91.Panda gets unusual Nativity figurine

By XINHUA in Barcelona2014-12-18 page7

This Christmas, the giant panda has its own caganer, a Catalan word that translates most

politely as ""the defecator"" - ceramic figures that are sold at the Fira de Santa Llucia,

a Christmas market in the Mediterranean city of Barcelona.

The caganer is a ceramic figure that has traditionally appeared in Christmas Nativity

scenes in Catalonia since the 18th century. The traditional caganer figure depicts a

peasant wearing the Catalan beret and is considered a symbol of good luck because it

fertilizes the earth.

The giant panda caganer was made on the occasion of Beijing Design Week, which was

held in Beijing from Sept 26 through Oct 3, with Barcelona as guest city.

Although the panda figure was not displayed at Design Week, Marc Alos, an artisan for

the company caganer.com, told Xinhua that around 300 caganer figures representing

celebrities, real life figures and cartoons were shipped to Beijing to be part of the

exhibition.

Now the panda figurine has its place on the shelves of the Fira de Santa Llucia, located

in the square of the Cathedral of Barcelona, along with other new figures.

Alos said the other new caganers this year include famous actors, such as Humphrey

Bogart and Groucho Marx. Important figures of Catalan culture are also represented.

"Sales are going well, but the weather does not help us," Alos said, as recent rain in the

city has prevented people from going out to shop.

"The type of product we sell is suitable for everyone - tourists, locals, children and

adults," he said. The figures are not only intended for Nativity scenes, but have become

a fun souvenir for many tourists to buy for friends and family.

"It may be that 50 percent of our customers are from out of the country, and this helps

us," Alos said.

Caganer.com, a family enterprise, manufactures more than 30,000 figures a year, of

which about 10 to 12 percent are bought by customers from abroad, especially from the

United States.

92.Third panda triplet joins siblings and mother

By Qiu Quanlin in Guangzhou2014-12-10page5

The last of three giant panda triplets joined its mother, Juxiao, on Tuesday, marking the

first complete family reunion after the birth of the triplets at a zoo on July 29.

Two of the siblings have been with their mother since Nov 21.

Juxiao walked around the panda center at the Chimelong Safari Park in Guangzhou,

Guangdong province, gently hugging and touching the three babies, which are believed

to be the only living panda triplets in the world.

It was the first time that Juxiao, whose name means "chrysanthemum smile", had a

chance to interact with all three of the triplets since they were born, according to Dong

Guixin, general manager of the park.

"Gentle care from the mother giant panda will help the three cubs grow in a more

healthy way," Dong said.

Juxiao was unable to look after the cubs in recent months as she was in poor health after

their birth, Dong said.

Workers at the zoo fed the cubs both Juxiao's milk and artificial mixed milk in the early

stages. They later allowed the mother to nurse each cub in rotation.

"Allowing Juxiao to look after the three babies together carried some risks," Dong said.

"The mother might hurt the babies unknowingly - for example, by pressing down on

them."

On Nov 21, Juxiao began looking after two cubs and appeared to be happy to be with

them, Dong said.

"It is a bold attempt to allow Juxiao to nurture three cubs. We have no experience in

terms of allowing a giant panda to look after three babies," Dong said.

The family reunion marks a shift from an artificial fostering arrangement to a mother

panda raising all of her own cubs, Dong said. "The cubs have to learn survival skills

from their mother."

Each of the three babies now weighs more than 8 kilograms and they are in healthy

condition, according to the park.

Of the cubs, the eldest is female and the younger two are male.

Panda triplets have only a 1 percent chance of surviving birth, according to the China

Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.

There are only four known cases of pandas conceiving triplets, but not all the cubs

survived. In 1999, an 18-year-old panda at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda

Breeding gave birth to three cubs, but only one survived.

qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn

93.Infrared cameras help in protecting pandas

By HUANGZHILING2014-12-03page18

Technology aids in keeping watchful eye on poachers

Visitors to the Anzihe Nature Reserve in Sichuan province can't help but notice the

stunning photos on display at its publicity and education center.

One shows a baby panda following its mother on the ridge of a mountain; another is an

awe-inspiring shot of a snow leopard.

All of the shots were taken by infrared cameras.

"The cameras, donated by domestic and international organizations, have allowed

images to be taken of endangered animals which normally people can never hope to see

for themselves," said Wang Lei, deputy director of the reserve's management office.

The cameras are also used to help detect poachers and herbal medicine collectors, Wang

said.

Based in Chongzhou, Anzihe is one of China's major panda conservation reserves.

It is connecting to another two panda reserves in the province - Wolong National Nature

Reserve in Wenchuan and Heishuihe Nature Reserve in Dayi. It is a passageway that

pandas use to find partners during the mating season.

"Pandas live alone but can travel to the other reserves to find partners. The passageway

is important to prevent in-breeding," said Zhang Hemin, chief of Wolong's

administrative bureau.

According to the third national panda census conducted during 1999 and 2000, Anzihe

was home to around 10 wild pandas. A fourth census has just been completed with data

yet to be released. But the reserve, set up in 1993, has just 10 full-time employees and

is short of funds.

Employees are only able to patrol in the mountains once a year and many have never

actually seen a panda with their own eyes, given how pandas studiously avoid any

contact with people.

But the staff can now study the wild pandas in photos and on video to better understand

their habits, thanks to the donated infrared cameras. Anzihe first started monitoring

pandas and other endangered animals using five donated infrared cameras back in 2007

as part of a joint project by Peking University and Washington Zoo in the United States.

"The film and the batteries ran out very quickly, and so we didn't manage to capture

many of the animals. But we quickly learned how to use them better," said Fu Qiang,

the technician in charge of the cameras at the reserve.

In 2008, a magnitude-8 earthquake devastated many parts of Wenchuan, leaving nearly

90,000 people dead or missing, and Anzihe was hit hard.

But thanks to the Shanshui Conservation Center, a bio-diversity organization founded

by Lu Zhi, a professor at the Peking University, the reserve still received five new

infrared cameras that year.

"The cameras showed that many of our endangered species, including the pandas,

survived the quake," Fu said.

Between 2012 and 2014, the World Wide Fund for Nature donated another 15 cameras

to Anzihe, meaning far more protected animals could be monitored and photographed.

As well as pandas, images of snow leopards, snub-nosed monkeys, wildebeests, forest

musk deer, Chinese monal pheasants, Chinese grouse and chestnut-throated partridges

were captured.

"Thanks to the photos and videos we took we were able to get a far better idea of the

numbers of animals we have on the reserve," Fu said.

"Before the infrared cameras took photos of the snub-nosed monkey, for instance,

people in Anzihe had never seen it for more than a decade and thought it had been

driven out by the much-larger Tibetan macaque."

As well as raising public awareness, the network of cameras has helped catch poachers

or stop those attempting to steal endangered herbal medicines.

"After the cameras took photos of poachers carrying guns, and illegal herb collectors

with bags on their backs full of plants, employees were able to identify them and either

warn them off or educate them," said Zheng Xiaolin, a resident of Jiguanshan township

where the reserve is located. "We have not heard of anyone poaching since."

World Animal Protection, an international non-profit animal welfare organization,

donated another 30 infrared cameras to Anzihe earlier this month.

Funding has come in from a huge variety of organizations, including banking giant

HSBC Plc, the world's largest courier company Fed-Ex Express, and the US gums and

candy producer, Wrigley, said Yang Biao, an official with Conservation International,

which donated five cameras and a camcorder to Anzihe in 2009.

huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn

94.Reform promotes protection for pandas

By WANG QIAN 2014-11-24 page4

Changes to China's forestry management laws are helping to safeguard one of the

world's best-loved animals, as Wang Qian reports.

In the past three years, Chen Xiaohong, a farmer in the mountainous province of

Sichuan, has renovated his home and his family's income has doubled as a result of a

new conservation model in Laohegou, a former State-owned farm with an adjoining

forest.

In 2012, the Sichuan Nature Conservation Foundation and the government of Pingwu

county signed a conservation agreement to lease 110 square kilometers of forest in and

around Laohegou for 50 years, enabling the foundation to establish a new panda reserve.

“Just three years after the agreement was signed, my life has changed dramatically,”

Chen said, adding that the foundation has helped him sell farm produce such as honey

and chicken in urban areas.

The 43-year-old farmers said that while the local farmers are prospering, the lives of

animals such as pandas are improving. He compared the situation to that last seen in

the 1980s, when the animals were seen more frequently.

Laohegou connects a number of nature reserves that provide an important migration

path for pandas.

Jin Tong, a conservation scientist with The Nature Conservancy who also visits the

Laohegou project, said : “We had been looking to introduce the land trust model to

China to protect wild animals for a long time, but it wasn’t possible until the forestry

tenure reforms six years ago.”

In 2008, the State Council, China’s Cabinet, decided to promote the Collective Forest

Tenure Reform, which allows 1.82 million sq km of woodland under collection

ownership nationwide to be rented for commercial use.

Jin said the reform has enabled NGOs and individuals to establish private protected

areas that protect the environment and biodiversity.

However, despite the opportunities for new conservation initiatives provided by the

reform, a recent study showed that its implementation could also threaten the pandas’

habitat. The study conducted by a team of researchers from Beijing Normal University

showed that the reform would allow more than 15 percent of the pandas’ habitat to be

transferred to private investors for commercial use.

Zhang Li, a professor at the university who specializes in the protection of wild animals

who led the study, said that without proper control measures the worst-case scenario is

that reduction of the habitat could result in the country’s panda population, currently

numbering about 1,600, declining by about 15 percent.

Zhang said the reform has not yet fully been implemented in provinces with giant

pandas, including Gansu and Sichuan, but it soon could be.

The study suggested that allowing individuals and NGOs to apply for eco-

compensation from local and central governments could lessen the impact the reform

may have on the pandas. It also provided four scenarios for the management of panda-

inhabited areas under the reform, saying that if the government arranged an eco-

compensation fee of about $1.2 billion, it would be possible to prevent the decline of

the panda population.

“The study is intended to remind the forestry authorities that establishing an eco-

compensation system is important in forest reform,” Zhang said.

“Without proper measures to control the unintended effects of the reform, this change

may pose a potential threat to these vital habitats as a result of commercial development,”

he added.

According to statistics released by the State Forestry Administration in 2004, the pandas’

habitat nationwide has declined by nearly 60 percent in the past six decades, from

51,000 sq km in 1950s to 21,000 sq km in 2004, mainly as a result of deforestation and

woodland fragmentation, human activity, and climate change.

Zhang Zhihe, head of the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding, said that

human population growth and increased land use are the main cause of the rapid

contraction of the animals’ habitat.

In his book Giant Pandas: Born Survivors, Zhang wrote that giant pandas are highly

adept at adapting to changes in their natural habitat. He said the pandas wasn’t disturbed

by human activity. The growth of human settlements has left many pandas isolated in

narrow belts of bamboo no more than 1,000 to 1,200 meters wide, according to the

book.

Low survival rate

Pandas are know for having very low survival rates. According to the Chengdu

Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding, only 30 to 50 percent of pandas born in

captivity in China manage to survive past the infant stage.

Zhang Li said that in addition to eco-compensation, the reform makes it possible for

private individuals and organizations to run private protected areas, which is a worthy

ambition.

However, a lack of continuous funding is the biggest challenge facting the operators of

private sanctuaries. When they run out of money, the operators have to apply to the

local authorities for financial support or expend their tourism industries to attract

visitors to overcome the financial shortfall and pay daily operating costs.

Jin said the 2011-2014 budget for the Laohegou project was 20 million yuan ($3.3

million), but after this year the annual operating cost is expected to be less than 3 million

yuan.

The Sichuan Nature Conservation Foundation is building a local farm produce brand,

and Jin said that, within two to three years, the profits from the business are expected

to cover the daily operating costs. She hoped the model will be promoted nationwide in

the near future.

Back in his village, farmer Chen said the reform is the perfect way to improve the lives

of both humans and animals, and is preferable to industrial development because it

actively protects the local environment. “Compared with fast money from industrial

activity, give me the reform. I’d rather see this place stay the way it is – green forests

and blue skies,” he said.

