Panda visit wows Obama family on last day of tour

Panda cubs at Chengdu Research Base in SW China

Vaught points out that even schoolchildren know the panda's native land.

She says her permanent ink seemed like her visit's perfect tribute.

"I thought: 'I love pandas. I'm in the land of pandas. And I can get a real Chinese tattoo in China'."

So she did.

"Besides that they're adorable, huge, fuzzy and ridiculous, they also remind me of hope, that even when things are looking bad, they can turn around. Maybe it appeals to the whole idea that humans are destroying the planet and killing off its diversity. But, hey, look, we're saving the pandas."

She also visited the Beijing Zoo's pandas.

The mostly Chinese crowds at the capital's panda pens show the animals aren't solely a boon to China's international image but are also domestically venerated.

Liaoning province resident Sun Lihong explains she and her 17-year-old daughter Bao Zhiyue partly decided to spend their vacation in late February in Beijing to see the capital's pandas.

"We came to see our national treasure," the 44-year-old says.

Bao agrees pandas represent China better than dragons.

"Dragons aren't real," she says.

"And foreigners and Chinese think of them differently. But everyone sees the panda as the same. They truly represent China and our hopes of peace and harmony."

Nearby, a 2-year-old American clutching a stuffed panda hugs a Chinese toddler carrying a panda-shaped bag. The crowd pulls away from the creatures they came to see to photograph the cute children.

"Look," the Chinese parents say to their daughter, pointing to the foreign girl's stuffed animal, smiling, "she's got a panda, too."

Xing Yi contributed to the story.