CHENGDU, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- Deep in the mountains of southwest China's Sichuan Province stands a Catholic church that looks like a traditional wooden Chinese courtyard house, yet its interior follows Gothic design.
Visitors flock to the Dengchigou church in Baoxing County year-round, but most are not there to pray. They come for the giant panda, an animal that continues to shape the memories, identity and economic profile of the region.
In 1869, French missionary and naturalist Armand David arrived in Muping, as Baoxing was then called, and spent more than eight months at the Dengchigou church. There, he encountered an animal known locally as the "black-and-white bear," which was found to belong to a species totally new to science -- the giant panda.
For Li Yunjun, 48, who grew up in these mountains, giant pandas have always been part of life. He recalls how his parents' generation rescued starving pandas during widespread bamboo flowering in the 1980s, carrying weakened animals on makeshift stretchers for treatment.
Back then, wild pandas occasionally wandered near villagers' homes in search of food. "If one came to our home looking for food, we'd just let it eat whatever it wanted," Li said.
Li and other villagers were relocated from the mountains to a new village in 2016, but pandas still occasionally paid a visit. In July 2021, villagers spotted one near a riverbank and watched from a distance without disturbing it. The animal eventually returned to the forest.
If a panda is found injured or ill, villagers report it to local authorities, who arrange for experts to examine the animal before it is taken by "panda ambulance" to a veterinary hospital, Li said.
The peaceful encounters contrast with a darker chapter of the panda's history, documented at the Dengchigou church, part of which now serves as the giant panda origins museum.
Among its exhibits are photographs of Western expeditions in the 1920s and 1930s, when pandas were hunted for foreign museum collections.
The images recall an era of foreign aggression and domestic turmoil in China, when another chapter of history was unfolding in the same mountains.
In June 1935, the Communist Party of China (CPC)-led Red Army reached Baoxing after crossing the Dadu River and capturing the Luding Bridge. The soldiers then climbed Jiajin Mountain, the first major snow-capped mountain on their Long March.
The Long March, an epic military trek from 1934 to 1936, saw Red Army troops cross mountains and marshlands while battling better-armed Kuomintang forces, some marching as far as 12,500 kilometers.
The journey preserved the Red Army and gave the CPC a new foothold in northwest China, from which it built up its strength, fought back against invading Japanese troops and eventually toppled the corrupt Kuomintang regime, leading to the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949.
There are no known records of Red Army soldiers encountering giant pandas, but the animals, too, would see their fortunes change dramatically in the decades ahead.
For years, Baoxing relied heavily on white marble mining, logging and small hydropower projects, which provided jobs but put pressure on the environment.
That development model began to shift in 1998 when China banned commercial logging in natural forests along the upper Yangtze River. Dan Zhaohui, who had built roads for timber transport in Baoxing, joined reforestation efforts.
Three years later, he became a forest ranger, patrolling 1,250 hectares of mountainous terrain. "Over the years, I have encountered giant pandas, golden snub-nosed monkeys and other wildlife," he said. "The animals have come back."
Decades of conservation efforts have helped bring giant pandas back from the brink. Sichuan's wild panda population rose from 909 in the 1980s to 1,387 in the fourth national survey released in 2015, while their habitat expanded to more than 2 million hectares. The International Union for Conservation of Nature has reclassified the giant panda from "endangered" to "vulnerable."
At the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, panda mascot Bing Dwen Dwen became a sensation, with souvenirs quickly selling out. Once hunted for foreign museum collections, giant pandas have become a global symbol of friendship and conservation.
Protecting the animals and their habitat, however, has required difficult economic trade-offs.
Nearly 40 percent of Ya'an, the city that administers Baoxing, now lies inside the Giant Panda National Park. In Baoxing itself, more than 80 percent of the territory is included in the park.
The closure of mines and small hydropower facilities in protected areas has forced Baoxing to seek new sources of growth.
"The transition has been painful, but moving away from the old economic model is necessary. We must find new paths toward greener, higher-quality development," said Li Lun, director of Baoxing County's bureau of economy, commerce and technology.
Tourism has emerged as a source of growth. In 2025, Baoxing received 4.63 million tourist visits, up 10.28 percent year on year, while tourism revenue rose 10.41 percent to 4.09 billion yuan (about 608.7 million U.S. dollars), according to local authorities.
For Li Yunjun, the shift has meant leaving behind the marble trucks he once drove through the mountains.
He used to earn about 60,000 to 70,000 yuan a year hauling marble. He remembers the dust from blasting and the muddy Baoxing River during the mining boom.
In 2016, he sold his truck and opened a guesthouse in Dengchigou. Its seven rooms are often booked ahead of holidays, and his family's annual income now exceeds 100,000 yuan.
"Instead of hauling stone out of the mountains, I now welcome visitors drawn by giant pandas and the surrounding forests," he said.
But pandas are not the only draw for travelers to Baoxing. Many also come to trace the Long March. The Memorial Hall of the Red Army Crossing Jiajin Mountain receives over 300,000 visits annually, according to guide He Mengyu.
She said more student groups are coming from outside Sichuan, while foreign visitors who come for the pandas often extend their trips to Long March sites too. Some even ask where they can try making the straw sandals once worn by Red Army soldiers, an experience available in Dengchigou.
Jiajin Mountain, at the border of Baoxing and Xiaojin counties, has become a hiking destination for outdoor enthusiasts. As of August 2026, the Jiajin Mountain scenic area had recorded 13,327 tourist visits so far this year, up 1.45 percent year on year.
For Li Yunjun, the transformation is visible much closer to home.
"The Baoxing River has become clear again," he said. "The mountains are still the same, but the way we live with them has changed." ■
