51.Young panda celebrates first birthday By Chen Weihua in Washington ( Daily ) 2016-08-22 07:46:38 , the cub at the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington, DC, had an unusual one-year birthday celebration on Saturday. The first ladies of China and the United States both sent their greetings. China's sent her greeting from China, the home country of pandas a world away. ""The giant panda is China's national treasure. Bei Bei's birth is the fruit of collaboration between China and the US and a strong symbol of our friendship,"" Peng said in a message read by Chinese Ambassador to the United States Cui Tiankai on Saturday morning at a birthday celebration in the zoo's panda yard. US first lady Michelle Obama tweeted in the early morning: "Today we celebrate the National Zoo's 'precious treasure' as he turns one year old. Happy birthday, Bei Bei!" In September, Peng and Obama visited the zoo and named the newborn panda cub Bei Bei, meaning "precious" in Chinese. Peng expressed her appreciation for the staff at the National Zoo for taking good care of Bei Bei and for all US friends who love and cherish pandas. The zoo and the Chinese embassy held a special zhuazhou ceremony, a tradition honoring a baby's first birthday that dates back to the Song Dynasty (960-1279) about 1,000 year ago. Whatever the baby chooses foretells its future. Three banners - with drawings and words in Chinese symbolizing long life, health, habitat, good luck and friendship - were placed in Bei Bei's yard. The art was created by children of Chinese diplomats in Washington. Panda keepers sprinkled the signposts with honey to attract Bei Bei. Bei Bei appeared to be in good spirits, but he strolled in the yard area far from the banners and climbed a tree for awhile, despite efforts by panda keepers to get him close to the banners. Laurie Thompson, a panda keeper and zoo biologist, said Bei Bei seems to feel most comfortable when his mother is in the yard. Finally, it was who performed zhuazhou for Bei Bei. She picked the one signifying "luck and friendship", then moved on to the next for "health and habitat." Hundreds of people lined up along the Asia Trail on Saturday morning to have a look at the birthday boy. Suzy Johnson, wearing a red T-shirt proclaiming, "Happy Birthday, Bei Bei," said she tweeted about the birthday in the morning. Like many visitors on Saturday, Johnson has been a panda fan for a long time. She said her mother took her to see Hsing Hsing and Ling Ling back in the 1970s - the first pair of pandas arriving in the US immediately following the historic trip to China by then-president Richard Nixon in 1972. Johnson said she was devastated when Mei Xiang lost her baby in 2012. But the next year was born. "We love the pandas, they are very peaceful," Johnson said. "It's all about peace and friendship and love. The world can use a lot more of that."

52.Bid to give panda a brand name stirs outcry By Xu Junqian in Shanghai (China Daily) 2016-08-20 07:47:02 The possibility that the first panda born in Shanghai could be named after a well-known health product has generated an outcry online. The female bear was born in the Shanghai Wild Animal Park on July 9, and the park has since launched a campaign asking the public to give her a name. But web users found out that the maker of melatonin product Naobaijin has sponsored a TV commercial for the name-seeking campaign, leading to concerns that the panda could be named after the product if the company manipulates the campaign. Naobaijin is one of the best-known health product brands in China, with sales of 100 million yuan ($15 million) per month at its peak in the 1990s. The company says the product helps to improve sleep and boost the immune system. But it generated much controversy because of its publicity strategy of investing huge sums of money in TV commercials. "If the panda could be named after Naobaijin, what if next time a condom producer sponsored the name-seeking campaign?" asked Pmz, a web user, on NetEase. Shanghai Goldpartner Biotech Co, the maker of Naobaijin, said it would not manipulate the name-seeking campaign, adding that it would respect the opinion of the zoo and public regarding the final decision. But the company "would be truly honored if China's national treasure could be named after one of our bestselling products", the company said in a written reply to China Daily. Ni Li, spokeswoman for the Shanghai Wild Animal Park, said on Thursday that the zoo was unaware of the company's ads via Shanghai TV & Radio Station regarding the panda's naming. But she did not rule out the possibility of the panda being named Naobaijin, "if netizens voting online want it to be". Pandas' names usually have a meaning of some blessing when the animals are loaned as national gifts to other countries or regions, said Wu Kongju, a senior researcher with the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in province. During the visit to the United States by President Xi Jinping in September, first ladies Peng Liyuan and Michelle Obama jointly announced that the panda newly born in Washington, DC, was named Beibei, meaning both treasure and baby in Chinese. In other cases, Wu said, breeders could name the animals in a more casual way after studying their parents, hometown or the weather conditions on the day of a panda's birth. During the 2012 London Olympics, for example, a newborn panda was named Aoli'ao after its mother, Lili, and Olympics, the pronunciation of which coincides with Oreo, the famous cookie brand. For the baby panda born in Shanghai, the zoo said it will pick 20 names given by netizens on the web or via social media before asking for a vote. The final result will be announced on Sept 9. Popular names collected so far have included Nannan, a baby girl's nickname in the Shanghai dialect, and Husheng, which means born in Shanghai. Huang Zhiling in Sichuan contributed to this story. [email protected]

53.Plan completed for national panda park BY XINHUA 2016-08-18 (China Daily 08/18/2016 page9) A plan to build a national park for giant pandas has been completed and will be submitted to the central government for approval, authorities said on Wednesday. The provinces of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu have determined the area for the park, said Yao Sidan, head of Sichuan's provincial forestry department. Drafting of the plan began in April. Yao said authorities have tried to keep the pandas' habitat intact, while also integrating existing nature reserves, parks and scenic areas into the national park, which will cover areas in the three provinces. Sichuan has the biggest population of giant pandas in China. By the end of 2015, there were 1,387 wild pandas and 364 captive ones in the province, accounting for 74 percent and 86 percent of the country's total, respectively.

54. , 38, holds title as oldest panda in captivity By Evelynyu In Hong Kong And Huang Zhiling In Chengdu ( China Daily ) Updated: 2016-08-11 08:07:26 The world's oldest panda in captivity, Jia Jia, just celebrated her 38th birthday - the equivalent of 114 years old in human terms - at Hong Kong Ocean Park this month. The female panda holds two Guinness World Records: the oldest panda ever in captivity and the oldest panda living in captivity. The average life span for wild pandas is 14 to 20 years, and 25 to 30 years for those in captivity. Jia Jia, who was born in the wild in Sichuan province in 1978, was sent as a gift to Hong Kong in 1999 to mark the second anniversary of the city's handover to China. She has been living in Ocean Park ever since. Jia Jia's good physique and the attentive care of the park have contributed to her longevity, said ElkeWu, the park's terrestrial life sciences senior supervisor. A comprehensive physical checkup, including a look at Jia Jia's eyes, teeth and blood pressure, is provided on a daily basis. Jia Jia also is rewarded with her favorite food if she behaves during procedures like the taking of blood samples. Wu believes that Jia Jia's health status is satisfactory for her age. However, the panda has been suffering from geriatric conditions such as high blood pressure and cataracts. Jia Jia is given antihypertensive drugs and eyedrops every day. Though at least five kinds of bamboo bought from Guangzhou are prepared for Jia Jia every day, she can be very picky. Especially in summer when the quality of bamboo is comparatively poor, Jia Jia is inclined to eat only bamboo leaves, said Wu. The staff must coax her to eat more bamboo shoots and other supplements for a balanced diet. Veterinarians have accumulated rich experience in treating captive pandas' diseases, said Zhang Hemin, chief of the administrative bureau of the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Wenchuan county, Sichuan province. The Wolong reserve has the world's largest captive panda population. "Like humans, pandas can suffer from hypertension, cancer, diseases of the digestive tract, stroke and paralysis," said Zhang. Contact the writers at [email protected]