Contact the writer at wangqian@chinadaily.com.cn

SICHUAN’S BLACK AND WHITE SURVIVAL PROGRAM

Forestry authorities in Sichuan province are investigating ways to build national parks

to better protect giant pandas, possibly the world’s best-loved animals.

The Sichuan Provincial Forestry Bureau released a guideline in early October

suggesting that nine migration paths for giant pandas will be the parks’ locations.

An official at the bureau who declined to be named said the construction of the parks is

still in an environmental assessment is ongoing.

Figures from the bureau show that Sichuan has 1,206 wild pandas, about 76 percent of

the country’s population, and their habitat covers about 17,700 square kilometers.

In addition to building the parks, China has made efforts to reintroduce the animals into

the wild, and expert Li Desheng said local authorities have made great efforts to protect

the pandas and their habitat.

On Oct 5, the Dujiangyan Giant Panda Valley opened in Sichuan, It’s the first center

specifically designed to allow pandas to be introduced to the wild, and is home to more

than 350 pandas. The valley has two specific aress where pandas are trained to live in

the wild to ease their introduction to the natural habitat, plus a research and education

center.

The valley is located in forested hills, the panda’s natural habitat, about 50 km from

Chengdu, and is close to a nature reserve where a number of pandas live.

The middle of October saw the fourth panda released into the wild in eight years. The

program started in 2003, with the aim of training pandas to live on their own, with the

first animal being released in 2006 after trained to survive in the wild.

Late last month, the Sichuan Provincial Forestry Bureau announced that a new captive-

panda training base will be built in the Liziping Nature Reserve, where four pandas

have been released since 2006.

95.Cameras capture daily lives of mother panda, cub in the wild

By Huang Zhiling 2014-10-21 page4

A mother panda holding her cub and breast-feeding it looks so tranquil that people

might think the two are in a park.

However, the scene is from one of about 80 snapshots and videos of the two wild pandas

taken by a camera installed in the Heishuihe Nature Reserve in Dayi county, Sichuan

province.

Located more than 2,000 meters above sea level in the transitional area from the

Chengdu Plain to the West Sichuan Plain, the reserve covers 319 square kilometers and

is home to such animals as the giant panda and snub-nosed monkey.

To monitor the animals, workers have installed cameras in the reserve.

"Judging from the hair and posture of the panda cub, we infer that it is about 40 days

old and is in good health," said Wei Liao, a researcher at the reserve.

The snapshots and videos show the life of the pair from Oct 6 to Oct 8. The cub stayed

in its den alone, and then frolicked with its mother and left the den with her. One video

shows the mother using her front paws to put the cub beside her before slowly lying

down and placing it on her stomach to breast-feed it.

"The mother is experienced in taking care of the young. She must have been a mother

before," Liao said.

There are only 1,596 wild pandas in the world. They live in Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu

provinces.

"Seventy-eight percent of them are in Sichuan," said Zhang Hemin, chief of the

administrative bureau of the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Wenchuan county,

Sichuan.

To enlarge the wild panda population, researchers have trained four captive-bred pandas

and released them into the wild.

Xiang Xiang was the first panda released into the wild. He was born in 2001 and

released in 2006. On Feb 19, 2007, his body was found in the woods. Researchers

suspected he had taken refuge in a tree after fighting with wild pandas, but had fallen.

"Tao Tao, the second panda returned to the wild in 2012, and Zhang Xiang, the third

panda, released in 2013, have adapted to the natural environment," Zhang said.

Last week, his reserve released Xue Xue, the fourth panda sent into the wild. All four

pandas released to the wild are from his reserve.

One year after Tao Tao's release, he was found in a tree in an area that is more than

3,000 meters above sea level. A vet used a rifle to tranquilize the frightened bear, which

fell into a net set up by the team.

The vet took a blood test, which showed that the panda was in good health. "Tao Tao

weighed 42 kilograms when he was released into the wild. When he was found one year

later, he had gained at least 10 kilograms," said Yang Zhisong, a researcher who was at

the scene.

Contact the writer at huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn

huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn

96.Hesitant panda heads for forest

By Huang Zhiling2014-10-15 page4

When her cage was opened at 10 am on Tuesday, 2-year-old panda Xue Xue did not

come out as expected.

After observing the outside for about three minutes, she slowly emerged but then

returned immediately. A keeper in a panda costume tried many times to lure her out

with bamboo.

She eventually came out again and headed for dense forest in the Liziping National

Nature Reserve in Shimian county, Sichuan province.

Although the release took only about 20 minutes, it was a moment that panda handlers

had waited 26 months for.

Soon after Xue Xue was born on August 15, 2012, handlers began preparing for her

release into the wild by placing her at a base in the Wolong National Nature Reserve in

Sichuan.

"As Xue Xue, who weighs nearly 56 kg, knows how to find food, water and shelter by

herself, experts believe she is qualified for reintroduction into the wild," said Zhang

Hemin, chief of Wolong's administrative bureau.

Xue Xue is the fourth panda in eight years to be released by China into the wild.

The first panda released into the wild, Xiang Xiang, had a difficult time.

Xiang Xiang, born in August 2001, returned to the wild in Wolong on April 28, 2006.

On February 19, 2007, his body was found in the woods, with broken ribs and injuries

to his ears and back. Researchers suspected he had taken refuge in a tree after fighting

with wild pandas, but had fallen.

Xiang Xiang's death forced handlers to revise their approach to caring for pandas and

training them to survive in the wild.

After the birth of Tao Tao, who in 2012 became the second panda to be returned to the

wild, handlers changed tactics. They approached him, dressed in panda costumes that

had been splattered with panda urine.

Zhang, the Wolong administrative bureau chief, said that a panda's release "is a success

only when he or she has mated and fathered or mothered a cub".

huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn

97.Program aims to free pandas born in captivity into the wild

By COLIN SIMPSON in Chengdu 2014-09-22 page7

Animal experts are pressing ahead with a groundbreaking program to release captive-

born giant pandas into the wild.

The initiative could help to secure the future of the endangered species, a symbol of

both China and the global conservation movement.

""This program is aimed at increasing the giant panda population and improving the

survival rate of this precious species,"" said Huang Xiangming, a researcher at the

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

The panda lives in forests in the southwest of the country, but the number in the wild is

unknown. Huang said the last official nationwide census in the 1980s put the figure at

1,900. The results of a new census have yet to be released.

The animals at the center in Sichuan province are the product of several generations of

captive breeding by artificial insemination, so they have no natural survival skills.

In the wild, panda cubs are taught the skills they need to survive by their mother.

Staff will have to help them acquire these abilities through a special training program

before any can be freed.

The Wolong panda center, also in Sichuan province, has released two animals. However,

they were born to a mother who was saved from the wild and could pass on survival

skills.

If successful, the Chengdu program will be the first to release pandas bred by artificial

insemination over several generations.

"We are just at the start of this research program, but I believe the base can achieve a

lot from it and we will finally be able to send inseminated pandas into the wild," said

Huang.

"The Wolong pandas were released in a totally natural environment. They had very

strong natural characteristics so it was easier for the center to send them into the wild.

"Maybe our pandas' grandmother's grandmother was artificially inseminated, so they

have no ability at all to live in the natural world. Maybe they will meet some natural

enemies," Huang added.

The Chengdu center has set up a base, at nearby Dujiangyan, where staff members are

training four adult pandas to find food, water and shelter and avoid predators.

A further four young animals have been selected to join them and are being prepared

for the move from the main Chengdu site.

Yang Kuixing, another researcher at the Chengdu base, said: "Only very healthy and

active animals are chosen for this program.

"The first four are receiving training from a special team to help them live in the wild.

"After that, the experts will choose the fittest pandas and send them to a semi-wild

environment," Yang said.

"The pandas may live there for several years, and if they survive in that environment

they will finally be sent to a completely wild environment."

No time has been set for when the first release will take place.

"It depends on a number of factors, such as the physical condition of the pandas and

their development," Huang said.

Contact the writer at colin@chinadaily.com.cn

98. Month-old miracle panda triplets said to be thriving

By Qiu Quanlin in Guangzhou ( China Daily )2014-08-29page4

Giant panda triplets born a month ago at a zoo are healthy and putting on weight, a

manager said on Thursday.

The cubs were pink when they first appeared but have started to grow black and white

fur, said Dong Guixin, general manager of the Guangzhou Chimelong Safari Park in

Guangdong province.

The triplets' weight increased from 90.5 grams, 83 grams and 124.4 grams when they

were born on July 29 to 1,014.5 grams, 1,013.2 grams and 1,227.6 grams today.

They are the world's first known surviving panda triplets.

"It is a miracle, as the three cubs are very healthy," Dong said. "They are under the

watchful eyes of a team of zoo staff 24 hours a day and are expected to meet visitors

four months from now."

The triplets are being nursed by their mother, Juxiao, whose name means

"chrysanthemum smile".

In addition to mother's milk, each cub is given 300 milliliters of special formula per day.

"The mother cannot feed them all at the same time," said Dong.

"They have become accustomed to the changing feedings and are showing good

appetites."

The triplets will start eating bamboo in the near future, he added.

Dong revealed the cubs' genders . The eldest is female and the younger two are male.

"The female cub is quiet after being fed, while the two males are very lively and crawl

near their mother," he said.

The zoo has launched a campaign inviting members of the public to suggest names for

the cubs.

Panda triplets have only a 1 percent chance of surviving birth, according to the China

Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda.

There are only four known cases of pandas conceiving triplets, but not all the cubs

survived.

In 1999, an 18-year-old panda at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding

conceived three cubs, but only one was born alive.

qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn

99. Guangzhou zoo unveils 'miracle' panda triplets

By Qiu Quanlin in Guangzhou 2014-08-13 07:39:56

A zoo has unveiled newborn giant panda triplets billed as the world's first known

surviving trio in what is being hailed as a ""miracle"" given the animal's low

reproductive rate.

It took almost four hours for the mother, Juxiao, to deliver the cubs, which weighed 83

grams, 90 grams and 122 grams, at Guangzhou's Chimelong Safari Park, Guangdong

province, on July 29.

The triplets were put into incubators while Juxiao, meaning ""chrysanthemum smile"",

regained her strength. They are now back with their mother who is nursing them under

the watchful eyes of a team of zoo staff that looks after them 24 hours a day.

Giant panda triplets were born at Chimelong Safari Park, in Guangdong province, on

July 29. Provided to China Daily

"After nearly two weeks under the care of the mother the babies are very healthy," said

Dong Guixin, general manager of the park.

"They now weigh nearly twice what they did when they were born."

Pictures show the pink cubs inside an incubator with their eyes closed and their bodies

sparsely covered with white fur.

"The mother and babies were in good condition, but the adorable newborns were

particularly inspiring," the zoo said.

The gender of the cubs was not disclosed, and they will be named later.

Zhang Hemin, director of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant

Panda, Sichuan province, said panda triplets have only a 1 percent chance of surviving

birth.

"Now we have created a miracle," Zhang said. "The three pandas have a great chance

of staying alive, as they are now very healthy."

There are only four known cases of pandas conceiving triplets, said Wang Chuandong,

head of the animal hospital in the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant

Panda.

In 1967, a 9-year-old panda at Shanghai Zoo gave birth to three cubs, but all died. In

1999, a 16-year-old panda in Wang's center gave birth to triplets, but only one survived.

In August, an 18-year-old panda at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda

Breeding conceived three cubs, only one of which was born alive.

"The newborn cubs died because the embryos did not grow well or they had congenital

diseases," Wang said.

Wu Kongju, a panda expert at the Chengdu breeding base, said that during pregnancy

a panda mother gradually reduces her food intake and eventually fasts.

"As a result, triplets would be malnourished and very light," she added. "The only triplet

born alive last August weighed only 96 grams, compared with a normal newborn cub

weight of between 120 and 150 grams."

On Tuesday the base launched a four-month live broadcast through the video-sharing

websites YouTube, NicoNico and yoku that will explain how pandas are born and grow.

"People who have access to the websites may see how panda cubs are born, how cubs

learn to crawl, climb trees and eat bamboo," said Li Jie, an information officer at the

base.

