HISTORY: Ruth Harkness And Su Lin The First Panda To Leave China....

A baby panda born at the National Zoo in Washington DC has captured the hearts of Americans, who have been voting to decide the name she will be given on Sunday, and watching her every movement via webcam.

The country's love affair with pandas began nearly 80 years ago, with the first ever taken from China alive. American socialite Ruth Harkness was more accustomed to holding a cigarette and a cocktail than a gun - her husband Bill was the explorer.

But after his death in 1936, the 35-year-old New York dress designer made her way to China to fulfil his dream of bringing a giant panda back to the US. She found a guide to take her through bandit territory into the rugged mountains of central China - a Chinese-American, 22-year-old Quentin Young.

"He was very good-looking," says his niece, Jolly Young King. "I think there was a certain presence about Quentin - he had this slicked-back hair - to me I guess it was more like a movie star."

"I hope that I can get a baby one... I have nursing bottles, [rubber] nipples and Dryco milk for him," she wrote.

Her next challenge was to get the animal out of China, but when she arrived at the docks in Shanghai, Chinese customs officials confiscated it. Her ship sailed without her. She stayed in the customs shed with the panda all night until it was released and in the end, Harkness got the animal out of the country listed as a dog.

Today his body is on display at the Field Museum in Chicago.
Mei Mei died in 1942. [See Photos]