55.Panda twins born on day for lovers By Xinhua in Chengdu ( China Daily ) 2016-08-10 08:23:49 Panda twins were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province on Tuesday. The mother, Chenggong, gave birth to a male and a female cub around 1:34 am, base staff member Wu Kongju said, noting that Chenggong's labor lasted 14 hours. The twins weighed in at 195.5 and 152.8 grams. Both are in good condition. "This is Chenggong's third birth. She is a very good mother. After the cubs were born, she cuddled them and comforted them," Wu said. The twins are the eighth pair of twins born in the Chengdu base this year along with 5 single cubs. July to September is the high season for panda births. There are more than 1,300 wild pandas in Sichuan, 15 percent more than 10 years ago, with a further 360 in captivity. Tuesday is Qixi, lover's day according to the Chinese lunar calendar. The holiday originates from a myth about the love between an ordinary herdsman and a fairy. 56.Wild panda sightings spark hope of recovery By Huang Zhiling ( China Daily )2016-08-04 07:40:20 Wild pandas have been spotted three times at the foot of Jiajin Mountain in Sichuan province since July last year, which conservationists attribute to improvements in the ecological health of the area. Patrolling the mountain at around 8:40 am on Saturday, Chen Min, an employee of the Jiajin Mountain Forestry Bureau in Ya'an, Sichuan, saw two adult wild pandas walking leisurely along National Highway 351. ""One disappeared into the forest soon after it saw me. The other kept walking slowly and was not intimidated even when my automobile was nearby,"" he said. Because there is a river near the highway, Chen speculated that the pandas might have had a drink before they crossed the highway and disappeared into the woods. "Wild pandas have been found by both patrollers and local farmers since July last year," Chen said. "One farmer even reported a wild panda eating honey in his house near the highway." Sichuan began imposing bans on the felling of virgin forests in 1998 to protect the ecology of the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. "The efforts have paid off on Jiajin Mountain, where there are more lush trees, less landslides and more wild pandas," said Zhang Hemin, chief of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wenchuan county, Sichuan. His center has a panda base in Ya'an. The latest census tallied 1,864 wild pandas and 375 captive pandas worldwide at the end of 2013. That compares with the earlier count of 1,596 wild pandas and 164 captive pandas. Despite the rise in the number of wild pandas, the animals remain an endangered species. Pandas survive solely along the eastern edge of the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau in six mountain ranges, five of which are in Sichuan. But their habitat, which totals about 23,050 square kilometers, is vulnerable. With most valleys in their ranges inhabited by humans, many panda populations are isolated in narrow belts of bamboo no more than 1,000 to 2,000 meters in width. "Therefore, their actual geographical range is much smaller than generally depicted on maps," said Zhang Zhihe, chief of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. Twenty-four of the 33 groups of wild pandas found in the most recent census are believed to be endangered, with some groups having fewer than 30 pandas, Zhang Hemin said. Eighteen groups have fewer than 10 pandas each and are in severe danger of dying off, he added. 57.Panda man By Lin Qi(China Daily) 2016-07-26 page20 Han Meilin will celebrate his 80th birthday with a grand exhibition in Venice this fall, Lin Qi reports. Han Meilin believes that if a blade isn't sharpened, it will become rusty just like a person who doesn't use his or her brain. So, the prolific Chinese artist says he keeps active by drawing for more than 10 hours every day. This year, he will be celebrating his 80th birthday on Dec 26 by staging a grand exhibition first in Venice, then Paris and finally Beijing. Originally from East China's Shandong province, the Beijing-based artist is widely known for designing the giant panda-themed stamps of 1985, Air China's phoenix logo in 1988 and the five Fuwa mascots for the 2008 Beijing Olympics. The upcoming exhibition will focus on his creativity in enlivening the Chinese cultural scene and his versatility in being able to work in various artistic fields. The show, titled Meilin's World in Venice, will be opened on Oct 27 at Venice International University. The displayed works will include his paintings, sketches and sculptures, tracing his artistic evolution since the 1980s when he was inspired by the ancient rock paintings of China. At the time, Han had traveled to the Helan Mountains in the Ningxia Hui autonomous region, and was struck by the primitive drawings on cliffs that depict the life of the northern ethnic tribes thousands of years ago. He studied ancient art on rocks not only when traveling within the country but also outside, and adopted many patterns from there in his creations. Han later focused on rock art to ancient Chinese characters inscribed on antiques such as oracle bones, bronze ware, ceramics and bricks. His research has not only enriched his art vocabulary but also brought into focus designs and characters invented by ancient Chinese. In 2008, he published Tian Shu (A Book from Heaven) as a catalog of the primitive inscriptions. The exhibition will also show Han's designs on ceramics, metal, wooden carvings, jades and other works of art that carry the same motifs. He will install an 8-meter-high sculpture dedicated to the Venice exhibition at the university square. "The exhibition is to tell the story of Han, a man of character who remains as vigorous as young people and who always looks for novel approaches to art," says Zhao Li, chief curator of Han's touring exhibition and a professor at the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing. Umberto Vattani, president of Venice International University, says Han's exhibition will be "another gift from China to the West". "Venice boasts a long history of links with the East. The connection helps to exercise the influence of Oriental culture and thoughts on the West," he says. "The richness of Han's art, featuring vibrant color schemes and varying shapes, has taken traditional Chinese art to another level, and will arouse enormous interest in Venice." The exhibition will then travel to the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, where Han was designated the "artist for peace" in October for his charitable work in support of education for youth through his art foundation in Beijing. The last stop will be at Beijing's National Museum of China, which held his last solo exhibition in 2011. Bai Yansong, a news presenter for China Central Television and Han's longtime friend, says the lingering charm of Han's art lies in the joyful feeling it gives people who view it. Han survived the "cultural revolution (1966-76)" and worked hard for four decades to make up for the time that was spent away from art. He has three galleries named after him that display his works in Beijing, Hangzhou in East China's Zhejiang province and Yinchuan city in Ningxia. He travels extensively for his art foundation in rural China, collecting endangered folk art and merging it into his works. He donates part of the proceeds to support folk artists he meets en route. Contact the writer at [email protected] 58.Distemper vaccinations could save giant pandas By Su Zhouin Beijing And Huang Zhiling In Chengdu ( China Daily )2016-06-17 08:16:22 Supply problems, drug risks mean some endangered animals will go unprotected China's giant pandas are susceptible to canine distemper virus, and surveillance and vaccinations are warranted to support conservation efforts, according to a new report. Published by the journal Nature on Thursday, the report said that due to the limited supply of some vaccines and the potential risks associated with others, most giant pandas in the Shaanxi Rare Wild Animal Rescue and Research Center, as well as those with other organizations involved in giant panda breeding programs, are not routinely vaccinated. CDV was reported to have caused the deaths of captive giant pandas as early as 1997 when three pandas died at Chongqing Zoo. The most recent outbreak in Shaanxi province caused the deaths of five pandas from December 2014 to April 2015. The single panda to survive had been vaccinated. Xia Xianzhu, one of the authors of the report and an academician at the Chinese Academy of Engineering, said the immune responses elicited by vaccination were not sufficient to prevent naturally-acquired CDV infection, but may have lessened the severity. The giant panda is native to China and is categorized as endangered on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's Red List of Threatened Species. According to the fourth national panda survey, there are 1,864 wild pandas and 375 in captivity in China at the end of 2013. Zhang Hemin, chief of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, said every panda in the center is vaccinated. Zhang's center was established in the Wolong National Natural Reserve in Sichuan province in the wake of an agreement between the World Wide Fund and the Chinese government in 1980. It is home to 210 pandas. Wang Chengdong, director of the animal hospital at the reserve, said that the vaccine came from a company in the United States. "From 2013 to 2014, the company cut the production of CDV vaccine due to slim profits and small demand, and we had to stop giving the vaccine to pandas. Though it resumed production, we are not sure whether it will cut the production line again," Wang said. "So the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda is working with the authors of the report to develop a CDV vaccine specifically for China's giant pandas." Contact the writers at [email protected]