Pandas, whose natural habitat is mountainous southwestern China, have a notoriously

low reproductive rate and are under pressure from habitat loss and other factors.

China has about 1,600 pandas living in the wild. Their normal breeding season is

February to May, Wang said.

Contact the writers at qiuquanlin@chinadaily.com.cn and

huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn

100. Chengdu seeks panda paintings

By Huang Zhiling in Chengdu2014-07-15page5

A cuddly bear who spoke in an effeminate voice in the Sichuan dialect amused people

in downtown Chengdu, Sichuan province, on Monday afternoon.

Panda 51, shown in a video, ""spoke"" through a person's voice to narrate its growth

from 51 grams at birth to 59 kg now.

The 8-year-old panda ""said"" he was sorry that has not yet found a girlfriend.

"Panda 51 was so named because of his weight at birth. He was the lightest panda in

the world, its weight only one-third that of a normal newborn cub," said Hou Rong, a

researcher with the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

Thanks to the intensive care of researchers and keepers at the base, Panda 51 survived

and is now a healthy adult.

In February 2012, the story of Panda 51 was turned into a film by Zhang Yun, a Chinese

film and television producer living in Japan. The film was shown in more than 30

cinemas in Japan, making the panda well-known overseas.

On Monday afternoon, government officials, local artists, and consuls general from

Singapore, South Korea, Thailand and Pakistan gathered in Chengdu to invite people

from around the globe to make colored drawings of Panda 51.

"It is aimed at making a colored drawing of Panda 51 as the logo of the city of Chengdu,

as famous as the Berlin Bear is for Berlin," said Zeng Min, deputy secretary-general of

the Chengdu government.

During the ceremony, a representative of Ye Yushan, a 79-year-old sculptor, presented

his sketch of Panda 51 that people worldwide will use as a base for making colored

drawings of the panda.

Chen Qiming, a middle-aged, traditional Chinese realistic painter, donated his colored

drawing of a panda to the organizing committee of the 2014 Chengdu Creativity and

Design Week. His was the first colored drawing the committee received.

Displaying the submitted colored drawings of Panda 51 will be one of the activities of

the Creativity and Design Week, which will be held Oct 1 to 14.

The event, which will be held every two years, is expected to draw 1 million people

this year, including famous designers from Britain, Germany and the United States.

The event this year will consist of a creative design exhibition and painting the panda

in colors, according to Fu Yonglin, deputy mayor of Chengdu and chairman of the

event's organizing committee.

Chengdu, which is strong in the creative design sector, is one of the earliest historically

and culturally famous cities designated by the central government.

huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn

101. Quake blamed for death of panda

By Huang Zhiling in Chengdu 2014-06-30 07:27:49

It will be at least 10 more years before vegetation is restored in the mountains of the

Wolong National Nature Reserve - China's largest panda reserve - so that the terrain,

weakened by the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake, will be more stable, a leading panda

expert said.

Zhang Hemin, chief of the reserve's administrative bureau, made the remarks after an

adult panda was found dead on Friday afternoon near the sluice gate of the Gengda

Hydropower Station in Wolong, Sichuan province.

Zhang said damage from the Wenchuan catastrophe was to blame for the panda's death.

Panda experts from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda

in Wolong rushed to the scene and believed that the panda had been washed down from

the mountains to the sluice gate by flash floods.

An autopsy showed that the 6- or 7-year-old female panda had died of massive bleeding

in her brain about five to seven days earlier.

"Rains had lashed Wolong for several days and caused floods and many landslides. The

panda was washed down by floods and found by locals," said Wei Rongping, deputy

chief of the giant panda center.

The Wolong reserve, established in 1963, is home to about 150 wild pandas, accounting

for about 10 percent of the world's total wild panda population. The center boasts 187

captive pandas, accounting for about 60 percent of the world's captive pandas.

The magnitude-8.0 Wenchuan earthquake jolted Sichuan province on May 12, 2008,

killing 69,226 people; 17,923 people remain unaccounted for.

"After the earthquake, the face of the mountain at an altitude of 2,500 meters and below

became loosened. Excessive rainfall can cause landslides. There have been reports of

people and animals being injured by falling rocks," he said.

On March 31, Tang Rui, a middle-aged teacher living in the reserve, and his wife were

hit by a gigantic rock. Tang was severely injured, and his wife died.

On July 6, 2011, a male panda about 10 years old drowned in the Zipingpu Reservoir

near the reserve after it was washed away by a landslide triggered by a rainstorm.

Du Jun, Party chief of Gengda in Wolong, said his town will increase the monitoring of

disaster-prone sites.

Zhang said: "Our staff members monitor 93 routes in Wolong for geological hazards.

But the 200,000-hectare reserve is so huge that they cannot prepare for unexpected

disasters all the time.

"It will take about one decade for vegetation to be restored to its full scale as before the

earthquake," he said, adding that trees and other vegetation can help contain natural

disasters in the mountainous natural reserve.

"Only in this way can there be no more major floods or landslides," he said.

Trees were first planted in the two towns in Wolong after the Wenchuan earthquake.

huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn

102. China bets baby pandas can predict Cup winners

By Agence France-Presse ( China Daily ) 2014-06-04 page1

A crack team of baby pandas will be used to predict World Cup scores, according to

reports, in a Chinese answer to deceased soccer soothsayer Paul the Octopus.

The cuddly creatures will predict match winners by picking food from a choice of

baskets and by climbing trees at the country's foremost panda breeding base in Sichuan

province, Xinhua News Agency said on Monday.

China hopes the bears will be odds-on to match the worldwide fame achieved by Paul,

the German octopus that correctly predicted the results of an impressive string of games

at the 2010 World Cup using its tentacles.

During the group stages in Brazil this month, pandas aged 1 and 2 will select food from

three bamboo baskets representing either a win, loss or draw, Xinhua said.

For the knockout rounds, the animals will select winners by climbing trees marked with

the national flags of competing nations, it added.

They will have to go a long way to beat Paul the tentacled oracle, however, which

successfully predicted the outcome of eight matches by choosing a mussel or oyster

from one of two boxes bearing the flags of participating nations.

The octopus died in October 2010, not long after that year’s World Cup in South Africa.

Its success spawned “psychic” imitators for Euro 2012 including a pig, an Indian

elephant and a raccoon.

China has about 1,600 pandas living in the wild. They have a notoriously low

reproductive rate and are under pressure from factors such as habitat loss in their home

terrain of Sichuan, northern Shaanxi and northwestern Gansu provinces.

103. Panda pair make delayed journey to Malaysia

By Huang Zhiling and Lin Shujuan in Dujiangyan, Sichuan ( China Daily )2014-05-21

page1

Two pandas loaned from China were due to arrive in the Malaysian capital Kuala

Lumpur early on Wednesday after a monthlong delay amid tensions between the two

countries over the missing Malaysia Airlines jetliner.

Female panda Feng Yi and male partner Fu Wa were being transported from the

Dujiangyan base of Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province and flown to

Malaysia on Tuesday night by MAS Kargo. The airline is a cargo division of parent

company Malaysia Airlines.

Panda breeders Li Caiwu and Yang Haidi accompanied the animals and will stay with

them until they are used to their new environment.

Staff members at Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province load female

panda Feng Yi into a cage for the journey to Malaysia on Tuesday. Feng Yi and male

partner Fu Wa were due to arrive in Kuala Lumpur early on Wednesday. Yi You / For

China Daily

Zhang Hemin, chief of the reserve's administrative bureau, told China Daily the pandas

were 7 years old and sexually mature.

Wolong panda expert Tang Chunxiang said any offspring the pandas produced would

be taken back to China between the ages of 2 and 4.

Malaysia's Deputy Minister of Natural Resources and Environment James Dawos

Mamit said people in Malaysia were eagerly awaiting the pandas' arrival.

On June 15, 2012, China and Malaysia signed a deal for two pandas to be loaned to

Malaysia for 10 years to mark the 40th anniversary of diplomatic ties between the

nations on May 31, 2014.

The pandas were initially scheduled to be flown to Malaysia on April 15. But on March

8, a Beijing-bound Malaysia Airlines Boeing 777-200 carrying 239 people, including

154 Chinese passengers, vanished after taking off from Kuala Lumpur.

A multinational search in the southern Indian Ocean has not found any trace of flight

MH370.

Some family members of the Chinese passengers became dissatisfied with the

Malaysian authorities' handling of the incident, citing inadequate and slow disclosure

of information.

In reply, Malaysians said that their compatriots on the plane were also victims. Amid

the tension, some Chinese Internet users urged the authorities to call off the panda loan.

"Sending the pandas in April during that tension would not have been appropriate," said

Xu Liping, a Southeast Asian studies researcher at the Chinese Academy of Social

Sciences.

"But China and Malaysia have enjoyed a good relationship for 40 years. This incident

has not hurt the overall relationship," he said.

Wolong deputy chief engineer Zhou Xiaoping, who has visited the pandas' base in

Malaysia, said the country had prepared well for their arrival.

The 1.6-hectare panda complex at Zoo Negara features three main exhibit areas where

the temperature will be kept under 24 C to mimic the pandas' natural habitat. Other

facilities include an exercise area and incubator room.

Yang Yao in Beijing contributed to this story.

Contact the writers at huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn and

linshujuan@chinadaily.com.cn

104.Panda base on the hunt for caretakers

By CHINA DAILY and XINHUA 2014-05-12page1

Being a panda caretaker could be the most enviable and fun-filled job in the country.

Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday that a caretaker at the China Giant Panda

Protection and Research Center in Ya'an, Sichuan province, will earn 200,000 yuan

($32,000) a year, have the use of an SUV and receive free meals and accommodation.

Recruitment for the position started on Saturday in Beijing and one of the organizers,

club.sohu.com, called the job the ""Chinese version of a caretaker of an island on the

Great Barrier Reef"".

"Your work has only one mission: spending 365 days with the pandas and sharing in

their joys and sorrows," organizers said.

Applicants should be at least 22 years old and have some basic knowledge of pandas.

They should also have good writing skills and the ability to take pictures, according to

the recruiters' requirements.

"Many people at our center do the same job, but the salary was never that high," said

Heng Yi, a publicity official at the panda center. "But we want more people to pay

attention to giant pandas' protection work and participate."

The campaign will also recruit eight panda observers for a free three-day trip to the

Bifengxia base.

Volunteers at the center, who account for 80 percent of the base's staff, are mostly from

Japan, Europe and the United States, Heng said.

Ye Mingxin, a market manager for Ford Motor Co in China, a co-organizer of the

recruitment campaign, said he does not think the job is easy.

"You need perseverance for this job. We expect that the applicants will be mainly white-

collar workers from big cities. They are used to eating whatever they want, but inside

the giant panda base, the choices will not be plentiful," Ye said.

People can apply for the job at fun.sohu.com. Recruiting drives will also be held in

Shanghai, Chengdu and Guangzhou and will last until July 15.

105. Pandas going wild

By Huang Zhiling in Chengdu 2014-05-03 page7

After success with breeding captive animals, research center now aims to expand the

bear's natural population. Huang Zhiling reports in Chengdu, Sichuan province.

Wan Yongqing, a panda lover from Beijing, made a special trip to the China

Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Ya'an, Sichuan, in early April

to see the cuddly bears.

""Since my childhood, I have been told that pandas are an endangered species. I did not

expect to see lots and lots of pandas,"" the sturdy middle-aged man said.

Wan owes his joy to the painstaking work of the center's researchers over 15 years to

solve the three main problems in breeding pandas in captivity - estrus, mating and

nursing. Through those efforts, the center was able to rescue the animals from the brink

of extinction and build up the number of captive pandas in the center from a mere 10 to

187.

"It used to be difficult for captive pandas to become ruttish and mate, and for their cubs

to survive. From 1992 to 2006, our researchers solved all three difficulties," said the

center's chief, Zhang Hemin, who has studied the bears since 1983.

In 1980, an agreement between the World Wide Fund and the Chinese government led

to the establishment of the center in the Wolong National Natural Reserve in Wenchuan

county, Sichuan. Completed in 1983, the center - now the world's largest panda

conservation and research organization - is committed to the breeding and rearing of

captive pandas as well as to disease control, scientific research, wild panda rescue, the

reintroduction of captive pandas to the wild, international cooperation and public

education.

