China Seminar | 12 May 2016

Adelaide 'Su-Lin' Young: First American Woman Explorer of the Himalayas 'A Panda Named Su-Lin'

Jolly Young King’s family was intimately involved with the discovery and capture of the Giant Pandas and rare pheasants. Starting with the Roosevelt Expedition in the late 1920s, the Young Family was instrumental in bringing the first pandas to the US, and several of their acquisitions have been on display at the Field Museum, Smithsonian, Museum of Natural History, Brookfield, Bronx and Houston Zoos, Chengdu Breeding Center as well as numerous private collections. Although naturalists and big game hunters in their day (1920s-1930s) were male Caucasians (Great White Hunters), the Young Family is Chinese, hails from Maui and the Big Island, and included one individual who is recognized as the first American Woman Explorer of the Himalayas: Adelaide ‘Su-Lin’ Young. Jolly Young King will talk about aspects of Su-Lin’s accomplishments–why she was honored with having the first live panda in captivity named after her. Many of her expedition photos will be shown to captivate your attention and interest.

Jolly Young King’s background includes software development for Honeywell and Tandem Computers, specializing in communications and operating systems software. She was Project Director, Facilitator, Benchmark Services Director and Troubleshooter for Tandem Computers and Wachovia Bank (now Wells Fargo). She’s a graduate of Hunter College, NYC. In 1984 and 2002 she retraced the paths of the original panda expeditions assisting in the research of two books: Chasing the Panda and Lady and the Panda. But unlike the original expeditions, her treks were not on foot but 4WD.