59.For the love of the pandas 2016-06-11 07:48:35 Mei Yan has been working at the Chengdu Research Base which breeds Giant Pandas for the past eight years. As of now, she helps feed 50 pandas. Caring for pandas is hard work. Every day, she has to prepare bamboo for the pandas to eat and then clear away hundred kilos of fecal matter. An adult giant panda eats around 100 kilos of bamboo shoots. To show you how hard she has to work, Mei raises her arms and says: "Look at my muscles, better than that of many men." If she's on the night shift, she feeds milk to the baby pandas at 5 am. It is a highly demanding job to feed the cubs, she says. Born in 1986, Mei is a typical Chengdu girl, optimistic, cheerful with a smile similar to that of a cute panda. Young pandas may look cute, but have sharp claws and teeth. Often Mei is bitten and scratched by the pandas. But despite the problems, Mei still feels a great sense of accomplishment, watching the cubs grow. "They are like my family," she says. Photos by Lyu Jia for China Daily (China Daily 06/11/2016 page6)

60. Bringing you the news on all platforms What is it with pandas? ( China Daily ) Updated: 2016-06-01 06:30:02 No editor seems to be able to resist the temptation of carrying a story; and the cute creatures have long been a staple of global media. No wonder then that the front page of the inaugural issue of China Daily prominently carried the story of Chia-Chia returning from Washington Zoo to his home in London Zoo after failing to stir the romantic interest of Hsing-Hsing in the US capital. But, of course, it wasn't just for panda coverage that China Daily was launched on June 1, 1981. It was meant to open up a country which until then was closed to the world -- and tell the story in English. Today, anyone anywhere in the world can read China Daily in print or on a whole range of new media platforms. It is the most quoted source of news, comment and opinion on China as it informs readers of developments in the world's second-largest economy. Back then, a growing stream of tourists, businesspeople, consultants and "foreign experts" making their way to the country found themselves almost isolated from the outside world - and didn't know much of what was happening in the country, either. In today's plugged-in world, it might be difficult to comprehend that news in English was then at such a premium. The reason for starting the paper might have been prosaic: keeping foreigners in China apprised of news in the country and around the world. But soon, our mission was clear: Going beyond mere information to presenting and explaining China to the world - and vice versa. Design was blessed with fortuity when the birth of the paper coincided with reform and opening up - which perhaps resulted in the biggest economic and social transformation in history. We have not looked back since. What started as an eight-page broadsheet - in itself bucking the trend of the then four- page Chinese newspapers, and using bigger pictures - is now a multimedia platform with a 24-page flagship newspaper. The journey has been eventful with continuous growth the constant. Along the way, we added more offerings such as the 21st Century stable of publications catering to young Chinese learning English. We now have editions in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. And we were pioneers in embracing technology as well as the first newspaper in the country to go online. We are proud to have more than 500 foreign and Chinese reporters and editors spread over the headquarters in Beijing, 35 bureaus across China and 18 overseas bureaus in major cities including New York, London, Paris and Brussels. We have 14 printing sites on the Chinese mainland and 34 overseas. Today, we have a global print circulation of 900,000 and more than 40 million followers online. Our China Watch, published by leading newspapers including , the Wall Street Journal and the Daily Telegraph, has a circulation of 4 million. It is also published in German, French and Spanish and the aim is to have editions in all the six working languages of the United Nations. On social media, we have 22 million followers on microblogging site Weibo, 6 million downloads on Apple and Android, and more than 5 million followers on Facebook. We have been the official publication for major events such as the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the 2010 Shanghai Expo and the 2014 APEC meeting in Beijing; and we are covering in detail the upcoming G20 summit in Hangzhou. China Daily is a member of Asia News Network, which comprises 21 major English newspapers from 19 countries or regions. ANN aims to challenge the domination of Western media so that Asian news is covered by Asian media. In the process, we have made China much more accessible to the rest of the world - facts and foibles, warts and all. We lend context and perspective, and explain how the big stories impact China and the world. In particular, we take pride in presenting balanced and nuanced coverage of national and international news. Today, as we mark our 35th anniversary, we reflect on the three-and-half decades in this commemorative issue. The theme is simple: 10 issues which have had the most bearing on the changing face of China. Senior colleagues in the paper provide personal insights into the topics. All of this, of course, would not have been possible without you, the reader. You have been unstinting in your support, and liberal with your criticism. We welcome your response and thank you for it. I thank my colleagues, past and present - from the pioneers who braved the odds to give shape to the paper to those who have contributed, in ways big and small, to help it thrive. On a personal note, I feel particularly proud for I started as a rookie reporter soon after the launch and have seen it grow to what it is today. And we continue to cover pandas. (China Daily 05/30/2016 page1)

61. China's 'aquatic pandas' released into Yangtze By Lyu Chang ( China Daily )2016-05-19 page 18 Program designed to save endangered fish, help restore famous river's ecological system More than 2,000 Chinese sturgeon, a protected and precious species of fish, have been released into waters at the upper reaches of the Yangtze River in Yichang, Hubei province, to improve the river's ecological system. The endangered Chinese sturgeon are often called ""aquatic pandas"", because they are considered a living fossil whose origin is believed to date back millions of years to prehistoric times and the age of dinosaurs. This is the 58th time that the rare species has been set free into the river by China Tree Gorges, a State-owned power giant, which set up the country’s first sturgeon research initiative in 1982. “But unlike previous occasions, we are adopting satellite-positioning technology for the first time on some of the fish to track and provide a record of their travels,” said Jiang Wei, deputy director of the Chinese Sturgeon Research Institute, which is under the auspices of China Tree Gorges. He said some 60 Chinese sturgeon were found near the Gezhou Dam for reproduction in 2014 but it was unable to be determined whether they were bred naturally or artificially. The tracking systems now connected to six vigorous selected sturgeon under the latest initiative are designed to obtain data about their environment as was their swimming patterns, Jiang said. The building of the dam on the river’s upper side has blocked the passage to the Jinshan River, the habitual breeding ground of the fish. That, coupled with illegal fishing and the deteriorating ecology of the river, has put the species in danger. The institute says it has been doing a great deal of research on artificially inseminating and spawning cultured Chinese sturgeon to save the species from extinction. CTG, the Beijing-based power utility, has spent 200 million yuan ($30.7 million) on research and associated activities over the past 30 years. More than 5.5 million of the fish bred in captivity have been released into the wild over the past three decades, according to the company. President Xi Jinping has said that Yangtze River ecological restoration should focus on extensive protection, not engage in large-scale development. He stressed the importance of the ecological restoration to purify water systems, improve water quality and to build an ecological compensation mechanism for the Yangtze River Economic Belt according to the principle—“Those who develop must protect water quality; who destroy, restore; who benefit, compensate; who pollute, pay a fine”. Cao Wenxuan, the academic and aquatic species researcher from the China Academy of Sciences, said artificial breeding is an important way of protecting and developing Chinese sturgeon and a measure to maintain the diversity of the river. “The fish species in the river’s upper branches have declined dramatically in recent years, imposing a severe warning for the river’s ecological system, but the surgeon release can help restore the ecological environment in a certain way,” he said.