At the beginning, researchers did not have a correct understanding of the habits of

pandas. Thinking the animals preferred a solitary life, researchers kept each panda

isolated in a tiny den and fed it only bamboo. "Pandas in that environment felt depressed

and had difficulty in becoming ruttish," Zhang said.

In the course of studies initiated in 1992, researchers provided captive pandas with more

opportunities to communicate socially with each other and to play. For example, male

and female pandas were swapped into the dens of the opposite sex so that each would

know the smell of the other.

"We also showed sexually mature pandas videos of their peers having sex, which they

could learn in the wild but not in captivity," Zhang said.

In the wild, pandas eat bamboo. They seek out the best plants - the ones that receive

adequate sunshine and which provide the best nutrition. The center needed a way to

encourage the daily hunt, as well to provide the required nutritional value.

"Since we could not choose the bamboo for captive pandas, we created a biscuit rich in

trace elements and vitamins for them," he said.

Wild pandas stay active for hours each day. To emulate their natural environment,

researchers tried putting the biscuits in places the pandas could not find easily, aiming

to get them to move around. Some unorthodox approaches were also tried.

"To make them play, we froze fruits before giving them to the pandas. They had to play

with the fruits until they thawed if they wanted to eat," Zhang said.

It the past, many newborn panda cubs died because of a quirk bred by nature. While 50

percent of newborns are twins, a mother typically chooses to care for only one. "In the

wild, a mother panda first tries to care for both babies. But several hours later, she

realizes she can't. If she tried to support both, both would die. So the mothers will desert

one baby even if it cries," Zhang said.

Initially, researchers did not know how to handle the abandonment problem. And the

death rate was high. They settled on a course that was part philanthropy and part trickery.

They would take away the deserted baby and feed it milk. Then they would switch it

with the favored cub from time to time. In this way, the mother unwittingly supported

both.

"Researchers also emulated the mother panda in other ways. For example, the mother

would lick different parts of the newborn cub, including its anus to get its droppings

out. Researchers used a cotton stick to touch the deserted cub and to get the droppings

out. This effort ensured the cubs' survival," Zhang said.

With the three primary obstacles hindering the breeding of captive pandas now

overcome, the center has been able to develop a self-sustaining and growing panda

population.

It is now home to 187 captive pandas out of a world total of 376, according to Zhang.

With the largest captive panda population in the world, the center no longer captures

wild pandas for research purposes. Instead, it does the reverse, sending captive pandas

into the wild with the aim of enlarging the natural panda population.

Tao Tao, a 2-year-old male panda from the center, was released into the wild in the

Liziping Nature Reserve in Shimian county, Sichuan, in October 2012. He was

discovered in a tree more than 3,000 meters above sea level on Oct 30, 2013.

A veterinarian, who was part of a team of researchers, tranquilized the frightened bear

with a rifle dart, and Tao Tao fell into a net. A blood test showed the panda was in good

health, said Yang Zhisong, an associate professor of zoology at China West Normal

University in Nanchong, Sichuan, which contributed to the team.

Tao Tao weighed 42 kg when he was released in 2012. When he was found a year later,

he had gained at least 10 kg, Yang said.

Sichuan is home to more than 80 percent of the world's wild pandas. The rest are in

Gansu and Shaanxi provinces. Pandas survive solely in six mountain ranges within

Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu, in habitat measuring about 23,000 square kilometers.

They inhabit the Qinling, Minshan, Qionglai, Daxiangling, Xiaoxiangling and

Liangshan mountains.

The Chinese government has built 64 nature reserves in the provinces that cover 60

percent of the natural habitat of pandas and 70 percent of wild pandas, according to Liu

Yawen, deputy director of the Department of Wildlife Conservation and Nature Reserve

Management in the State Forestry Administration.

Contact the writer at huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn.

106. Zoo tries to lift panda's spirits with new swing

By Hu Yongqi in Kunming ( China Daily) 2014-04-16 page4

A TV and a swing are among the facilities that have been set up in a giant panda's

enclosure at a zoo in Yunnan province in efforts to cheer her up after her last pal returned

to her hometown last month.

Sijia, a panda living at the Yunnan Wildlife Park in Kunming, started to feel low after

her friend Meiqian returned to Ya'an, Sichuan province, on March 31. In the first several

days after Meiqian's departure, Sijia ignored the keepers and was not interested in her

food.

In May 2008, the pandas were displaced from their homes in Sichuan after a magnitude-

8 earthquake struck the province, affecting the animals' habitats and threatening their

safety.

Three pandas - Sijia, Meiqian and Qianqian - were then brought to the Kunming wildlife

park's panda house, which is located in a mountain valley and features a 400-sq-m

playground.

In 2012, when the pandas were scheduled to return to Sichuan, Kunming residents

petitioned to let the animals stay. But still Qianqian left for home that year, followed by

Meiqian in March, leaving Sijia alone, said Bai Tuo, a senior keeper at the park.

After finding she was in low spirits, workers at the park installed a swing for her. A

television set was later set up to broadcast videos of the three pandas being raised at the

park. The keepers hope the images of her old friends will help to comfort Sijia.

Meanwhile, the keepers also placed a fake panda, which is the same size as Meiqian, in

Sijia's enclosure in attempt to ease the 8-year-old panda's loneliness.

To give Sijia a good living environment, Feng Guilin, a senior keeper at the park, and

his colleagues spend at least three hours each morning cleaning the panda house.

All the waste must be taken out and burned to ensure no parasites survive.

Sijia now weighs more than 115 kg and is entering sexual maturity.

The park officials said they will try other ways to amuse Sijia as long as she is in their

care.

Li Yingqing contributed to this story.

107. More than pandas in Chengdu

By Zhao Shijun ( China Daily) 2014-04-04 page15

After touring three scenic cities in China, Michelle Obama, the first lady of the United

States, said Chengdu was her favorite.

Obama visited China from March 20 to 26, along with her mother and two daughters.

After visiting Beijing and Xi'an, she arrived in Chengdu, Sichuan province - the last

stop of her China tour - on March 24.

"I told my kids that Chengdu is probably the city I would choose to live in if I lived in

China," she said in a speech at the Chengdu No 7 Middle School on March 25.

During her trip Obama published her travel journals on the official website of the White

House every day to share her experience.

In one of her blogs she talked about her visit to the No 7 Middle School and said it was

"an extraordinary high school that uses the power of technology to bring educational

opportunities to students across southwest China".

As well as giving a speech, Obama also learnt to practice tai chi and attended an English

lesson with local pupils, which was broadcast live to about 18,000 students in 160

schools in China.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the No 7 School, and I learned a great deal from the

terrific students there," she added.

Obama got up close to the lovely pandas at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and

Research Center and tasted the renowned Sichuan hotpot in the Kuanzhai Alley area on

March 26.

She described her excitement at the panda center in another blog post: "Today is the

last day of my trip, and I couldn't leave China without seeing the Chengdu Panda Base."

Her journal entry is combination of her experience at the center and an explanation of

China's "panda diplomacy".

"Since the 1950s, China has given pandas to countries like France, Japan, Great Britain,

Mexico and the United States. It's a goodwill offering - a way to reach out and build a

connection between two countries and their people," she said.

Because of their busy schedule, Obama and her family only visited a small part of

Chengdu, a city with a history that stretches back more than 4,000 years and with a

reputation as the "land of abundance".

More attractions

In addition to the pandas at the world's largest panda breeding center and unique cuisine

in the Kuangzhai Alley, tourists can explore more of the city.

Other attractions include the Thatched Cottage of Du Fu, the Temple of Marquis of Wu,

the Jinsha Relics Museum, the Dujiangyan irrigation system, the Qingcheng Mountains

and the Anren ancient town.

The Kuangzhai Alley area in the city center also showcases the area's ancient

architecture. Streets and residences there were mostly built in the Qing Dynasty (1644-

1911). Some buildings combine both traditional Chinese and Western styles, as China

began early contact with the Western world in the late Qing.

The Thatched Cottage of Du Fu is the former residence of Du Fu, one of the greatest

poets in China. The Tang Dynasty (618-907) poet lived there for nearly four years and

created at least 240 works, which are considered national treasures.

The Temple of Marquis Wu was built in the Shuhan Kingdom (221-265) to

commemorate Prime Minister Zhuge Liang. A strategist in a time of many big battles,

Zhuge is regarded as an incarnation of great wisdom throughout the history.

Chengdu is home to the remains of the Jinsha civilization, which dates back more than

3,000 years. Widely believed to have been the capital of the ancient Shu state, the site

is hailed as one of the major archeological discoveries in China in the 21st century.

One of the Jinsha relics unearthed is a gold foil rendering of a divine solar bird. It is

now used as the symbol of Chengdu and its local cultural heritage.

Further attractions include the Qingcheng Mountains and the Dujiangyan irrigation

system.

Qingcheng has long been recognized as the birthplace of Taoism, China's ancient

indigenous religion, while Dujiangyan is considered to be the oldest functioning water-

control project in the world.

Easier trips

For international tourists, getting to and from the city is increasingly easy, with a

growing number of flights linking it with the rest of the world.

Chengdu is the fourth-biggest air hub in China. Its Shuangliu airport served 71

international routes by the end of last year, ranking first among all airports in China's

central and western regions.

A direct air route between the airport and San Francisco is due to start running from

June 11. Similar routes are also planned to link Moscow, Paris, Istanbul and Dubai.

Passengers in transit can take advantage of the 72-hour visa exemption, which was put

into place in September last year.

The policy allows residents of 51 countries including the United States, Australia,

Canada and Japan, with valid visas and flight tickets to a third country to spend three

days in the city.

This year the government of Chengdu released further incentives to attract more foreign

transit tourists to use the visa-free policy.

These include discounts at hotels and airport shopping areas as well as dedicated transit

lounges and free transport between airport terminals.

Dedicated buses take visitors from the airport to popular scenic spots such as the

Kuanzhai Alley, Jinli Ancient Street, Jinsha Relics Museum and Temple of Marquis of

Wu.

Chengdu reported healthy growth in its tourism industry last year.

Statistics show that the city received 150 million tourists last year, an increase of 28

percent from 2012. Around 1.7 million came from abroad, an increase of 12 percent.

Total revenue from tourism surpassed 133 billion yuan ($21.7 billion).

Chengdu ranked third best in tourist facilities, management and services from 60

Chinese cities, according to a customer satisfaction survey released last year.

zhaoshijun@chinadaily.com.cn

108. Giant panda scales Chengdu mall

By Gan Tian ( China Daily) 2014-03-17 page22

His bold public art installations have made him a household name in the United States,

and now Australian sculptor Lawrence Argent has brought his playful approach to

China. Gan Tian reports.

Lawrence Argent is known for his giant public installations - a red rabbit leaping

through an airport and a blue bear peeping into a convention center.

In his first project in China, the Australian sculptor has installed a giant panda in a

shopping mall.

The 15-meter-high artwork, I Am Here, hangs on the top floor of the newly opened

Chengdu International Finance Square. Viewed from afar, the giant panda appears to

be climbing the building.

"It (the panda) is an icon of China in many ways," Argent says.

The animal is indeed a symbol of China, especially Chengdu, capital of Sichuan

province.

Argent came up with the idea of the climbing panda in June, when a company asked

him if he was interested in working on a panda art project in Chengdu.

"I wasn't too sure about that in the beginning, because I do many different projects and

they are not necessarily directed by a specific proposal like that," the artist says. "So

that idea narrowed it down for me. And then I didn't want to create an object, or a thing

that was Disney-esque, because that's easy for me."

However, when he reflected on the subject, he changed his mind.

"With this directive for a panda, I started to think of the panda I had to make and of the

building - how does somebody experience it? This is a 750,000-square-meter place."

The artist says the panda has to interact with the building, so that the architecture, the

sculpture and people become one.

"The project is not about that panda being in the building or an object outside the

building. It's about something that is integrated," Argent says, standing on the seventh

floor of the building. The giant panda's nose is just a few meters away.

