Black-and-white star power

A child waits for the arrival of giant pandas "Xing Hui" and "Hao Hao" in Brussels. Photo provided to China Daily

Why is the world so enamored with the panda? And what does this portend for China's image?

Pandas are so celebrated that even their poop is valuable. Paper made from panda feces sells for big bucks.

So it's no shock a photo of a panda munching bamboo in an Air China flight's business class seat went viral.

Problem is, it was a hoax.

But the image's instant popularity - and the fact it was created at all - bows to the sky-high prestige of what's perhaps the world's most beloved, and sometimes globetrotting, wild animal and Chinese symbol.

For the actual flight of a pair of pandas from China to Canada last March, FedEx decked out the chartered plane's exterior with images of the creature chomping bamboo and the words "Panda Express". The animals were accompanied by a vet and two attendants, who served them 100 kilograms of bamboo, 150 kg of shoots, 50 kg of apples and 15 kg of water.

That's truly first-class airtime - and not only for the pandas.

"In-flight catering and a comfortable cabin temperature for the pandas should make for an enjoyable journey halfway across the world!" the company posted before the trip on a blog created to associate the brand with the species' celebrity.

The black-and-white bears were granted a red-carpet reception by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper, his wife and Chinese ambassador Zhang Junsai.

The pomp and circumstance surrounding pandas' arrival in foreign lands equals or exceeds that of rock stars and royalty, let alone bipedal diplomats'.

Most recently, Belgium's prime minister welcomed Xing Hui and Hao Hao over schoolchildren's cheers upon their arrival in Brussels on Feb 23.

So, it's unsurprising the Kung Fu Panda franchise proved a box-office knockout. Tan Kai's book, Hello, I Am Panda - written over 33 years from a cub's perspective and published in English and Chinese - was smash hit.

Media clamor surrounded the opening of the world's first panda-themed hotel near Sichuan province's Emei Mountain in 2012. The rooms offer various panda motifs - The Titanic (its artwork replaces the film's protagonists with pandas), astronaut, pianist and princess, Sichuan Haoduo Panda Hotel Co chairman Qin Jian explains.

"We commission panda artworks that actually depict humanity - our lives," he says.

Staffers also don panda costumes on official holidays. Sometimes, they dance.

Beyond major productions, the critters' images adorn everything from a top namesake Chinese cigarette brand to toilet seat covers. Make "everything" anything.

But why is the world so enamored with these animals? And what does this portend for China's image?

Zoologist Desmond Morris suggested 20 reasons people adore the species in his 1966 book Men and Pandas. He examines their flat faces, the illusion of large eyes, baby-like proportions, fluffiness, playfulness and clumsiness.

The rest of the reason hails from history, says Henry Nicholls, journalist and author of the book The Way of The Panda: A Curious History of China's Political Animal.

"In the 1950s, the Chinese Communist Party deliberately began to fashion the panda as a national treasure, a creature owned by Chinese - valuable, rare and coveted by the rest of the world," he explains.

"Around the same time, (the World Wildlife Fund) fashioned the panda into the face of global conservation. These two acts combined to give the panda extraordinary cultural significance. As China has grown in economic strength, so the panda's power has grown."

The WWF chose the panda as its logo upon its 1961 founding, though the organization would not work in China until more than two decades later.

It based the image upon the likeness of Chi Chi, who'd arrived at the London Zoo that year.

"Max Nicholson - one of the founders - later said the WWF panda was 'one of the most valuable trademarks that has ever been devised, and it took about 20 minutes to decide," Nicholls says.