By Chia Ning, Professor Emerita of History, Central College
I participated in the “Hacking History: The Gale DH Skills Workshop,” organized by Gale (part of Gengage Group) on the Loyola University Chicago Lake Shore Campus on December 5, 2024. Shortly before, during, and after this Digital Humanities (DH) training opportunity, I worked on a project titled “Worldwide Knowledge about Manchu in the Past Centuries” by exploring Gale Digital Scholar Lab (GDSL), which Gale granted a month of access to each workshop participant. At the workshop, the Gale professionals guided my project through the GDSL search engine. This engine provided the technological tools to build source packages drawn from Gale Primary Sources (GPS) as well as six analytical modules to assist in research development. A standardized Gale citation link is attached to each source for a researcher’s publication use, ensuring the Gale copyright over the source.
My GDSL research generated over a thousand sources published worldwide. Each search using a phrase that included the term “Manchu” resulted in a source collection. Each collection contained some overlapping sources with the other collections but was also different from the others by adding or missing some sources. The experience tells that a comprehensive research search should not rely on a single phrase; utilizing multiple phrases leads to better results. Spanning the period from 1837 to 2018, my fifteen source packages included a wide variety of content, such as language introductions, scholarly studies, news reports, cultural and art exhibitions, political events, personal biographies, and information regarding ethnic status. Among these sources, three news reports were on the Chinese leopards at the London Zoo, one of them was named Manchu (hereafter referred to as Leopard Manchu).
As my exploration of Gale’s digital resources was filled with cheerful discoveries, the unexpected yet delightful surprise of encountering Leopard Manchu uniquely creates a connection between a 20th-century zoo leopard and our scholarly study of Manchu. It illustrates how the “growing discipline” known as digital humanities can facilitate scholarly exploration through digital technology and resources and can bring “the thoughts, words, and actions of past centuries into the present for a comprehensive research experience” (Gale Primary Sources).
The unprecedented efficiency of source gathering using digital humanities (DH) technology presents new challenges due to the novel types of research sources. These DH sources differ significantly from the linguistic and historical primary materials that we have traditionally relied upon for studying the Manchu. Unlike these established materials, DH sources originate from global contexts outside the Qing boundaries, either in terms of time or location, and they introduce new issues and topics for scholars to consider and discuss. Leopard Manchu offers such an example. This piece of writing about the Leopard Manchu aims to contribute to the field by exploring the study of Manchu in our DH age.
The News Reports of the Leopards
News Report 1
S., H. M. “Chinese Leopard Born at Zoo.” Daily Telegraph, 19 Jan. 1965. p. 17. The Telegraph Historical Archive, link.gale.com/apps/doc/IO0705545477/DSLAB?u=dhday&sid=bookmark-DSLAB. Accessed 31 Dec. 2024. Gale Document Number: GALE|IO0705545477
A cub has been born to the Chinese leopards, Chu-Chu and Manchu at the London Zoo. It is only the second to be bred there. The first was in 1962 when Chu-chu had a daughter, Ming, who was sold to Hamburg Zoo. Chu-Chu is looking after her baby satisfactorily but she is aggressively protective. Another baby for the Zoo is a black-footed Cape penguin, hatched on the Mappin Terraces.
News Report 2
“Picture Gallery.” Times, 30 Mar. 1965, p. 7. The Times Digital Archive, link.gale.com/apps/doc/CS119498878/DSLAB?u=dhday&sid=bookmark-DSLAB. Accessed 31 Dec. 2024. Gale Document Number: GALE|CS119498878
Tsia, a Chinese leopard cub born to Chu-Chu and Manchu at London Zoo on January 10, making her first public appearance yesterday.
News Report 3
S., H. M. “Twin Leopards Born at Zoo.” Daily Telegraph, 17 Aug. 1967, p. 17. The Telegraph Historical Archive, link.gale.com/apps/doc/IO0703787096/DSLAB?u=dhday&sid=bookmark-DSLAB&xid=c189c3e5. Accessed 31 Dec. 2024. Gale Document Number: GALE|IO0703787096
Twin Chinese leopards have been born at London Zoo. The parents are Chu-Chu and Manchu. Manchu is separated from his family and is on view as usual. But Chu-chu, a fiercely protective mother, and her cubs, will not be seen by the public for about a fortnight. In the Lion House twin puma cubs have been born to Chita and Roger. – H. M. S
I completed the first draft of this writing by following my thoughts fully based on these three reports. While assisting me in posting it on the website, Elvin Meng, the Web Editor of the Manchu Study Group, discovered another two news reports through Gale Primary Sources, which my repeated GDSL searches did not generate. Elvin encouraged me to include these reports (labeled as GPS 1 and GPS 2 below) in my writing. I extend my heartfelt thanks to Elvin for his extraordinary contribution and for adding the Gale Document Numbers, which GDSL did not provide in my source collections.