Shopper Jiang Shuchen's experience proves Argent's theory. Jiang was taking her child

for a stroll nearby, and when the child saw the giant panda, he became excited, asking

his mother to take him in to look at the panda's face on the seventh floor.

Bringing the child inside, Jiang couldn't help but spend 7,000 yuan ($1,140), as the

journey upstairs took them through several luxury boutiques.

"The art piece is interesting in a way. And it gets people to come in and spend money,"

Jiang says with a grin.

Chengdu IFS general operation manager Christina Hau says her team chose Argent

because his installations are well integrated with public spaces.

"The panda installation is closely connected with the opening of IFS Chengdu. We

posed a question to Lawrence: How do you make all the things come together? Our

building is big, and we wanted something unique," Hau says.

Argent says his installation must have a connection with human behavior.

But how could he make the panda visible and attractive enough to fullfill its purpose -

encouraging consumers to enter the mall? He knew the seventh floor had a different

aspect where he could make something that was partially hidden. "You want people to

come in and get entertained through the building," Argent explains.

People move through the space, and that is what the artist calls "the interaction between

people and public projects".

Argent says he also tries to convey a double meaning - he not only aims to provoke

thoughts about our own existence through his work, but he also wants people to reflect

on the growing prosperity of the city.

The giant panda sculpture reminds people that we should not neglect the care of giant

pandas amid rapid commercial development, the artist says.

Based in Denver, Colorado, Argent is a household name in the United States with his

massive public art installations I See What You Mean and Leap.

I See What You Mean is a giant blue bear peeping into a convention center in Denver.

"I wanted to create a relationship between us and nature, as well as the idea that people

think of what art is. The consensus is that Colorado is not very progressive in art, so I

wanted to play with the idea of that assumption," Argent says.

"My work is all about what we think we know. Undermining that 'what we know' into

a new possibility is my goal. How many times do we assume something and that

assumption is incorrect? So the difficulty of my art pieces is about bringing that

complexity to life," Argent says.

Leap is a giant red rabbit in Sacramento Airport in California. According to Argent, it

is not about the animal, but is a vehicle for self-reflection. He explains that rabbits have

a meaning for everyone, from childhood stories to live animals. When people go to an

airport, they are full of energy and nervousness. The artist wanted to defuse their

nervousness with this giant rabbit.

"And the rabbit is jumping into a suitcase, which represents a person. These are your

items and possessions. This is a metaphor for the baggage you carry through your life,

what happened to you to bring you to the point of who you are now."

Art critic Feng Huang says public art is successful when it stimulates people to reflect

and think.

"It is more than a decoration. It becomes meaningful only when it appears in this area,"

Feng says.

The panda in Chengdu IFS is the first project Argent has done in China. It is also one

of the largest outdoor installations ever done in Chengdu. Feng says it is a successful

one.

"The panda becomes meaningful. The artist has made its bottom face the public - it is

defiant toward the traditional image of a panda," Feng says.

Argent says: "I'm not interested in creating an object of decoration. That's not what I

do. My task is to create something that fits the surrounding, or the area. If it were to be

removed, you would miss it."

gantian@chinadaily.com.cn

109.Parasites linked to panda's death, tests say

By Yang Yang ( China Daily) 2014-03-14page3

Bacteria and toxoplasma infection - which involves parasites in blood and body tissue

- caused the death of a female giant panda at Zhengzhou Zoo, according to the findings

of a monthlong investigation, zoo authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

But experts are still wondering how the panda became infected at the zoo, which is

located in the capital of Henan province.

On Feb 9, Jinyi, the female panda, died at the age of 7. Since pandas are normally

expected to live up to 25 years, the death aroused particular attention.

Tissue and fluid samples from Jinyi's body were sent to experts at the Changchun-based

Veterinary Institute of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences in northeastern China.

They determined that Jinyi was infected by bacteria and suffered from toxoplasma, or

parasites. Those conditions resulted in acute complications such as repeated vomiting

and massive bleeding of the stomach and intestines. The panda eventually died of heart

and lung failure.

But experts can't determine exactly which bacteria was responsible. They were unable

to separate the most virulent bacteria from others because the zoo gave the panda

antibiotics for possible infections.

"This is also the first time we found toxoplasma in a giant panda, so we know very little

about the infection and its pathology as it relates to this animal," said Wang Chengdong,

head of the animal management department at the China Conservation and Research

Center for the Giant Panda at Wolong Giant Panda Reserve, Sichuan province, where

Jinyi was originally raised.

Before Jinyi was sent to Zhengzhou in 2011 together with male panda Longsheng, the

center gave her a thorough physical examination. During the years the pair lived at

Zhengzhou Zoo, veterinarians were sent from Sichuan to examine the pandas once or

twice each year, Wang said.

"But the exams did not include toxoplasma tests. Since we have now found the first

case, we will include toxoplasma as one of the items of our examinations," he said.

Toxoplasma infection has been found in many mammals, including humans, and also

in birds.

"Usually, toxoplasma will not cause death, according to my knowledge, but there are

differences among different animal species. In the fox, for example, it may cause

serious disease and death," Wang said.

Since mammals and birds can be hosts of parasites that lead to toxoplasma, it is unclear

when and where Jinyi might have become infected.

In February, when the news of Jinyi's death came out, people who visited the zoo

complained that the living environment of the giant pandas was foul, with unpleasant

odors and visible animal waste that was not removed promptly.

But Wang said there is no direct relationship between the pandas' living environment

and the infection.

110. Playing with pandas

By Huang Zhiling ( China Daily)2014-02-25page19

He started his career training the sea animals on New York's Coney Island, and now he

has his dream job working with giant pandas in Chengdu. But James Ayala's work is

more than just fun and games - it's a critical part of the research of these endangered

animals. Huang Zhiling reports in Chengdu.

'Honey, come here,"" he whispers.

James Ayala's tone suggest she is speaking to his girlfriend, but his words are directed

to Jing Jing, a 9-year-old female giant panda.

"I have spent a lot of time with Jing Jing. It is important to make the animal you work

with feel comfortable. Jing Jing doesn't know what I say but understands my tone. If I

am nervous, she will feel my tension and get nervous too," says Ayala, a 39-year-old

researcher of animal behavior from the United States.

Ayala is the only full-time foreign employee of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant

Panda Breeding in the northern suburbs of Chengdu, Sichuan province. He has been

working at the base since May 2012, serving as a consultant in the daily care of the 70-

odd giant pandas that live there.

He has managed to train Jing Jing to take an ultrasound examination without being

anesthetized, which is important because excessive use of anesthetic drugs can harm

the animals.

"Jing Jing is in her breeding stage. The ultrasound is important to deter-mine whether

she is pregnant," says Ayala, who has taught Jing Jing to lie down and roll over so that

vets can examine her.

Born and raised in New York, Ayala, who received his master's degree in conservation

biology at Antioch University in New Hampshire, started training animals at the Coney

Island Aquarium in Brooklyn, working with seals and walruses, when he was only 22.

Since then, he has trained beluga whales, sealions, several different species of monkey

and Asiatic black bears.

The first time Ayala saw agiant panda was around 1980 when he was 5." I was obsessed

with animals so my parents took me to the National Zoo in Washington DC to see Ling

Ling and Hsing Hsing, the two pandas from China. This was the only place in the US

at the time that had pandas. I remember waiting forever in line to see them and then

being disappointed because they were so faraway," he says.

In February 1972, after US President Richard Nixon's visit to China, the Chinese

government presented the two pandas to the US as gifts, and the animals were instantly

popular with the public.

"Pandas are arguably the most famous and controversial of the endangered species.

Working on a conservation project of this magnitude has been a dream of mine since I

first started working with wildlife 17 years ago," Ayala says.

"I am working to improve the way we train and manage pandas in captivity so that we

can help save this iconic and endangered species."

Ayala was excited the first time he saw the pandas up close at the base, but when he

thought about how he was going to train the pandas, he became worried.

"Pandas can be 150 kilograms. The first time I fed a panda, I was very nervous because

its mouth was so big and its jaws are so powerful. It could take your hand right off," he

says.

The first panda Ayala trained for an ultrasound was Jing Jing. She is very famous

because she was chosen as the living mascot for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She

symbolized the black Olympic ring and was one of the five Fuwa mascots who

represented different endangered species of China.

Based on his past experience in animal training, he knew the first step was to gain her

trust and establish a working routine with her.

"All animals respond differently to training and interaction with people. However, the

principles of positive reinforcement, which we use to train animals, are the same. You

always want to reward 'good' behaviors and encourage the animal to feel positive about

the work you are doing," Ayala says.

He decided to begin by observing panda habits.

"Pandas eat mostly bamboo. But they really love sweet things such as honey and apples.

So we use this as a treat for training," Ayala says.

Jing Jing is in her breeding stage when she has a chance to conceive. Because of this,

it is essential to monitor her for pregnancy. A panda can behave as if she is pregnant

and the hormones from her urine and feces can indicate she is pregnant. However

pandas have the ability to fake pregnancy and not give birth. An ultra-sound is the only

way to tell for certain whether a panda is pregnant, so it is important to train her to

undergo the examination voluntarily. Before a veterinarian can perform an ultrasound

on Jing Jing, Ayala had to teach her to lie down and rollover.

To position the panda, he trained her to touch her nose to the tip of a pole. Together to

lie down, he put the tip very low on the ground so she had to lie on the floor.

When Jing Jing acted as he wanted her to, Ayala would reward her with a slice of apple

and a scratch on the back.

After working with Jing Jing for six months, Ayala found her restless one day and

thought she might be pregnant. He managed to make her lie down and roll over before

an examination.

"However, a baby could not be seen. Jing Jing has never been pregnant. This is the

perfect example of the pseudo or 'false' panda pregnancy," Ayala says.

After Jing Jing, Ayala used the same method to train three other pandas to have the

ultrasound examination.

Other panda experts in the base say Ayala's job is very important and essential to their

work in preparing the animals to be released into the wild.

"By training captive pandas to give blood and submit to exams, we can better

understand their health and reproductive cycle, thus improving our captive breeding

methods. Training pandas also reduces stress and improves the welfare of our captive

population so that they can have healthy offspring for the release program," the base

chief Zhang Zhi he says.

Ayala also helps to train red pandas on the base. To shift all 103 of them from one den

to another, keepers used to capture them using nets which can be quite difficult. It was

Ayala who came up with the idea of teaching them to enter a crate so they can be moved

more easily.

"It took me many months to train the red pandas. They are very shy and timid. First I

had to teach them to eat from my hand and then, like the giant panda, I taught them to

touch their noses to a pole. Once they learn to touch their noses to the pole, all you have

to do is put the tip in the crate and they will enter it," he says.

While he finds red pandas very cute, they can scratch and bite very hard, much harder

than a cat or dog of the same size. This is because, like giant pandas, they have strong

jaws for breaking bamboo, says Ayala, showing the scratches on one of his hands.

Ayala has a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for his colleagues and hopes

to continue his work at the panda base for as long as possible.

"I feel like part of a big family here, I work so intimately with my co-workers like Liu

Songrui and Lou Li. They are just like my sisters and never let me get homesick," Ayala

says.

Ayala admits that he has fallen in love with the laid-back Chengdu life-style, known for

it's picturesque tea-houses, hotpot and spicy food.

He likes the spicy tofu in a famous local restaurant near his house." Each week, I visit

the Chen Mapo Tofu Restaurant at least once," he says.

"James enjoys his life no matter at work or after work. When he is working, he is 100

percent focused on the work it self," says Lou Li, a veterinarian in the base.

"After work, he is a pure Chengdu native. I can't say he is a foreigner because he enjoys

the Chengdu lifestyle a lot."

111.Death of panda leaves many questions unanswered

By Yang Yang in Zhengzhou, Hu Yongqi and Wu Wencong in Beijing ( China

Daily)2014-02-18 page1/6

Public shows concern with zoo's actions and comments, and questions its responsibility,

report Yang Yang in Zhengzhou, Hu Yongqi and Wu Wencong in Beijing.

On Valentine's Day, Longsheng, a giant panda at Zhengzhou Zoo, climbed down from

his wooden bed to the window and reached out slowly with his right paw to grasp a red

carrot from his feeding tray. He seemed lonely without his female companion, Jinyi,

who had died on Feb 9.

