sage, Jr., “In Quest of the Giant Panda: An Account Describing the Work of the Sage West China Expedition in the Highlands of Szechwan Province, Near the Borders of Tibet,” Natural History, Apr. 1935.

  85 Here, in the half-light Harkness to Perkins, 19 Sept. 1936.

  85 “I wonder when” Harkness to Perkins, 27 Sept. 1936.

  86 The 150-mile Sage, “In Quest.” 86 “He seems to have” Ruth Harkness, The Baby Giant Panda (New York: Carrick & Evans, 1938), p. 19.

  86 expedition's finances Harkness, Lady and the Panda, p. 83.

  87 He had taken this expedition North China Daily News, 28 Nov. 1936.

  87 She never could have fit in Sheldon, Wilderness Home, pp. 147–49.