Nancy Reagan remembered as panda savior

Nancy Reagan, the former US first lady who died at the age of 94 in Los Angeles on Sunday, was her husband's greatest supporter and confidante and accompanied him on a trip to China in April 1984, known as the "Panda diplomacy" visit.

Before the trip by the first lady and Ronald Reagan, who was US president from 1981 to 1989, China's bamboo crop had started to blossom - a rare occurrence that signals the death of the plant. This led to a severe shortage of bamboo, the staple of the panda's diet.

As first lady, Nancy Reagan launched the "Pennies for Pandas" drive in the United States in March 1984. In the drive, she asked US schoolchildren to donate money in an emergency effort to save China's wild giant pandas.