62.Two 'goodwill' pandas unveiled to public By Xinhua In Seoul ( China Daily ) 2016-04-22 07:35:39 A pair of Chinese giant pandas that arrived in South Korea in early March, were unveiled on Thursday to the South Korean public after an approximate 50-day adjustment period. The 3-year-old male named Le Bao and the 2-year-old female Ai Bao, whose names mean pleasant and lovely treasures, made their public appearance at the 3,300-square- meter Panda World in Everland, South Korea's largest theme park located around 40 kilometers from the capital Seoul. Attending the opening ceremony were about 400 journalists and officials from both countries, including Qiu Guohong, Chinese ambassador to Seoul, South Korean Culture and Tourism Minister Kim Jong-deok and Gyeonggi province Governor Nam Kyung- pil. Kim expressed his appreciation to the Chinese government for sending the pandas. The pair will serve as goodwill ambassadors for improved relations between the two countries. Everland expects the pandas to help increase visitors to the theme park, appointing them as honorary employees. The panda pair arrived in South Korea on March 3 on a 15-year lease. Joint research will be conducted by Everland and China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda. Everland installed thermostatic and humidity equipment and planted familiar trees in Panda World to simulate the environment in Sichuan. The center heads China's international panda research and cooperation program and has sent 32 pandas to 12 zoos and parks in 10 countries and regions since the 1990s.

63.Nancy Reagan remembered as panda savior By Wang Qingyun and Zhang Yunbi ( China Daily )2016-03-08 08:15:43 Nancy Reagan, the former US first lady who died at the age of 94 in Los Angeles on Sunday, was her husband's greatest supporter and confidante and accompanied him on a trip to China in April 1984, known as the """" visit. Before the trip by the first lady and Ronald Reagan, who was US president from 1981 to 1989, China's bamboo crop had started to blossom - a rare occurrence that signals the death of the plant. This led to a severe shortage of bamboo, the staple of the panda's diet. As first lady, Nancy Reagan launched the ""Pennies for Pandas"" drive in the United States in March 1984. In the drive, she asked US schoolchildren to donate money in an emergency effort to save China's wild giant pandas. "I hope all children in our country will help in this cause and give their pennies to help the pandas," she said at a news conference at the National Zoo in Washington, DC. Accompanying her husband on the six-day trip to China, she won the hearts of the Chinese people with her relaxed elegance. During a visit to the Beijing Zoo, she donated a check for $13,000 and two jeeps to the China Wildlife Conservation Association. During a media briefing on Monday, Foreign Ministry spokesman Hong Lei offered condolences on the death of Reagan, saying she had contributed to the exchanges between Beijing and Washington. Teng Jianqun, a researcher of US studies at the China Institute of International Studies, said the Reagans' visit in 1984 helped broaden the Chinese people's understanding of the United States. It was the first time that people in China, after the reform and opening-up, were introduced to the charm of "first lady diplomacy", he said. Nancy Reagan's hairstyle, makeup and fashion sense made a deep impression during a time when sartorial elegance was just beginning to be appreciated among Chinese people, Teng added. Just as Deng Xiaoping's visit to the US in 1979 "changed their impression of China", the visit by the Reagans left a favorable impression at a time when the Cold War had shaped opinions, he said. Zhou Wenzhong, former Chinese ambassador to the US, recalled Nancy Reagan as "a witness to and a symbol of" the improvement in the China-US relationship. Her visit to China helped "boost two-way public diplomacy", Zhou said. Contact the writers at [email protected]

64. Pandas in captivity to hit 500 in next 5 years By Su Zhou ( China Daily )2016-01-08 07:56:13 China will have 500 giant pandas in captivity by 2020, said China's wildlife watchdog. The State Forestry Administration provided an overview on Thursday of the situation of giant pandas in captivity. By the end of 2015, there were 422 giant pandas in captivity around the country. Of the 43 cubs born last year, 40 survived. During the 12th Five-Year-Plan period (2011-15), the number of giant pandas, both in the wild and in captivity, grew quickly. According to the Fourth National Survey on Giant Pandas, the population in the wild across the country reached 1,864. More than 66 percent of wild pandas and 53.8 percent of their habitats are strictly protected. The administration promised to launch another giant panda protection project in the next five years, including drafting a national guideline on giant panda protection, establishing a patrol and monitoring system and further improving legal protection of giant pandas. Most of the giant pandas in captivity are now in Sichuan province, such as at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, as well in Shaanxi province. Zhang Guiquan, deputy head of the conservation and research center, which has 216 giant pandas, said that in the past year, the center bred 26 cubs, of which 23 survived.

65. Gansu panda zones are upgraded to State status By Xinhua in Lanzhou ( China Daily ) 2016-01-05 07:58:06 Two protection zones for giant pandas in Gansu province have been upgraded to State- level zones, the provincial forestry authority said over the weekend. Gansu is home to 132 giant pandas, according to a study conducted in 2015. It is one of three major habitats for the endangered animal in China. Despite the rising number of giant pandas in the region, their survival is at risk due to habitat depletion, which limits their mobility and puts their fertility in jeopardy in the long run. Such fragmentation is caused by both natural issues and disruption by human activities, such as roads, hydropower stations and high-voltage cables and towers. Giant pandas in the province have been divided into four groups, two of which are facing elevated survival risks, the study found. One of the two protection zones boasts large quantities of bamboo, making it ideal for the pandas. The second is also home to other endangered species, including golden monkeys and takins.

66.Famous panda to celebrate 35th birthday By HU MEIDONG in Fuzhou and HUANGZHILING in Chengdu2015-11-27 page1 Basi, the panda who rose to fame as the mascot of the 11th Asian Games in Beijing, will celebrate her 35th birthday - the equivalent of more than 100 human years - on Saturday in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian province. Fuzhou has been her home since 1985, one year after she was rescued from the wild. Among the gifts that Basi will receive from her human friends on the big day will be a cake, which will be easy for her to eat, since her teeth have rotted. "Basi is the second-oldest panda in the world," said Zhang Guiquan, a senior panda expert from the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Wenchuan county, Sichuan province. "Jia Jia, a 38-year-old female panda at , is the oldest. A captive panda normally lives for 30 years." One year for a panda is equivalent to three or four years for a human being, Zhang added. Basi, born in the Basi valley of Baoxing county in Sichuan province in 1980, was saved by a villager from an icy river in 1984 as she fled a pursuing hyena. She was starving at the time, as that year bamboo, the staple food of pandas, was just blossoming. The villager, Li Xingyu, named her Basi, which means "nice" in the Sichuan dialect. After first living in the Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve in Sichuan, Basi was sent to the Fuzhou Giant Panda Research Center in Fujian. At the Fuzhou center, she was trained to ride a bicycle, shoot a basket with a basketball and lift weights. In 1987, she stayed for half a year in the United States in San Diego, where her stunts fascinated countless visitors. In 1990, Basi became a household name in China when she was the mascot of the 11th Asian Games in Beijing. Basi has a den to herself in the Fuzhou panda research center. Due to aging, she becomes breathless after taking a few steps. Since she can no longer gnaw, her keepers feed her crushed bamboo leaves. They also feed her mashed apples and radishes to keep her healthy.

