The lady and the panda : the true adventures of the first American explorer to bring back China's most exotic animal / Vicki Constantine Croke

Includes bibliographical references and index

Ruth Harkness was a Manhattan socialite, newly married to a wealthy adventurer. Weeks after their wedding, he decamped for China in hopes of becoming the first Westerner to capture the most mysterious animal of the day, a giant panda -- an expedition on which many had failed miserably. Bill was also to fail, dying alone in China and leaving his widow adrift. In 1936, Ruth adopted her husband's dream as her own. In decadent Shanghai, white male explorers scorned her, so she chose as her partner a 22-year-old Chinese explorer as unconventional as she was, who would join her in a romance as torrid as it was taboo. Traveling across some of the toughest terrain in the world, where China borders Tibet, they raced against a traitorous rival, and were threatened by hordes of bandits and hostile natives. The voyage cost Ruth everything she had, but when she returned with a baby panda, the story became an international sensation. No animal in history had gotten such attention.