Seemingly oblivious to the loss, visitors thronged the zoo as usual to see the panda

exhibit. They busily snapped photos and talked loudly with their families and friends.

Some even knocked heavily on the glass wall to arouse Longsheng's attention. He

seemed not to notice as he slowly nibbled his carrot.

Keepers had sanitized the enclosure from top to bottom after Jinyi's death from what

zoo officials reported as "heart and lung failure", and the lingering odor of disinfectant

still pervaded the panda house.

The cause of Jinyi's death is under investigation. A panda is normally expected to live

up to 25 years, and Jinyi was only 7, a panda adolescent.

Questions have been raised whether management practices at the zoo contributed to her

death. Scrutiny intensified when the zoo gave contradictory accounts to explain why

Jinyi was not in the compound.

A final report will be issued in 10 to 15 days after the Veterinary Institute of Academy

of Military Medical Sciences further examines tissue and fluid samples from Jinyi's

body.

Differing stories

Born in 2007 in Wolong, Jinyi was one of the stars in celebrations of the 60th

anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic of China.

Preliminary diagnoses showed she died of acute gastroenteritis that led to heavy

bleeding and severe shock. She might have been infected by parvovirus, a virus that

can infect dogs and other animals, experts said.

When zoo visitors found Jinyi missing, they asked what happened to her. She was

already dead, but Li Chaojun, head of the department of animal management at the zoo,

said the panda had been sent back to Wolong for mating, which usually takes place in

April. Later, on Feb 13, the zoo admitted at a news conference that Jinyi had died.

That sparked a hurricane of questions. People wanted to know why the zoo had lied and

what it had been trying to hide.

"It is my fault," department head Li said of the false explanation. "I did not know what

to say if people asked me what the cause of the death was. So I said she went back to

Wolong for mating. We had nothing to hide."

The different explanations mystified Qiu Yu of the China Conservation and Research

Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province, where Jinyi was originally raised. Qiu

said the center was unaware of the zoo's first explanation, and he didn't know why the

zoo would have made such a statement.

Suspicions arose that the zoo might have wanted to conceal the news from the public

to mask what could turn out to be its own failure to provide proper care for the pandas.

Li Caiwu, a veterinarian at the center with Qiu, was sent to help save the sick panda.

But he said Jinyi died before his flight on Feb 9. Until then, the center had been

providing assistance by telephone.

"Our center sends veterinarians to all zoos that rent our pandas every six months to

conduct normal health checks. The latest check in December showed nothing wrong

with Jinyi," he said, adding that a zoo's veterinarians can often heal animals without

having to consult the center if the trouble is relatively minor.

Qiu said to better protect giant pandas, zoos from every provincial capital in China

usually have at least two to show. Most come from three research centers: Qiu's

organization, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, and the Qinling

Giant Panda Breeding Base in Shaanxi province.

The State Forestry Administration has the final say over which center sends pandas to

local zoos, Qiu said. A number of requirements have to be met before a zoo is qualified

to rent the animals - the proper condition of the house, the qualifications of the

veterinarians and the quality of the food.

"Our center usually sends at least one breeder with the pandas to stay with them at the

zoo to coach the local staff how to breed and manage the animals' daily life," Qiu said,

adding that the center cannot take full responsibility of the breeding because "one

breeder certainly cannot take care of two pandas at the same time."

Qiu said it is normal for pandas to fall sick or die from time to time. It's not necessarily

the result of abuse, as some netizens may think, even though China now has more than

300 captive-bred pandas. "No one dares to abuse pandas, nor will our curator allow that

to happen," Qiu said.

The panda house at the Zhengzhou Zoo is generally cleaned on a daily basis, but each

panda can excrete more than 10 kilograms of waste every day, so it is possible that some

visitors will see excrement in the house. But he added that rather than giving off a bad

odor, panda waste typically smells like bamboo, the animals' primary diet, though they

are also fed a supplemental food mixture.

Given that pandas themselves don't stink, the odor visitors complained about would

likely not be coming from the panda house.

"The bread-like foodstuff is a supplemental food for pandas," said Qiu. "Made from

rice, soybeans, eggs, carrots and flour, the feed helps captive-bred pandas stay healthier

than those that live in the wild, and it's more expensive than bamboo."

Sanitation crucial

Xiong Liangbo, the Zhengzhou Zoo's panda keeper, was sent to the zoo by the

conservation center in July to baby-sit two pandas, Jinyi and Wenyu, which had been

leased annually for 250,000 yuan ($42,000) each. The pair arrived at the zoo in May

2011. Wenyu was returned to Sichuan for mating, and another male, Longsheng,

replaced him.

Xiong complained about what he characterized as a poor living environment for pandas

at the zoo. Only a wire net separated Jinyi from the monkey house, and some gibbons

also made too much noise, Xiong said. The zoo's authorities said a new panda house is

being built so that pandas will not be grouped with other animals.

Xiong said the quality of bamboo the zoo provided to feed the pandas could not be

ascertained. He said that several days ago he was looking around the zoo for bamboo

that had not been contaminated by pesticides because he had been told that bamboo

could not be sent to the zoo because of heavy snow. But he said that even though he is

the keeper of the pandas, he has no say about their food supply.

"Bamboo is the main food for giant pandas," Xiong said. "For more nourishment, we

also give them concentrated feed, but without enough bamboo, pandas cannot digest

this feed properly and they excrete it directly."

According to Li Chaojun, the animal management department head, the zoo was

transporting fresh bamboo every day from Xinyang, more than 300 kilometers south of

Zhengzhou. Li said that one panda consumes 40 kg of bamboo daily, in addition to 1.5

kg of fresh fruits and vegetables - apples, carrots, bamboo shoots - and 1 kg of

concentrated feed, a cake made of a mixed powder of minced meat and ground beans.

Xiong said Jinyi's weight dropped 20 kg by the time she died at the Zhengzhou Zoo, a

significant proportion for an animal that originally weighed 90 kg. But Li insisted that

Jinyi had not been abused. Zoo personnel "tried their best to guarantee the interest of

pandas", Li said.

Other panda keepers say that food and sanitation are major factors in keeping pandas

healthy. "The foodstuff is just supplemental on a panda's menu. The main course must

be clean, fresh bamboo," said senior keeper Feng Guilin at Yunnan Wildlife Park, where

two giant pandas have been kept for about six years in suburban Kunming, Yunnan

province. One panda can be fed with at most 2.5 kg of foodstuff, while it has to eat at

least 40 kg of good bamboo, Feng said.

Generally, young pandas are vulnerable to intestinal diseases, and older ones don't do

well in hot weather. Pandas generally are more susceptible to ailments in the rainy

season and in hot weather, such as the past unexpectedly warm winter in China, Feng

said.

The park's panda house is located in a mountain valley to avoid high temperatures in

the dry season. It provides a playground of 400 square meters and two specially

designed wooden beds for the animals. Bamboo is provided each night as a snack.

Kunming, dubbed "Spring City" by many Chinese, has a perfect climate for the pandas,

Feng said. The park purchases fresh bamboo from local farmers or from neighboring

cities in Sichuan to make sure the quality is high.

Each morning, Feng and his colleagues spend at least three hours cleaning the panda

house. "We have to pick up all the bamboo leftovers on the ground and on the bed. All

the waste must be taken out of the house and burned to ensure that any parasites won't

survive. In addition, keepers are required to check the animals' excrement to detect any

change in color or smell," Feng said.

Parasites can cause pandas to vomit. "If that occurs, the veterinarian must take urgent

measures," Feng said. The presence of parasites could indicate that keepers failed to

keep the pandas' biggest enemy at bay, he said.

Veterinarian Li Caiwu said that tissue and fluid samples from Jinyi, the dead female

panda, have been sent to a research center in northeast China's Jilin province for testing.

The results of those tests will be needed before experts can determine with certainty

what caused her death.

Contact the writers at huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn and

yangyangs@chinadaily.com.cn

Qi Xin and Zhang Yuchen contributed to this story.

112.Panda! takes a giant step in Las Vegas in a visually 'stunning' production

By Zhang Qidong in Las Vegas ( China Daily)2014-01-24 page18

The Venetian and Palazzo Las Vegas debuted Panda!, the first Chinese show to take up

residency in Las Vegas, earlier this month. The 47-member troupe, led by acclaimed

Chinese director Zhao An, opened to worldwide audiences just two weeks before the

Lunar New Year.

Produced by China Jingwen Records and Global Panda Entertainment and directed by

Zhao, who helped produce the opening ceremony of the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Panda!

is a spectacle combining high-flying acrobatics, thrilling martial arts and Chinese music

and dance.

""It's an authentic Chinese show with Chinese magic, Chinese opera, Chinese dance

and choreography. But we put in a lot of Western cultural concepts so that audiences

from both East and West can enjoy it as great entertainment. Our cast of world-class

performers will also prove to everyone that talent is borderless,"" Zhao says.

The show was put together in five months by acrobats from the China National

Acrobatic Troupe. The martial-arts performers spring from the birthplace of kung fu,

Shaolin Monastery Kung-fu Monks Troupe, while the dancers are from the China Da

Qing Dance Group.

"If you were awestruck by the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, this show is

for you," says John Caparella, president and chief operating officer for the Venetian,

the Palazzo and Sands Expo. "It's an amazing show, very authentically Chinese, and the

elements of acrobatics and technology are very different."

Wang Hui, producer of the show and president of Global Panda Entertainment, says he

and his team members put the show together piece by piece across continents for two

years, with a total investment of $12 million.

"The show is the best thing that ever happened to Vegas, bringing the spirit of Chinese

culture onto a mainstream stage in the United States. There are about 60 circus shows

in town but never a show that is completely done by the Chinese. I believe it's extremely

important we present Chinese culture on a global stage," Wang says.

The story is about a heroic panda trying to win back his love, the peacock princess, after

she is kidnapped by a demon vulture. He gets help from a Shaolin martial-arts master

who teaches him kung fu.

The climax of the show is when Shaolin kung fu fighters take acrobatic tumbles with

swords, knives and three-jointed pikes. They break bricks in half with their heads.

According to Keith Salwoski, publicity chief at the Venetian and the Palazzo, the show

will take up the Cirque du Soleil slot for an open-ended run, changing its content every

few months based on audience response.

"The feedback from the audience has been superb in the last few days and we are very

pleased to have invited this fantastic team to perform at the Venetian. Everyone is

already talking about the show in town and it definitely has word-of-mouth potential,"

Salwoski says.

Livia Wu, director of operations at Global Panda Entertainment, says Panda! is the first

show in Las Vegas that can admit children under 6.

"We've witnessed so many touching moments of children lining up with their parents,

anxious to watch the show and eager to hug a 'panda'. I believe we will capture the

market and audience in Las Vegas," Wu says.

Xiao Xiayong, culture consul at the Chinese consulate in San Francisco, says a Chinese

show being presented on a mainstream US stage has symbolic meaning to the Chinese,

Chinese-Americans and Americans.

"The cultural phenomenon is so encouraging that we hope to see more of it," he says.

Jeff Civillico, an American who watched the show, calls it visually "stunning".

"A lot of the acrobatic movement is so difficult that it makes you feel you need to hold

on to your chair to watch it," he says.

113.Panda revelation

By Huang Zhiling ( China Daily) 2014-01-21page22

A new book highlights one of the world's most beloved and misunderstood animals.

The authors share insights with Huang Zhiling in Chengdu.

At the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, home to 118 captive pandas,

many visitors get a sense that China has many pandas. So, they ask, how can we say

they are an endangered species?

Major advancements in breeding techniques have secured the captive panda population.

However, much greater effort is needed to preserve them in the wild as they remain

extremely vulnerable to human intrusion into their native habitat, according to the new

book Giant Pandas: Born Survivors published by the Penguin Group (Australia) in

association with Penguin (China).