67. Fifth panda released into the wild in Sichuan By HUANGZHILING in Chengdu2015-11-20 page7 Hua Jiao, a 2-year-old female panda, was set free at Liziping National Nature Reserve in Shimian county, Sichuan province, on Thursday afternoon. ""It marked the fifth time a captive panda has been released into the wild with the intention of enlarging the wild panda population,"" said Zhang Guiquan, a veteran panda expert with the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong, Sichuan. The first panda released into the wild was Xiang Xiang, who was born in 2001. The male panda was released in Wolong in 2006. In 2007, its body was found in the woods, with broken ribs and injuries to its ears and back. Researchers suspected it had taken refuge in a tree after fighting with wild pandas, but had fallen. Its death forced handlers to revise their approach to training their pandas to survive in the wild. When training Tao Tao, who was born in 2010, they approached the animal dressed in panda costumes that had been splattered with panda urine. It became the second panda released into the wild in 2012. A team of animal experts and local employees at Liziping found Tao Tao up a tree one year later. A vet shot the frightened bear with a tranquilizer and it fell into a net set up by the team. A blood test showed the panda was in good health, said Yang Zhisong, team leader from China West Normal University in Nanchong, Sichuan. After Tao Tao was released into the wild, researchers started choosing female pandas for introduction to the wild. "Female captive pandas might be more easily accepted by wild pandas," said Zhang Hemin, head of the Wolong research center. In 2013, Zhang Xiang, a 2-year-old female panda, was released into Liziping. Although nobody has seen her since, researchers think she might be fine, Zhang Guiquan said. But Xue Xue, the panda released into the wild last year, had a tragic end. "Before it was released, the animal was placed in a cage for several days. It took about eight hours for the animal to reach Liziping from Wolong where it had lived," said Zhang Guiquan. "It was frightened by being put in a cage as well as the transportation process. It was found to have died of fear in the wild about 40 days later," he said. "Its death was a natural part of the experiment to release captive pandas into the wild, which is something unprecedented." But researchers in the center have reduced unfavorable human impact on Hua Jiao. "We caged her on Thursday morning so that she would not stay captive for too long," Zhang Guiquan said. He said that his center might release another 2-year-old panda into the wild next April. "Releasing captive pandas is a long-term task that will take much time to accomplish and our center has a plan for releasing a captive panda into the wild each year," he said.

68.New eyes on pandas By XU LIN 2015-11-18 page19 Wireless surveillance and infrared cameras will vastly expand data available to forest rangers and conservationists. Xu Lin reports on how this may help save the endangered animal. For the past 32 years, forest ranger Li Xifeng's daily routine is patrolling the deep woods of Heihe National Forest Park in Zhouzhi county, Shaanxi province, to protect the habitat of wild giant pandas and prevent forest fires. But since the end of October, Li and his colleagues can monitor the situation from their office most of the time via newly installed wireless surveillance and infrared cameras. They are part of the Giant Panda Habitat Monitoring and Restoration Demonstration Program in China's Western Mountainous Areas, co-started by World Wildlife Fund and computer hardware manufacturer Seagate Technology. The program has chosen three representative habitats of wild giant pandas－Shaanxi Zhouzhi Nature Reserve and Heihe National Forest Park, Sichuan Xiaohegou Nature Reserve and Gansu Duo'er Nature Reserve. The wild pandas are only found in these three provinces. With Seagate's financial and technical support, WWF aims to help researchers in these habitats to establish surveillance systems, gather and analyze data, detect potential threats and deal with them. According to China's Fourth National Giant Panda Survey this year, supported by WWF, the estimated minimum population of wild giant pandas in the country is 1,864, with an increase of 16.8 percent over the past decade. "To protect captive giant pandas, the focus is breeding. But for wild ones, it's about protecting their habitats and increasing their interactions among populations," says Li Yang, an official with the WWF's giant panda program. "The giant panda's habitat is also home to species such as the golden snub-nosed monkey and red panda. We can protect these animals and the whole ecological system such as woods and freshwater via protection of the habitats. It will also benefit the human beings in the end," he says. There are seven high-definition wireless surveillance cameras in essential places of the Heihe park to monitor the behavior of tourists. Rangers can control the cameras from their posts and watch real-time images transmitted through the network. "The park is very large. The surveillance cameras can tell us where tourists are going and what they are doing. Then we will know how to tackle their interference in the habitat and educate them to protect the environment," Li says. He says the surveillance can prevent the traditional threats to giant pandas－cutting down trees, illegal hunting and mountain fires and obtain evidence to prosecute such crimes. These threats have been reduced in the recent years due to economic development, Li says, and the increase of awareness of wild animal protection. "But there are new threats such as the interference of tourism development and habitat separation caused by infrastructure projects including roads, rails and dams. The challenge is how to balance these demands and protect the precious animals," says Wan Hui, the director of WWF's giant panda program. "It's effective to manage the habitats with better information. It means there will be huge amounts of data about the habitats, animals and plants. In animal-protection work, technology can help human beings do what they cannot do," Wan says. The habitats in Sichuan and Shaanxi are close to tourism sites and the main focus would be to monitor human traffic and educate tourists. WWF has community projects to help the local residents to make a living, such as hosting environment-friendly farm stays. Each April and July, the forest rangers take 27 fixed routes in the Heihe park's remote woods to collect data about wild animals－including their excreta, hair and animal sightings－and analyze them to estimate the number of animals. Organizers of the demonstration program set up about 30 infrared cameras in the woods that take photos automatically when a living being passes by. "In the past, we took photos of wild animals if we bumped into them while collecting data. The infrared cameras work day and night, and make it more likely to capture their precious images. Moreover, we can trace the scope of their activity and life habits because we know the positions of the cameras," says Wang Pengzhou, 38, a forest ranger of the park. Forest ranger Li Xifeng couldn't agree more. "Our workload has been reduced greatly. We collect the data in the infrared cameras once a month. They can also work as a deterrent to those who want to cut down trees or hunt animals," he says. Li has to patrol for about 24 days each month, including inaccessible places deep in the forests. It takes about three or four days for him to patrol around the regions he's in charge of. He would take simple food and water and stay in tents or farmers' houses. "It can be dangerous sometimes because there are venomous snakes. I would try my best to avoid wild animals in case there are conflicts. They would rarely take the initiative to attack human beings except on special occasions, such as when they just give birth to babies," he says. It's estimated that there are more than 10 wild giant pandas in the remote woods of the park. It's not likely that tourists would see them. Last year, a wild giant panda appeared in a village nearby but soon left. In 2000, the local government started planting more trees and expanding forest protection in the area. Since then, the number of wild animals in the area has increased every year. "Compared with the past, cutting down trees and illegal hunting are rare, and the local villagers have become aware of the importance of wild animal protection. They will call us if they find a wild animal," Wang says. 69.Kung Fu Panda's Po challenges Monkey King By XU FAN2015-11-12 page19 Po from the smash hit franchise Kung Fu Panda has a new mission. It is to beat the Monkey King. This is not the plot line of a new animation film, but the hope of DreamWorks Pictures' CEO Jeffrey Katzenberg. When DreamWorks' Kung Fu Panda debuted in China in 2008, it hardly faced any rivals. Records show that the first installment - which raked in 150 million yuan ($23 million) - became the first animation film blockbuster to surpass the 100 million yuan milestone in the history of Chinese cinema. A bigger feat was achieved by the second installment. It became the all-time highest- grossing animation flick in 2011, and maintained its 608-million-yuan record for four years, until it was overtaken by domestic title The Monkey King: Hero Is Back at 965 million yuan in September. Now, Katzenberg says his wish is to see Kung Fu Panda 3 return to the top of the animation film box office charts in China, the world's second-largest movie market. "Today we have over 200 animators working in Shanghai. Their work will showcase a beautiful, amazing, world-class title, coproduced in Los Angeles and Shanghai," said Katzenberg at last Wednesday's Beijing promotion event. While news of the coproduction is not new, the cooperation with Shanghai-based Oriental DreamWorks and the China Film Group Corporation, the exponential rise in the use of local talent - including around 260 Chinese animators - gives the film a very local touch. Oriental DreamWorks was set up in 2012 as a partnership between DreamWorks and several Chinese companies. They are now working on catering to Chinese tastes. Meanwhile, at the same event, DreamWorks said that the film, to be simultaneously released in China and the United States on Jan 29 (usually Hollywood tentpoles are released days or weeks later in the mainland), will have two versions. Alongside the regular English edition, there will be a Chinese version.

