Dengchigou in Baoxing County, Ya'an City, Sichuan Province, is the place where the giant panda was first scientifically discovered in the world, so it is also called "the hometown of pandas".

In 1869, when French missionary Armand David visited Dengchigou, he coincidentally found the fur of a black-and-white "bear" in a local villager's home. Afterward, a live black-and-white bear was brought to him by the local people. David intended to take this black-and-white "bear" back to France, but unfortunately, the "bear" died on the way.

Subsequently, David made a specimen from it and sent it to the Natural History Museum in Paris for display. In 1870, Director Alphonse Milne-Edwards determined that it was not a "bear" but another large panda (大猫熊, Dà Māoxióng) similar to a red panda (小猫熊, Xiǎo Māoxióng), and officially named it "猫熊 (Māoxióng)". Thus, its existence became formally recognized in the world's scientific community.

So, why is the panda, which was originally notated in Kanji as "猫熊 (Māoxióng)", now notated as "熊猫 (Xióngmāo)"? According to a guide at the Panda Origin Museum, it was triggered by a rather amusing "misunderstanding".

In 1939, an exhibition of animal specimens was held at Chongqing Pingming Zoo, and the black-and-white "猫熊 (Māoxióng)" attracted people's attention. The explanatory board displayed at that time adopted a popular format of bilingual notation in Latin and Chinese. However, because the Chinese horizontal writing at the time was habitually read from right to left, visitors mistakenly called it "熊猫 (Xióngmāo)", and eventually it came to be known as "熊猫".

Regarding the question of whether a panda is a "bear" or a "cat," opinions vary among different schools of thought. According to a guide at the Panda Origin Museum, pandas and animals of the bear family (such as Asiatic black bears and brown bears) are very similar in appearance and size. Based on molecular biological research, the bear school argues that pandas belong to the bear family.

However, because pandas are relatively similar to red pandas of the raccoon family in terms of diet and fur color, the raccoon school argues that pandas belong to the raccoon family.

Since pandas have clear differences from animals of the bear and raccoon families in terms of skull structure, tooth shape, and dietary characteristics, some Chinese scientists argue that "a panda is a panda" and advocate classifying it as its own family, Ailuropodidae (Giant Panda Family). However, Professor Zhang Jindong (Environmental Science and Engineering) of Xihua Normal University stated, "Currently, based on genome sequencing and morphological evidence, the academic community recognizes pandas as animals of the bear family." (Source/People's Daily Online Japanese Edition・Editor/KN)