Zhang Zhihe, chief of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, says the

rapid contraction of pandas' habitat is mainly due to human encroachment. Photos

Provided to China Daily

Co-authored by Zhang Zhihe, chief of the base in Southwest China's Sichuan province,

and Sarah Bexell, director of conservation education and a research scholar at the

Institute for Human-Animal Connection at the University of Denver in the United

States, the book answers many questions about one of the world's most beloved - yet

misunderstood - species, the giant panda.

Many who visit zoos think giant pandas are lazy, clumsy, have poor survival skills and

are not good breeders. The book says this is based on observation of captive animals

that do not need to forage for their food, the main activity of wild pandas which are

active more than half the time, an average of 14.2 hours a day.

They are highly adept at negotiating their natural habitat and not clumsy at all. Their

legs are stout and powerful with stronger fore legs than hind legs.

They walk with their toes turned in, giving them a clumsy appearance, but their sturdy

legs allow them to move silently and with remarkable ease over precipitous terrain and

through dense bamboo growth, in which humans are extremely clumsy.

Zhang and Bexell think pandas would do well if their habitat had not been decimated

by humans. They say pandas are extremely adept breeders when left alone in their

natural environment.

"The panda's penis size is often mentioned as a factor in unsuccessful breeding. Like

many animals, pandas have diminutive penises, but size is not important for

reproduction. What matters is the male's anatomy fits with that of the female and they

live species-typical lives in order to learn proper mating rituals and methods. You might

be interested to know they are endowed with sizeable testicles," Zhang says.

Jean Pierre Armand David, a French priest, was the first Western explorer to discover

and document the giant panda in 1869. He was a famous naturalist for the Musee

d'Histoire Naturelle in Paris.

During the 20 years he lived in China, he named and introduced 68 new bird species to

the West, as well as over 100 insects and other mammals. He sent a panda specimen

back to the museum's Henri Milne Edwards, who in 1870 published a paper declaring

the panda a new species.

Giant pandas once enjoyed a very large range and their fossils were first unearthed in

Myanmar in 1915 and in China in the early 1920s.

During the Pleistocene era, a period of geologic time from 2.58 million to 11,700 years

ago, giant pandas were distributed from northern Myanmar to eastern China, and even

as far north as the region around today's Beijing. According to local records, as recently

as 1850, giant pandas still existed in western Hubei and Hunan provinces as well as in

eastern Sichuan.

Today, pandas survive solely along the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau in six

mountain ranges within Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, their habitat totaling

about 23,000 square kilometers.

"The general consensus is that such rapid contraction must be ascribed to human

population growth and land use rather than climate change," Zhang says.

With most valleys inhabited by humans, many pandas are isolated in narrow belts of

bamboo no more than 1,000 to 1,200 meters in width.

"Therefore, their actual geographical range is much smaller than generally depicted on

maps. Although the panda's total range encompasses 23,000 sq km, probably less than

20 percent represents their actual habitat," Zhang says.

Zhang and Bexell began working together in 1999, when Zhang joined the staff of the

base as deputy director and Bexell was conducting giant panda behavioral research at

the base for the United States' Zoo Atlanta.

Moved by the panda's plight, Bexell soon signed on to help the base develop the largest

zoological education department in China. Shortly after, Zhang became the base

director.

They had an immediate mutual respect for and interest in each other's work. They

understood how crucial their respective areas of expertise were for the protection of

giant pandas and their habitat.

Zhang specializes in veterinary medicine and genetics, and Bexell's areas of expertise

are in animal behavior, conservation and humane education, the human-animal bond

and international biodiversity conservation.

"Many species are in desperate need of help. So why focus on giant pandas? A major

reason is their universal appeal and recognition. If we cannot rally humanity for a

creature as universally appealing as the giant panda, what hope is there for the future

of our planet as we know it today?" says Zhang.

Current rates of species extinction are greater than anything experienced on Earth since

the cataclysmic natural event that caused the eradication of the dinosaurs 65 million

years ago. Scientists estimate over half of the currently existing species may become

extinct by 2100.

"It is urgent that humans come to understand that it is biodiversity in all its enormity

and complexity that allows for our existence. It is biodiversity that provides and cleans

our air and water, gives us food, protects us from diseases, buffers our storms and

provides us with beauty and places of solitude. The biodiversity crisis we face today is

partially the rationale for the production of the book," Bexell says.

"Scientists now believe biodiversity loss may pose the greatest threat to human survival

and this issue requires our urgent attention," she says.

Contact the writer at huangzhiling@chinadaily.com.cn.

114. Panda cub's wait ends: Her name is Bao Bao

By Agencies in Washington and Beijing ( China Daily) 2013-12-03 page12

The most popular giant panda in the history of Sino-US relations has finally been given

a name.

On Sunday, the Smithsonian's National Zoo in Washington named the 100-day-old

female cub Bao Bao after receiving more than 123,000 online votes from the public.

Bao Bao, which means ""treasure"" or ""precious"" in Chinese, is one of five Chinese

names offered in the public online vote last month.

In a video message played at a ceremony staged by the zoo, China's first lady Peng

Liyuan said pandas are China's national treasure and are loved by Chinese and US

citizens and people all over the world.

"Mei Xiang's cubs are more than just achievements of the joint efforts of Chinese and

American scientists, they also symbolize the loving care of the Chinese and American

people and the friendship between them," Peng said in Chinese, referring to the cub's

mother.

She recalled "a touching moment" on Jan 30, 2010 when many US citizens gathered at

the national zoo to see Mei Xiang's first cub, Tai Shan, before he departed for China.

"Today's 100-day celebration for Mei Xiang's cub is another testament to the closeness

the Chinese and Americans feel at heart, of the dream we share, of our care and love

for the planet we call home and of our pursuit of a better life," she said.

US first lady Michelle Obama also sent a video message in which she credited former

first lady Pat Nixon with helping to "jump-start panda diplomacy" after she admired

pandas during then-president Richard Nixon's historic visit to China in 1972.

"After decades of close collaboration with our Chinese partners, these remarkable

animals stand as a symbol of the growing connections between our two countries,"

Obama said.

Mei Xiang has cared for her cub in her den since she was born on Aug 23.

Bao Bao will be unveiled to the public in early 2014, but before this, veterinarians want

to give her a final vaccination this week, so that both mother and cub can venture out

as early as the second week of December, zoo curator Brandie Smith said.

Bao Bao is only the second surviving cub born at the national zoo since the first pandas

arrived in 1972. The first surviving cub, a male named Tai Shan, was also born to Mei

Xiang in 2005 and was returned to China in 2010 for breeding. Tian Tian is the father

of both cubs.

Last year, Mei Xiang gave birth to a female cub in September, but it died a week later

from liver failure caused by lung problems.

Giant pandas are considered critically endangered in the wild, and breeding them in

captivity has proved difficult, especially in Washington. The new birth has given zoo

scientists renewed confidence in the Washington pandas' ability to reproduce.

An online clip showed Bao Bao rushing around, although she can't yet raise her hind

legs to crawl, curators said. Overnight she also started taking bamboo to her mouth,

with her teeth beginning to come through.

"She can scoot over to the opening of her den and she kind of peeks out, but she hasn't

gotten over the threshold yet," Smith said.

"We let Mei Xiang take her cub where she needs to take it. Mei Xiang is definitely

becoming more adventurous with her, and has given us some indication she's ready to

start taking her cub outside as soon as we let her."

AP-Xinhua-China Daily

Zhang Fan contributed to this story.

115. From the panda's mouth

By Mei Jia ( China Daily) 2013-11-05 page22

Author Tan Kai, a panda enthusiast, has written poems and stories about the adorable

animal. Mei Jia speaks to him about his latest book, which has a panda telling the stories

of her clan from a first-person perspective.

If pandas could talk, will anybody resist listening to the cute creatures?

""Dear friends, nice to meet you. I'm Panda Nini. My face is round just like a fat doll

wearing sunglasses. My appearance makes me look like a naughty simpleton, and even

a little clumsy. My butt twists when I walk. It's so funny! Why are we all black and

white?""

Nini is the storyteller in Hello, I'm Panda, who tells the stories of her clan in a new book

by Sichuan Children's Publishing House. It will be launched in English in the coming

months.

Tan Kai, the author, says he believes among numerous books introducing the creature,

his work is unique because it could be the first time that a panda has taken the role of a

first-person narrator.

"The first-person narration connects the readers with pandas instantly," Tan says,

"making the readers feel for the pandas."

Yin Chuan, editor with the publisher, says the colorful book attracted huge interest from

international publishers who visited their stands during the 2013 Frankfurt Book Fair

in mid-October. More than 200 precious pictures add value to the book, she says.

They're either old pictures of high historic value or rare beautiful photographs provided

by the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, Yin says.

"Nothing has survived the long-term transformation of nature and history like the

pandas, and that's why they are widely adored," Tan says.

Tan, born in 1943 in Sichuan province, makes a name as the Panda Writer for the

numerous fiction and nonfiction works he has created in 33 years of tracking down the

pandas' footprints with experts and research teams, covering all reserves in the province.

"I was there in many cases. Those experiences make my books on pandas like fresh

dishes served hot, not the cold dishes that are reheated," says Tan metaphorically.

He is the executive editor of bilingual magazine Giant Panda, and took part in launching

"Panda TV" on website ipanda.com.

Tan says he has written about almost all aspects of the pandas. But one day in the

Chengdu research base when he was invited to stay in the cubs' nursery room, he

witnessed how a mother panda took pains in taking care of her new-born baby.

"The mother's loving but tired eyes caught me," he says. The renewed affection inspired

Tan to write a new book, emphasizing a mother panda's love.

"Hello, I'm a panda How warm and safe I feel in my mother's arms! But, mom has no

time to rest Mom always tends to me as I cry. I know she wants me to be more

comfortable Mom has not had anything to eat or drink for more than 10 days These are

tired eyes, wanting to close at any time. But the power of love makes them remain open

and hold on."

Tan explains the hardship of raising up a panda cub with "mom's melancholy eyes" and

the love that "brought forth 8 million years of pandas' family history".

He goes on in the book to explain why and offers the latest discovery of scientific

research on the giant pandas.

"Mother pandas find it hard to take care of the kids because usually they are 1,000 times

heavier than their children in weight," Tan says.

"The smallest panda cub is about 51 grams. With an under-developed mouth, it can only

be fed with drops of milk from a needle," he adds.

One paper published in 2011 discloses more information, Tan says.

"They found out that though pandas' pregnancy takes about 120 to 170 days, it's only

in the last month that the fertilized ovum is embedded," he says.

Another less known fact about pandas that Tan includes in the book is pandas are

pigeon-toed in both of their two pairs of limbs, so "they walk in clumsy style with

twisted hips".

Drawn to observe and write about the pandas from the early 1980s, Tan sees humanity

behind the panda stories.

"I'm deeply impressed by the panda's international appeal, and how fragile the species

is," he says. "Without large human input, pandas are still endangered."

"Through pandas, human see their own situation. By saving pandas, Chinese people

form an increasingly high awareness of environment protection," he says.

According to Xinhua News Agency, about 1,600 giant pandas live in the wild, mostly

in the mountains of Sichuan province, while more than 300 live in captivity.

Tan has also penned poems about pandas, delivering the pandas stories with a poet's

sharpness and passion.

"Tan Kai is able to see through the social phenomenon to understand the profound truth.

He understands human emotions and has great storytelling skills," comments Liu Shahe,

Sichuan's iconic writer.

Tan is excited to tell the story of one British man called David Turner.

Turner formed a special preference for pandas in the 1940s when London was under

Nazi blitz.

Then a panda named Ming was in the zoo. While other animals were frightened and

scattered by the bombs, Ming remained composed and ate and slept as usual. Ming was

later pictured as the embodiment of British people "with high morale" in the anti-

fascism war.

Some 60 years later, suffering a brain tumor, Turner was only able to learn things about

pandas from the newspaper his wife read to him.

In 2003, with his doctor's permission, he got a chance to travel to Chengdu to see real

pandas.

"That day all the young pandas in the base were let out and played freely with Turner.

Surrounded by the fluffy black and white creatures, he kept on pinching his face to

make sure it wasn't a dream," Tan says.

"Turner said that day was the happiest day in his life," Tan says.

Contact the writer at meijia@chinadaily.com.cn.

