Panda Bears

	Given the choice, I'd go for a red panda any day!

"And we will see panda bears!" enthused our guide. We tried to look equally keen, despite the heat and the never-ending buzzing of the cicadas (the main sound to be heard in this short film). We trailed after our own private Dragon Lady - dragons in China are symbols of good luck, which is why our charming and beautiful guide was called "Dragon" - over a covered bridge, past steaming waterfalls, and finally to a plate glass window, behind which a somnolent panda was chewing half-heartedly at a clump of bamboo.

The first shot of this fabulous beast is as we saw it, the second shows what some technical jiggery-pokery can accomplish. The problem is that there are a billion or so Chinese and they have been around for four or five thousand years. During the whole of that time every single one of them has queued up to press sweaty faces and hands against every available window - and despite inventing gunpowder, kites and noodles, the Chinese have never yet heard of a window cleaner.

Whether we were in the Forbidden City, the Terracotta Warriors or a pokey little affair like Guilin zoo, we just gave up attempting to look through glass windows, which were invariably obscured by five thousand years worth of hand and nose prints. Grrrr.

In any case, the delightful red panda we briefly glimpsed as we were on our way out was far cuter than its larger, lethargic black and white cousin.