A panda feasts on bamboo in the Wolong Nature Reserve

Wild nature is not something the Chinese generally revere, but some reserves do exist around the country and none has been more painstakingly set up than the Wolong Nature Reserve.

Here the quirky giant panda has been assured survival amid the highland valleys and steep mountains west of Chengdu in central southern China.

While the impenetrability of the dense and humid undergrowth of the reserve means you can't expect to see pandas in the wild, you can get close to the 20 or so captive pandas at the modern research base and enjoy watching them with at least the right backdrop.