At the end of the 1970s, arrow bamboo in Tangjiahe blossomed, causing a large number of bamboo forests to wither. Thus giant pandas starved, became ill, or even died. One day in August 1980, Hou Xingguo and three other rangers spotted an adult panda, drinking water in a brook with a weak and frail cub. Hou and his colleagues carefully rescued the cub.

Two months later, the panda cub was sent to Wolong Reserve, and named "Jiajia".  It gave birth to six cubs, becoming a veritable heronic mother. The average lifespan of giant pandas is around 25 years, but Jiajia, born in 1978, lived to 38 years old, equivalent to a human age of 114 years old.