"A newborn panda weighs one hundred grams—just like two eggs!" Inside the glass enclosure of the new giant panda pavilion at Guangzhou Zoo, the giant panda Youyou leisurely chomps on bamboo. Outside the enclosure, a man in a security guard uniform is explaining fun facts about pandas in fluent English to foreign visitors.

The man is neither a keeper nor a professional translator. People call him Lao Huang. Now aged 55, he joined Guangzhou Zoo in June 2025 and was transferred to the new pavilion in September, when pandas Jiujiu and Youyou moved in. Thanks to his deep knowledge of panda behavior and his fluent English explanations, he quickly went viral online and earned the nickname "Diplomat of Guangzhou Zoo" from netizens.

After graduating from university, Lao Huang worked at an engineering firm, where he handled with English materials and technical communication, and gradually taught himself English in his spare time.

After joining the zoo, he was assigned to the old giant panda pavilion. The densely packed popular science content on the walls became his "self-study textbook". Newborn pandas weigh only 100 grams, consume large amounts of bamboo every day and tend to be solitary. These bits of knowledge were memorized one by one, and in his exchanges with visitors, they turned into vivid stories.

从工程单位到熊猫馆，广州这位“话痨”保安凭飙英语走红！

“A newborn panda weighs one hundred grams——just like two eggs！（刚出生的大熊猫仅有100克，大概两个鸡蛋重！）”广州动物园新熊猫馆的幕墙内，大熊猫“友友”悠闲地啃着竹子；幕墙外，一位身着保安制服的大叔，用流利的英语向外国游客讲解大熊猫的趣味知识。

他不是饲养员，也不是专业翻译。人们叫他老黄，55岁，2025年6月入职广州动物园，9月随大熊猫“久久”“友友”入驻而调至新馆，凭着对熊猫习性的熟稔和脱口而出的英语讲解迅速在网络上走红，被网友亲切地称为“广动外交官”。

老黄是大学毕业，早年在工程单位工作时，曾接触过一些外文资料与技术沟通，硬是利用业余时间，一点一点把英语“啃”了下来。

来到动物园后，他被调到旧熊猫馆执勤，墙上密密麻麻的科普知识成了他的“自学教材”。熊猫刚出生只有100克、每天要消耗大量竹子、是独居动物……这些点滴知识，被他一条条记在心里，又在与游客的交流中变成了生动的故事。

文、图｜记者 孙牧（除署名外）
视频｜记者 王中杰 实习生 段杰文
翻译｜柯妃娟
审校｜林佳岱