116. Panda envoys build ties with Scotland

By Li Fangfang ( China Daily) 2013-10-14page19

Jaguar Land Rover funds symposium about preservation

When Bob Grace first set eyes on two giant pandas currently living in the Edinburgh

Zoo, it had a tremendous impact on him, the president of Jaguar Land Rover China said.

""It became clearer why people in the UK and all over the world are so fond of this

creature and recognize the importance of its protection,"" he said.

Grace came to the Scottish city to sign a 100,000-pound ($159,000) sponsorship

agreement with the zoo to hold a giant panda preservation symposium from Sept 10 to

12 in conjunction with a China-UK education initiative.

Placing great importance on nature and wildlife protection, Jaguar Land Rover China

chose to support the symposium's efforts towards giant panda conservation.

Spearheaded by the Royal Zoological Society Scotland, the three-day symposium

gathered local officials and more than 65 experts from around the world to help develop

a five-year research plan for giant pandas, which will have global ramifications on how

the animals are cared for in zoos around the world and in Chinese preserves.

Jeremy Peat, chairman of Royal Zoological Society Scotland, said the symposium was

an excellent platform for experts around the world to communicate and share

experiences.

"It is hoped that the results will enrich the global effort to see one of the world's most

endangered species once again thrive in the wild," Peat said.

Five key areas

The giant panda research plan will be centered on five key areas - field ecology, genetic

management, artificial breeding and infant panda care, veterinary management and

research, as well as cognitive evolution and behavior research.

"I feel great pride that Jaguar Land Rover can lend a hand in the preservation of giant

pandas, especially since they are a symbol of worldwide friendship and peace," Grace

said.

"By supporting this world-class symposium, we hope to deliver fruitful results that

contribute to the survival of giant pandas and support the eventual release of these

animals back into the wild where they belong."

Edinburgh Zoo is home to the UK's only giant pandas Tian Tian and Yang Guang, who

arrived in December 2011.

The pandas are under custodianship of the Royal Zoological Society Scotland, and the

final approval for the pandas' 10-year residence in Scotland was provided by the China

Wildlife Conservation Association, an organization dedicated to giant panda

conservation since 1983.

"Only 12 months after they came, 900,000 visitors had said hello to the two cute pandas

in Edinburgh Zoo, an increase of 50 percent.

The number was even more than twice the population of Edinburgh city," Peat said.

"And now all the citizens in Scotland have their fingers cross for pregnant Tian Tian,

with high hopes that she can give birth to the first panda baby here in Edinburgh."

Animal nutrition, genetics, embryology, immunology and veterinary medicine are all

part of the research being funded entirely from the Royal Zoological Society Scotland.

Scotland has particular expertise in these areas, Peat said.

It is this expertise and the research facilities available within Edinburgh that have

helped the city receive this prestigious gift.

Chris West, CEO of the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland, said that the society is

delighted to cooperate with Jaguar Land Rover China to bring key scientists and

researchers from around the globe to Scotland for the Jaguar Land Rover Giant Panda

Research Symposium.

"With conservation, research and education being the founding goals of our society, we

are delighted to announce these synergetic events and activities and look forward to

working with Jaguar Land Rover to bring them to fruition," he said.

Following the symposium, JLR China will continue to work with the society on an

education program aimed at enhancing relations between China and the UK.

Developed by the Royal Zoological Society Scotland Discovery and Learning Team,

the program will "also advocate cultural exchange by creating learning packs on

Chinese culture and distributing them to students across the UK, setting up a unique

Confucius classroom at the Edinburgh Zoo as well as funding a summer learning trip

to China in 2014 for Scottish students", West said.

Social responsibility

Though it is a latecomer to the China market compared with other international

automakers, Grace said Jaguar Land Rover has never fallen behind other companies in

terms of corporate social responsibilities.

The British manufacturer of premium cars established its national sales company

headquartered in Shanghai in July 2010, and has since seen China grow into its largest

national market in the world from 2012, with a year-on-year sales surge of 70 percent.

"Based on our stable business situation, JLR China is committed to playing a full and

active part in the Chinese community through various CSR programs dedicated to

supporting three core pillars - environmental protection, education and community,"

Grace said.

Jaguar was one of the first automakers to announce a donation of 3 million yuan to the

disaster area after a deadly earthquake rocked Ya'an, Sichuan province, a major reserve

area for pandas, on April 20. Part of the funds went toward the reconstruction of a

middle school in Tianquan county.

"And I promised I will deliver an English class as a volunteer teacher to the students

once this first Jaguar Land Rover Hope Primary School opens," said Grace.

Jaguar has also kicked off a series of training programs for professional technicians and

engineers in the automotive industry in China.

"In the coming six to 12 months, JLR China will launch more new CSR projects for

local communities.

"For our company, the CSR initiatives are not part of the marketing strategy, but a long-

term commitment to giving back to society and helping to improve the living standards

of local people," Grace said.

117.14 panda cubs to go on display during National Day holiday

By Huang Zhiling in Chengdu ( China Daily) 2013-09-24 page5

Jiang Xue, a middled-aged panda fan in Chengdu, Sichuan province, was overjoyed

when she learned she could see almost all the panda cubs born this year on display at

the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding during the upcoming National

Day holiday.

I learned 14 panda cubs about 1 or 2 months old would be on display in the two nurseries

at the base. I'll take my 8-year-old daughter there,"" said the self-employed woman,

who visits the base frequently.

Huang Xiangming, chief of the animal management division of the panda base, said

panda from the base, including one in the United States and another in Spain, gave birth

to 20 cubs from July 10 to August 30.

"Seventeen cubs are alive. Two are in the United States and one in Spain. The base will

display the remaining 14 from 7:30 am to 5:30 pm daily during the weeklong National

Day holiday which starts on October 1," he said.

From 10:30 to 11:30 am on the first five days of the holiday, eight Chinese martial arts

masters will shadow-box at the base.

"What is unique is that all of them will be dressed like pandas. As shadow-boxing is

slow, their movement will remind visitors of the laid-back lifestyle of the cuddly bear,"

said Luo Xin, an official in the marketing division.

From 1 pm to 2:30 pm on the first five days of the holiday, staff members will lecture

on the status quo, habits and plights of pandas.

"They will tell children a panda can eat 25 kilograms of bamboo and between 25 and

50 kilograms of bamboo shoots a day. Because they are vegetarians, their droppings

don't smell," Huang said.

About 1,600 pandas live in the wild in China, most of them in the mountains in Sichuan.

To arouse public concern for the plight of the endangered species and protect panda

habitats, the base has built a makeshift exhibition hall.

"The hall will display pictures of Bifengxia in Ya'an, Jiuzhaigou (in the Aba Tibetan

and Qiang autonomous prefecture), Mount Emei (in Emeishan) and the Southern

Bamboo Sea in Yibin which are panda habitats," Luo said. All are located in Sichuan.

At 2:30 pm on the first five days of the holiday, a lottery drawing will be held for visitors.

"Winners will be awarded free trips to the panda habitats that are famous scenic spots

in China," Luo said.

Set up in 1987 with six sick and hungry pandas rescued from the wild, the base is now

home to 128 captive pandas.

118. Pandas in eye of Belgian political storm

By Agence France-Presse in Brussels | China Daily |

Rival Dutch- and French-speaking communities in Belgium are at each others' throats

again, this time because of a loan by China of two pandas to the linguistically divided

nation.

The rare bears, a reliable draw for visitors, are to be housed in a zoo in French-speaking

southern Wallonia, not far from the city of Mons whose last mayor is none other than

Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo.

The bow-tied premier was promised the pandas this week by Premier Li Keqiang while

on a visit to China.

"The arrival of these two pandas is an honor for Belgium and underlines the trust

between our two nations," Di Rupo was quoted as saying on Wednesday by the Belga

News Agency.

But Belgium's oldest and most well-known zoo, located in the center of the port of

Antwerp in northern Flanders, is indignant to have lost out to the Pairi Daiza animal

park set up by a private investor a couple of decades ago.

"We should have been able to count on the support of the prime minister," said Ilse

Segers, spokeswoman for the Antwerp Zoo, which was set up in 1843.

The establishment's indignation turned political after a member of the powerful Flemish

separatist N-VA party, Zuhal Demir, accused Di Rupo of resorting to diplomacy to get

the animals into the rival park.

The row made the front page of national press and headlined TV and radio news

bulletins.

The prime minister's office brushed aside the claims of favoritism, saying that Antwerp

Zoo, unlike its rival, had failed to file an offer to house the pandas, which will be on

loan for 15 years.

"Pairi Daiza has begun building an ultra-modern installation in its Chinese garden that

has perfectly integrated a Sichuan country setting," the animal park said. China will, as

is usual with loaned pandas, send a special team to look after the two 4-year-old bears.

Belgian Dutch- and French-speaking communities are at odds after Prime Minister Elio

Di Rupo decided to house two Chinese pandas in a zoo in French-speaking Wallonia.

Arno Burgi / DPA via Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 09/13/2013 page11)

119.2 paws up for online panda cam

By Han Bingbin 2013-08-07 page1

A screen broadcasting the lives of pandas in Chengdu becomes a popular background

at the launch of the first 24-hour reality show featuring the endangered animals, in

Beijing on Tuesday. Zhu Xingxin / China Daily

Concerned about the long journey to see a lovely panda in China? Now a simple click

will give you the chance any time, any place.

iPanda.com, launched on Tuesday by China Network Television, offers a 24-hour view

of panda's lives at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

It is the world's first 24-hour high-definition telecast program of pandas through

multiple cameras.

More than 30 cameras are set up around the base, with locations carefully chosen to

avoid disturbing the pandas. Program directors in the control room are ready to adjust

camera angles to capture the most natural panda moments.

They will then pick 10 cameras for live broadcast on the Internet, of which one will be

selected for HD live. Both will be accompanied by real-time explanations in multiple

languages. Also available will be 30-minute original request programs and a series of

documentaries on pandas produced by China Central Television, which owns China

Network Television.

Social networking platform Panda Town has also been created on the website. On home

pages designed for more than 100 star pandas, global fans follow the pandas' lives and

are encouraged to discuss their observations. The same thing can also be done on

platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Sina Weibo where iPanda.com has registered

accounts.

Hu Zhanfan, head of China Central Television, said the website is a gift to people

around the world who love pandas and crave peace.

In a survey of international opinion about China's image, conducted by China

International Publishing Group and Millward Brown in 2012, pandas surpassed the

Great Wall and the Imperial Palace as the icon of the country. Now ambassadors of

China's friendliness, pandas have found homes in 16 zoos in more than 10 countries

and regions.

"In Spain, people have to go to the zoo in Madrid to see pandas. The channel is so

convenient for panda fans in my country. We can know panda's habits and traditions

through it," said an employee of CCTV's Spanish channel, who only gave her name as

Michelle.

Zhang Zhihe, director of the Chengdu panda base, said a friend proposed the idea of a

24-hour live broadcast to him six years ago. But back then they were financially

incapable of carrying out the plan.

Zhang said the move is also about ecological education.

"By exploring the survival status of pandas and reasons why they are endangered,

people will come to understand their relationship with the environment," he said.

"This will increase the public's awareness of environmental protection, which is also a

way of protecting ourselves."

Huang Zhiling in Chengdu and Liu Yiran in Beijing contributed to this story.

hanbingbin@chinadaily.com.cn

120.Base is the place for pandas

By Zhuan Ti 2013-06-10 page7

Jackie Chan has acted as a spokesperson for panda protection. Provided to China Daily

The Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding is a must-see place in the

Sichuan capital.

The base combines natural scenery with manmade landscapes to create wonderful and

humane living spaces for giant pandas, red pandas and China's other endangered

animals.

The Giant Panda Museum along with satellite museums in the Research Center and

Panda Hospital provide 7,000 square meters of educational space to foreign and

domestic visitors.

It has worked with design companies from the United States to create modern,

interactive learning experiences.

The center is popular among tourists from China and abroad. It is the recipient of

donations from around the world.

Action movie star Jackie Chan donated a total of 1 million yuan ($161,290) to the center

in May 2009, and he has acted as a spokesperson for panda protection.

zhuanti@chinadaily.com.cn