The Chinese version will not only feature the voices homegrown stars, but also adjust the movements of the characters' lips to make it look like they are speaking in Chinese, says Oscar-nominated director Jennifer Yuh. Yuh worked as the head of the story for Kung Fu Panda and took the directorial job from the second film. Still set in ancient China, the third film is about Po's reunion with his long-lost father and a new mission to defeat an evil ox warrior known as Kai. A 26-minute trailer, covering the English and the Chinese versions, was released last week. Viewers say they are impressed by the humor and Chinese-style landscapes. In the film, when Po, guided by his biological father, walks into an isolated panda village, the heavy smog dissipates and verdant mountains appear. Yuh says that the village is inspired by Sichuan's picturesque Qingcheng Mountain, one of the most famed landmarks for Taoist martial arts practitioners in Chinese wuxia books. The South Korean American female auteur also visited a giant panda research base in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province. She incorporates real panda behavior in the movie. For example, in the movie, the lazy Po is delighted to find a giant panda rolling to get down from a hillside instead of walking. "The setting of the film is China. We were looking for Po to learn about traditions he may not know," Yuh tells China Daily. Research on Chinese culture and animal characteristics formed a significant part of work for the crew. The first time Yuh met her Oriental DreamWorks' colleagues, some Shanghai animators wore artificial fur costumes to let the American team feel what it is like to touch a panda. Others wore ancient Chinese costumes to show them how Chinese warriors salute and move. Mark Osborne, director of the original Kung Fu Panda and now known to Chinese audiences for the animation flick, The Little Prince, told China Daily in an e-mail: "I think what makes Po engaging is that he represents a common spirit within us all ... that is the power of his character. I believe that we can all see ourselves in him in some way," he says. He says the understanding that "an American ideal that drives him" is limiting. "We all have the potential for greatness inside of us, and which child does not lie in bed and dream about becoming like his hero." This seems true for Po's Chinese voice actor Huang Lei, who says that his 9-year-old daughter is proud that her father is the voice of her hero. The Chinese version also features the voices of kung fu star Jackie Chan and Taiwan top singer Jay Chow.

70. Online panda game to raise global awareness By Huang Zhiling in Chengdu2015-10-26 page4 Jiang Xuefan, a visitor from Beijing, had a pleasant surprise when she came across 12 panda twins in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, on Saturday. Taking photos of the cubs with her phone at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding on the last day of her visit to the province, the 58-year-old Jiang kept saying, ""So cute."" When a keeper taking one of the cubs to its den passed her, Jiang lost no time in asking her husband to take a photograph of her with them. The base was holding a global event, Discovering Twin Cubs, in conjunction with the United Nations Development Programme. The aim is to promote awareness of panda preservation by inviting Internet surfers to name the birthdates and panda parents of the 12 cubs that were born at the base this year. Photos and video clips of the 12 will be uploaded online, showing when they opened their eyes for the first time, when their bodies changed from the pink to black-and-white, when they started trying to crawl and when they managed to crawl well, base chief Zhang Zhihe said. The pandas' family trees and personality traits will also be uploaded. Two winners who name the dates correctly will have the right to name the two cubs born to Jing Jing, a mascot for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, during Spring Festival next year, Zhang said. Jing Jing, 10, became a mother for the first time on Aug 2 when she gave birth to the two male cubs. The Chengdu panda base, set up on Futou Hill in the northern suburbs of Chengdu in 1987 with six hungry and sick pandas rescued from the wild, is the world's only panda base located in a city. From June 22 to Sept 16, it witnessed the record birth of 12 panda twins over a short period of time, bringing the number of its captive pandas to 152. Hou Rong, head of the research center at the base, said, "We don't know why there was a record birth of twin cubs. Maybe it had something to do with improved panda breeding management." Patrick Haverman, deputy country director for the United Nations Development Programme, said that two panda twinsbornat the Chengdubase on Sept 16 had become image ambassadors for the UNDP. [email protected] (China Daily 10/26/2015 page4)

71．Giant panda Er Shun gives birth to twin cubs in Toronto By XINHUA2015-10-24page17 Er Shun and the cubs are now under constant observation by giant panda experts from Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China, as the next several hours and days are critical to their survival. ""We are so proud to be contributing to the ongoing survival of this endangered species,"" said John Tracogna, Toronto Zoo's chief executive officer, said in the press release on Oct 13. For the next several months, the cubs will remain in the maternity area of the giant panda house, which is not open to the public. But zoo staff said they will try to provide regular updates on their progress. At this time, the cubs' sex is not known yet and the zoo has not confirmed which panda is the father. The zoo announced that Er Shun was pregnant with two cubs a couple of weeks ago, saying the father could be any one of three pandas. Er Shun underwent two artificial insemination procedures in May. One involved sperm from Da Mao, which came to Toronto from China with Er Shun in March 2013. The second involved frozen sperm from two giant pandas in China. "Our researchers, veterinarians, and wildlife care staff are some of the best in the world, and we are grateful to the People's Republic of China for entrusting these endangered animals to us," said Toronto city councilor Raymond Cho, also the chair of the Toronto Zoo management board. "We look forward to sharing our learning with scientists around the world in the hope this will help us save this endangered species," Cho added. The gestation period for pandas is anywhere from 87 to 186 days. Breeding pandas is a difficult process. Female giant pandas are only receptive to breeding once a year for a period of 24 to 72 hours. Da Mao and Er Shun arrived in Toronto amid much fanfare, and were greeted at the airport by Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper and his wife, Laureen. Currently on loan as part of a long-term conservation breeding program, both giant pandas will be at the Toronto Zoo until 2018, when they'll move to the Calgary Zoo for five years.