GPS 1
S., H. M. “Twin Leopard Cubs.” Daily Telegraph, 14 June 1966, p. 19. The Telegraph Historical Archive, Accessed 15 Feb. 2025. Gale Document Number: GALE|IO0704940884
Two Chinese leopard cubs have been born at London Zoo to Chu-Chu and Mancho but they are not expected to be on view until next month. Chu-Chu, a devoted mother, is fiercely protective and so far the keepers have been able to get only a glimpse of the cubs.
GPS 2
“Appearing in public for the first time yesterday . ….” Daily Telegraph, 14 July 1966, p. 26. The Telegraph Historical Archive. Accessed 15 Feb. 2025. Gale Document Number: GALE|IO0704007864
Appearing in public for the first time yesterday . . Cheng and Chengtoo, twin Chinese Leopard cubs born in the Lion House at the Zoo last month. It was several days before their mother allowed keepers to discover how many cubs there were, and that they were male and female.
Notes About the Leopard Manchu Sources
“Chu-Chu and Manchu” in News Report 3 appeared as “Chu-Chu and Mancho” in GPS 1. The cubs “Cheng and Chengtoo” in GPS 2 are different from those in the email that the London Zoo archivist wrote to me on February 11, 2025, saying that “2 Chinese leopards (one female and one male) named Cheng and Cheng-Tu were born on June 9, 1966.” The Zoo archivist also informed me in the same email that “2 female Chinese Leopards (it is hard to decipher the names due to the handwriting) were born on 9th August 1967. Departure/death is not recorded.” Thus, the discussion on Leopard Manchu deals with the difficulties not only from missing information about his life story but also the mismatching details about him as “Manchu” or “Mancho” and his twin cubs “Chengtoo” or “Cheng-Tu.”
Elvin’s GPS search and my GDSL search experiences suggest that a comprehensive source collection should involve using both the GDSL search engine and the GPS’s. For readers, if your university library provides access to the Gale digital humanities programs, you can utilize the GDSL to gather sources in focused packages, along with analytical modules. You can follow Elvin’s suggestion to “locate these articles by searching for their Gale Document Numbers” in GPS. Mastering the Gale DH research skills will require more practice. This writing offers my experience and observation – a small part of the collective experiences.
Due to copyright considerations, I have typed out the above reports and refrained from providing the above newspaper images in this writing.
Thoughts on Leopard Manchu
The 1967 news report about Chu-Chu and Manchu (News Report 3) was my first introduction to the London Zoo leopards before I could collect additional reports. Leopard Manchu’s impact prompted me to think critically, leading to a series of questions and fact-checking efforts focused on the study of Manchu.
I am fully aware that the name Leopard Manchu may be a coincidental or arbitrary choice rather than a deliberate one based on its significance or connection to our scholarly “Manchu.” However, this leopard’s name still has its impact since the history and culture of the Manchu people inevitably provide the backdrop for it.
What is the matter of “Manchu” vs. “Mancho?” One could be an alternative spelling of the other; however, neither should be considered the Romanized two-character Chinese name. The Wade-Giles Romanization commonly used at the time (names for all the leopard cubs, for example) would render “Manchu” as “Man-Chu” and “Mancho” as “Man-Cho.” Given the 50-percent likelihood that “Mancho” is simply another spelling of “Manchu,” exploring Leopard Manchu in the study of Manchu will be beneficial to scholars who will use the DH sources, and such sources could bring issues like they are in the Leopard Manchu case. Thus, the Leopard Manchu case will aid in scholarly work by illuminating how to address similar issues. The work will not end at “making a fuss over nothing” (xiǎotí dàzuò 小题大做).
