Global Times: China's 'giant pandas of birds' rebound in Changbai Mountains through sustained human protection and technological innovation
PR Newswire
BEIJING, May 26, 2026
BEIJING, May 26, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- "Building an ecological civilization concerns the well-being of the people and the future of the nation."Chinese President Xi Jinping, also general secretary of the Communist Party of China (CPC) Central Committee and chairman of the Central Military Commission, pointed out: "Respecting, adapting to, and protecting nature is essential for building China into a modern socialist country in all respects."As outlined in the 15th Five-Year Plan (2026-2030) for national economic and social development, securing major breakthroughs in strategic tasks of overall importance to Chinese modernization and making major new progress in the Beautiful China Initiative are set as key objectives.The Global Times is launching a series of articles titled "BeautifulChinaING." From the perspectives of the beauty of nature, the beauty of system and the beauty of lifestyle, the series uses both Chinese and international cases as entry points. Through field reporting and video storytelling, it explores how green development has become a defining feature of Chinese modernization while showcasing China's role as a responsible major country providing global public goods.In this installment, as May 22 marks the International Day for Biological Diversity, we turn our focus to the Chinese merganser in the Changbai Mountains, where decades of conservation, scientific innovation and community participation are helping revive one of the world's rarest birds while showcasing China's broader ecological restoration efforts.In May, the Changbai Mountains in Northeast China's Jilin Province awaken with new life. Wildlife activity grows increasingly frequent as spring spreads across the forests and rivers.Inside the nursery room of a wildlife rescue station five kilometers from Erdaobaihe Town, veterinarian Cui Xiucheng bends over to observe two tiny, fluffy creatures. The Chinese merganser ducklings flap their fragile wings excitedly as they splash around in a small basin of water.The pair had recently become separated from their flock before being discovered by tourists and brought to the rescue station. Now, in a temperature-controlled environment and under careful feeding plans, they are growing steadily.Behind this seemingly ordinary scene lies a conservation effort that has lasted for more than a decade.Researchers at the Changbai Mountain Academy of Science told the Global Times that the Chinese merganser - a relic species dating back some 70 million years - is often referred to as the "giant pandas of birds." Highly sensitive to water quality and ecological conditions, the species is widely regarded as an indicator of ecosystem health. In recent years, sustained conservation efforts have driven a rapid recovery in its population.May 22 marks the International Day for Biological Diversity. Against this backdrop, the story of the Chinese merganser in the Changbai Mountains has become a vivid example of China's broader ecological conservation achievements.Guardians in the forestAccording to Cui, rescuing Chinese mergansers requires highly specialized work.In late May to early June each year, mother ducks leave the nest with most of their ducklings soon after hatching. Yet one or two eggs are left behind, having failed to hatch due to temperature fluctuations or insufficient incubation time, Cui told the Global Times."At that point, I bring the eggs back to the rescue station and place them in artificial incubators that replicate the temperature and humidity conditions of the wild," Cui said.Rescue operations are not limited to eggs. Injured or stranded ducklings also frequently require intervention.In one rescue case in 2025, rescue workers found a weak duckling that had failed to jump out of an artificial nest box and was in critical condition. They rushed it back to the station for emergency care.To help the duckling survive, Cui and other staff members prepared live cold-water fish every day, feeding it seven to eight times daily while carefully adjusting portions according to its growth stage. As the bird grew, its appetite became astonishing, consuming more than 100 small fish per day."They only eat tiny live fish from Changbai's cold-water streams, and the water quality has to remain extremely clean," Cui explained.Alongside feeding, workers gradually introduced the duckling to simulated wild environments and trained it to forage independently.After more than a month of intensive care, during the peak feeding period for wild merganser flocks, the bird was released into the river. Only after watching it quickly blend back into the wild group did the rescue team finally breathe a sigh of relief."Since joining the rescue station in 2018, I start work at 7 am almost every day, and emergency rescues sometimes happen in the middle of the night," Cui said. "But seeing these endangered birds gradually recover makes every effort worthwhile."The Global Times learned from the Changbai Mountain Academy of Science that surveys conducted in 2013 found only three natural nests remaining in the Toudao Baihe river basin, with fewer than 10 Chinese mergansers left in the area.The turning point came through systematic policy support.Facing severe population decline, local authorities launched key scientific research and conservation projects aimed at comprehensive species recovery. In 2018, Jilin initiated a long-term Chinese merganser conservation program covering the Changbai Mountains through 2030, according to China's National Forestry and Grassland Administration.Today, after years of effort, the population of Chinese mergansers in the region has multiplied significantly.Between 2022 and 2025 alone, this rescue station successfully treated and rescued more than 130 wild animals, including nationally protected species such as Chinese mergansers, sika deer, leopard cats, black bears, roe deer, goshawks and kestrels.
