Beijing Zoo

This guide to Beijing Zoo traces its path from an imperial menagerie assembled for Empress Dowager Cixi in the early 1900s through its near-total destruction under Japanese occupation, when soldiers poisoned the lions and leopards and the zoo's elephant starved. You'll hear how the grounds recovered after 1949, and about a panda cub named Chi-Chi whose fame helped inspire a well-known conservation logo. Listen for how little was left when the rebuilding began.