Why was a leopard named “Manchu”? The name-giver’s potential tie, no matter what kind, to the historical Manchuria (present Northeastern China) and the Manchu people (a minority group in the People’s Republic of China) should not slip away from our attention. That tie belongs to the study of Manchu.
Where could the “Chinese leopards” mentioned in news reports about the London Zoo be originally from? Leopards can be categorized based on their habitats. Indian leopards run in Tibet, Amur leopards roam in Heilongjiang, and Indo-Chinese leopards wander in Yunnan. Leopard Manchu logically refers to Amur leopards, which are native to the historical region of Manchuria, covering parts of what is now Northeast China and southeastern Russia. If the leopards at the London Zoo originated from Russia, it would be unlikely—or even impossible—for one to be named Manchu. The names of the leopard cubs born at the London Zoo—Ming (1962), Tsia (1965), and Cheng and Cheng-Tu/Cheng-Too (1966)—highlight a strong connection to China through their parent leopards, Chu-Chu and Manchu.
When were Chu-Chu and Manchu born? The question addresses the life circumstances to which the name “Manchu” would be meaningful or possible. Leopards typically have an average lifespan of twelve to fifteen years, with both male and female leopards reaching reproductive maturity at around two to two and a half years. Chu-Chu and Manchu were, thus, born around 1955 or a little later. The social and political context of the 1950s and 1960s raises questions regarding the use of the name “Manchu” in the People’s Republic of China. By this time, Manchu people had experienced three challenging historical phases.
- The last decades of the Qing dynasty (1636-1911) saw a rise in anti-Manchu sentiment in China.
- From 1912 to 1949, the 1911 Revolution ended Manchu rule, accompanied by radical anti-Manchu slogans. As a result, many members of the Manchu population concealed their ethnic identities under the Republican and Guomindang/Nationalist governments.
- Between 1949 and the 1960s, Manchu people were not off the negative shadow of the two previous periods. The consistent political movements often worsened their political and social status.
Having the name “Manchu” in this social and political environment would not be a worry-free matter. At the same time, whether the PRC, in isolation from the Western world, had an animal exchange with the United Kingdom was a question. The possibility of Chu-Chu and Manchu landing in the London Zoo from outside the PRC is under consideration.
The so-far unknown story and unanswerable questions build up the myths around Leopard Manchu. Can his name, and as a zoo animal, even be considered in the study of Manchu at all?
The primary focus of benefit is directed towards the DH research engine, information systems, and technological tools that sparked scholarly inquiry into the Leopard Manchu. The unique challenges presented by the Leopard Manchu case prepare scholars for future successful DH research. The connection between a zoo leopard in London and the study of Manchu enhances our understanding of what “Manchu” can signify in non-traditional ways. Leopard Manchu brings attention to human-animal relationships – a topic increasingly gaining traction in academia. The emotions, expectations, implications, and attachment that humans have when naming an animal can enrich interdisciplinary research, incorporating cultural studies, identity studies, anthropology, sociology, and psychology.
The Gale DH sources are global. Research utilizing these sources shifts the researcher’s standpoint from the “China issue” largely with an inside perspective to the “global issue” clearly with a global perspective or a combination. By placing the term “Manchu” in a global context of the 1950s and 1960s, aside from its heavy association with the hardship filled with political struggles and personal tragedies inside modern China (as my GDSL collections have generally reflected), there was a chance that this term evoked feelings pleasant, humorous, joyful, and relaxing. Leopard Manchu presented such a chance. When we examine all the associations linked to the term “Manchu” on a global scale, we can gain new insights that reveal the term “Manchu” exists in various forms around the world.
I am sharing this writing to seek ideas that will expand my thinking about Leopard Manchu and suggestions for addressing the challenges of studying Leopard Manchu. My email, [email protected], is open for discussions, comments, guidance, and potential collaborations with anyone who shares similar inquiries or wishes to offer different perspectives.
I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to Gale for including me in the “Hacking History: The Gale DH Skills Workshop.” This opportunity has been instrumental in the development of my project, “Worldwide Knowledge about Manchu in the Past Centuries.” This writing on Leopard Manchu represents a small note for that project. I am, again, deeply thankful to Elvin Meng for providing the GPS news reports and for his time and valuable editing suggestions, which greatly enhanced my writing.