72. Report: Logging hurts panda habitat By SU ZHOU 2015-10-23 page5 Local governments have been asked to investigate illegal logging of forests in the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries after an international environmental protection organization released a report pointing to the activity, the State Forestry Administration said. Greenpeace East Asia released an illegal logging report on Wednesday. Its two-year- long investigation discovered that nearly 1,300 hectares of natural forest in the Sichuan Giant Panda Sanctuaries, also a UNESCO World Heritage site, have been illegally removed and replaced with profitable forest plantations, by taking advantage of loopholes in the Technical Regulation on Reconstruction of Low-Function Forest. And the illegal logging has caused a direct threat to endangered plant and animal species, especially the wild giant panda, said Greenpeace. The report was submitted to central and local governments, calling on the State Forestry Administration to strengthen the protection of the panda habitat and implement effective ecological rehabilitation and strict supervision to prevent further damage. The administration said in a written reply that it agrees with the suggestions and would consider putting them into practice. In addition, it welcomed outside environmental protection organizations to help supervise its natural forest protection work and give more suggestions. According to the Fourth National Survey on Giant Pandas conducted by the administration, habitat fragmentation still remains the major factor threatening the survival of the giant pandas. "The deforestation area is part of an important giant panda migratory corridor. It further reduces and fragments the already limited natural habitat of the species, thus increases the risk that their small and dispersed populations will become increasingly cutoff, limiting their chances to make contact with each other and reproduce," said Wang Hao, senior scientist with Center for Nature and Society at Peking University. China began to introduce the Technical Regulation on Reconstruction of Low-Function Forest in 2007. Sichuan joined the trend of forest regeneration in 2009, planning to take 10 to 15 years to restore 2 million hectares of forest, among which 600,000 hectares would be replaced. Zhou Lijiang, deputy chief engineer at the Sichuan province Forestry Investigation and Planning Institute, who participated in drafting the technical regulation, said the regulation was drafted to give guidance for local forestry bureaus to improve their forests, secondary forests and plantations. [email protected]

73.Beloved panda was wartime ambassador warming hearts of people By CHRIS PETERSON in London2015-10-22page2 She was black, white and furry, far from home, and loved having her tummy tickled, especially by princesses. Now Ming, the giant panda who brought so much joy to Londoners, especially children, during the dark days of the German blitzkrieg during the World War II, will be remembered with a statue erected in her honor at London Zoo, where she spent much of her time from 1938 to 1944. Ming was born in Sichuan province in 1937. At the time, less emphasis was placed on panda preservation, and she was captured by hunters and eventually given to Floyd Tangier-Smith, an American banker and adventurer who was in the region. She and five others were to be sent to European zoos, but their journey was, to put it mildly, eventful. At the time, the Chinese were fighting Japanese invaders, so Tangier- Smith decided to avoid the obvious route down the Yangtze River to Shanghai and instead embarked on a dangerous journey overland to Hong Kong. He wrote that the pandas were put in cages and loaded onto the backs of trucks for the journey to Hong Kong "on roads that were often nearly impassable through bandit- infested country". One truck overturned and two of the pandas enjoyed temporary freedom until they were recaptured. When the pandas were being loaded onto a ship in Hong Kong bound for London, one of the six was found dead. The survivors, known to their captors as Grandma, Happy, Dopey and Grumpy, along with the cub who would become known as Ming, were put into cages and lifted onto the deck of a cargo ship. They arrived in London at the height of a raging blizzard, according to a Daily Mail report at the time. Grandma, the eldest, caught pneumonia and died two weeks after arriving in Great Britain, while Happy was acquired by a German zoo owner. The Zoological Society of London, which runs London Zoo in Regent's Park and Whipsnade Zoo in the Bed-fordshire countryside, took over the care of Ming and her older siblings, Sung and Tang. All three were named for Chinese dynasties. Ming was the first giant panda cub to come to Britain and created massive interest. Her image was reproduced in cartoons and picture postcards; soft toys were made; and her story appeared in newspapers, magazines and on the fledgling television broadcasts from London's Alexandra Palace. Bert Hardy, one of Britain's best-known photographers, managed to capture a moment showing a playful Ming behind one ofhis cameras ona tripod, seemingly taking a picture of his son, Mike. The photograph went around the world. After Britain declared war on Germany in September 1939, visits to see Ming became a reminder of normality and a morale booster for British children. Chinese poet and author Chiang Yee, who was living in London, visited the zoo and wrote about the crowds flocking to see Ming, who had rapidly become a celebrity. "There were rows and rows of them, especially children, round her house, wanting to shake hands with her and to cuddle her," he wrote in an illustrated book, The Story of Ming. Among those youngsters were a couple of royal children: Princess Elizabeth, who would become the Queen, and her younger sister Princess Margaret. Press reports at the time showed the royal children being escorted inside Ming's compound and tickling the panda's tummy. Sung died in 1939, followed by Tang in the spring of 1940. At the outbreak of the war, Ming was evacuated to Whipsnade Zoo but made repeated return trips. Ming survived most of the war. Toward the end of her life, her hair began to fall out. She died of unexplained causes at the end of 1944. It would be an understatement to say the nation mourned her loss. The Times of London ran an obituary, virtually unheard of at a time when only the deaths of the prominent appeared on its pages. It read: "She could die happy in the knowledge that she gladdened the universal heart and even in the stress of war her death should not go unnoticed."

Ming was a pioneer in a way. The first giant panda cub to come to Britain, she unwittingly became the spearhead of what later became known as panda diplomacy. Between 1958 and 1982, China presented 23 giant pandas as gifts to nine countries as a means of establishing friendly relations. Included among them were Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, a pair given to the United States after President Richard Nixon's ground- breaking trip to China in 1972 that led to the normalization of relations between the two powers. Britain also got in on the act. Former prime minister Edward Heath requested two pandas during a trip to Beijing in 1974 and Chia Chia and Ching Ching duly took up residence in London. By 1984, things had changed and pandas became the subject of a loan program. Recipient zoos paid as much as $1 million a year for 10 years with the proviso that any cubs born were the property of China. Recently Tian Tian, Edinburgh Zoo's resident female panda, was thought to be pregnant after her third round of artificial insemination, but in August the zoo said it was believed she had lost the cub. Sichuan is the home of the panda, and conservation efforts there are a success story. Last year, the World Wildlife Fund for Nature said there were an estimated 1,864 pandas living in the bamboo-strewn mountains of Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces. A further 300 live in breeding centers and zoos, mainly in China. The people of Sichuan, proud of the panda and its links to the rest of the world, are donating a life-size statue of Ming to London Zoo to mark the 70th anniversary of the end of the World War II. [email protected]

