The name of Bunnidharma is meant to evoke that of Bodhidharma, a Buddhist monk who lived in the 6th century.
Dim and Sum are classic goofballs inspired by at least two of the Three Stooges.
Zhizhu's spider threads seem superpowered, but in fact the tensile strength of most spider silk is comparable to that of high-grade alloy steel.
When Zhizhu asks Mei Mei to "hold his legs" it is meant to parallel the request that a woman in childbirth might ask of her midwife.
When a baby panda is born in the wild, it is shipped to China to help expand the panda gene pool.