On Nov. 8, 17 elderly Canadian fans gathered together at Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province. The Canadians enjoyed a solid friendship with a particular panda in their youth.

In the 1930s, Canadian, American and British churches set up West China Union University, which now is West China Center of Medical Sciences, Sichuan University. Since the parents of these 17 men and women were teachers at the school, they themselves grew up in Chengdu, studying at a Canadian school that was specially set up for them on campus.

From 1937 to 1946, there were giant pandas on the university grounds. Among them, a panda named Pandora established a solid friendship with the children in 1938.

“We went to play with Pandora after school every day,” the elderly visitors excitedly recalled. They also remembered that many citizens came to the school to see Pandora.

The children missed their panda friend after returning to Canada. They have long gathered annually to share memories; such get-togethers have been occurring for the past 78 years.

The research base also gave these elderly fans a surprise, as images of Pandora were shown to them using 3-D thermal imaging technology.