74.Giant panda star stages 'return' to London Zoo By CHRIS PETERSON in London2015-10-22 page1 A statue of Ming, a giant panda who became a symbol of hope for children in the British capital during the World War II bombing blitz, has been created and donated to London Zoo by Chinese companies and official groups. The statue, which is 1.6 meters high, was made by artists in Sichuan province and flown to the zoo for an unveiling ceremony on Wednesday. Ming, the first giant panda seen in the UK, divided her time between London Zoo and the Zoological Society of London's other establishment, Whipsnade Zoo, about 65 kilometers from London. The panda was in the United Kingdom from 1938 to 1944. She quickly became a star, and among the children who flocked to see her were Princess Elizabeth, now Queen Elizabeth II, and her sister, Princess Margaret. Guo Weimin, vice-minister of China's State Council Information Office, said, "Today, we are here to unveil the statue of Ming. This has a special meaning - she was named after a Chinese dynasty, but ming also means brightness in Mandarin. "This statue promotes China-UK friendship and communication, and Ming will continue to bring joy and happiness to London." Mayor of London Boris Johnson sent a message to those attending the unveiling, saying: "I am pleased to hear China Daily is staging an event (the unveiling ceremony) during the state visit (of President Xi Jinping) to encourage tourism and cultural exchanges to the capital. I look for ward to welcoming more visitors, students and businesses from China to our great city." The statue is situated near the compound that housed Ming during her time at London Zoo. The Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, China Building Technique Group Co and Guild-house Rosepride, its UK partner, as well as the Shaanxi Tourism Group, presented a check for 10,000 pounds ($15,470) to the Zoological Society of London as a donation for its conservation work. British Airways flew the statue free of charge from Chengdu, Sichuan province, to London. Ralph Armond, director-general of the zoological society, said it was fitting that 71 years on, Ming will "once again be putting a smile on the faces of all who see her". Gao Anming, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, said: "It has taken a lot of work in a short time to make this project become a reality." The Chengdu Sculpture Association designed and created the statue, which Gao said represents the way such a fine creature can link two cultures. 75.National Zoo panda gives birth to twins By CHEN WEIHUA in Washington2015-08-24 page10 Officials say new mom doing well; 1 cub in incubator When Bao Bao celebrated her second birthday on Sunday, she did not realize the gift from her mom, Mei Xiang, would be two siblings. The Smithsonian's National Zoo announced on Saturday afternoon that giant panda Mei Xiang gave birth to a cub at 5:35 pm. The zoo's panda team had begun preparing for a birth when they saw Mei Xiang's water break at 4:32 pm and she was already having contractions. Four and a half hours later, at 10:07pm, Mei Xiang gave birth to a second cub. Giant pandas give birth to twins almost 50 percent of the time, according to the zoo. The zoo’s panda team was able to retrieve one of the cubs and put it in an incubator, according to the zoo. But the team is not sure if the retrieved cub, which weighs 138 grams and appears healthy, is the first or second born. The zoo said that Mei Xiang appears to be doing very well and has one cub in her possession. The panda team will alternately swap the cubs, allowing one to nurse and spend time with Mei Xiang while the other is being bottle-fed and kept warm in an incubator. The zoo first announced on Aug 19 that it detected a 4-cm-long fetus on an ultrasound. Excitement among panda lovers was triggered on Aug 10 when the zoo confirmed a secondary rise in Mei Xiang’s progesterone levels, which suggested that she would either have a cub or experience the end of a pseudopregnancy. Experts at the zoo expect Mei Xiang to spend almost all of her time in her den for the next two weeks with her newborn cub. The Giant Panda Habitat at the zoo has been closed since Aug 20 and will remain closed to provide quiet for Mei Xiang and her cub. Reproductive scientists from the zoo and the Conservation Biology Institute artificially inseminated Mei Xiang on April 26 and 27. For the first time, scientists used semen collected from a giant panda named Hui Hui, who lives at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province and was determined to be one of the best genetic matches for Mei Xiang. A cub by Mei Xiang and Hui Hui would be genetically valuable, helping to preserve the genetic diversity of the panda population in human care, according to the zoo. Scientists also used high-quality fresh semen collected from the zoo's male giant panda, Tian Tian, for the artificial insemination. DNA analysis will be used to determine the father of the cub. Mei Xiang, whose name means "beautiful fragrance" in Mandarin, has given birth to two surviving cubs: and Bao Bao. Tai Shan was born July 9, 2005, and now lives in China. Bao Bao was born Aug 23, 2013. She will live at the zoo until she turns 4; at that time, she will also go to live in China and eventually enter the giant panda breeding program. Tai Shan and Bao Bao were both born as the result of artificial insemination. [email protected]

76.Pandas mating again after mountain road cools passions By MA LIE in Xi'an 2015-08-18 page4 Communities of wild giant pandas on Mount Qinling in Shaanxi province have begun mating with each other again after being cut off by a State road built over the mountain in the 1970s. Long-term monitoring has shown that different populations of the rare animal have been visiting each other via an ecological corridor built in 2005 by Shaanxi Guanyinshan National Nature Reserve and the World Wide Fund for Nature. Liu Xiaohai, executive director of the WWF China project, said the WWF has been focusing on improving connections between panda habitats, so it started to develop the ecological corridor for pandas in cooperation with the reserve in 2005. “It was estimated that it would take 20 years or longer before the corridor could play its role, but we achieved gene exchanges between the different populations of panda in only 10 years,” Liu said. Bai Yaping, deputy director of the Forestry Resources Office of the Forestry Department in Shaanxi province, said the success of the ecological corridor provided a template for wild animal protection and development of reserves. State Road 108 divided the wild panda population into two groups in the mountain’s eastern and western parts, blocking links between then. In 1999, a tunnel was built through the mountain and a 13-km stretch of State Road 108 over the mountain ridge was closed to traffic. Next, a corridor for pandas was designed and built along the road in 2005. Infrared monitoring cameras installed along the corridor proved in March this year that pandas were less than 700 meters away from the abandoned road. The cameras showed that the shortest distance the pandas traveled, known as their “activity range”, had fallen to 1.5 km from 8.7 km in 2002 and 4 km in 2012. Zhang Ximing, WWF program manager, said that in March and April, during their breeding period, the pandas were moving 1.5 km. “From the distance of the pandas’ activity, we can say that the two groups of the animal divided by the ecological corridor has played its role,” Zhang said. Dang Gaodi, panda expert at the Foping county Forestry Bureau, said the corridor helped the giant pandas to expend their foraging range and their population. Guanyinshan National Nature Reserve covers an area of 13,534 hectares. The reserve is home to the giant panda, golden monkey and takin, also known as the gnu goat or cattle chamois. According to official data last year, there were 273 pandas living on Mount Qinling.

77.Pandas not visitors' pets, experts say By Huang Zhiling in Chengdu and Su Zhouin Beijing ( China Daily )2015-07-28 07:54:54 National symbols in high demand, but many zoos are not equipped to provide necessary care Over the years, China's endangered giant pandas have been loved too much. And too little. A national symbol as well as a big draw, both in visitors and revenue, pandas have long been sought for leasing by zoos nationwide. However, their care and protection have sometimes been secondary to their moneymaking potential, experts say. The issues surrounding giant panda leases are very serious, and more government regulations are needed urgently, said Wang Dajun, a professor at Peking University who has been involved in protecting wild giant pandas for years. "In some zoos, visitors can interact with giant pandas as long as they pay money," Wang said. "Giant pandas are an endangered species. They are not pets. Some zoos are treating them just like normal pets. "It also gives the public the wrong impression that they are not endangered anymore." In May last year, the State Administration of Forestry tightened regulations on leasing giant pandas to zoos. It has become increasingly difficult for small zoos to attract visitors by displaying pandas. Take the case of Jinyi, one of two pandas leased by Zhengzhou Zoo from Sichuan's panda research center and who died of acute gastroenteritis last year. Born in 2007, Jinyi was leased in 2011 to the zoo in the capital of Henan province from the Giant Panda Protection and Research Center of China. An investigation found that the zoo had transferred Jinyi and a second giant panda to another den without permission from the forestry authority. It also said that poor management practices had contributed to the panda's death. After Jinyi died, the zoo displayed smaller red pandas. But many visitors were disappointed, because these animals looked nothing like the giant pandas. "I took my grandson to the zoo three times last year, but we only saw a giant panda once," said Geng Guochang, 70. "My grandson always asked me where the giant pandas were and when could we see them again." Zhang Zhihe, head of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, said, "In the past, many zoos in China had pandas, but the situation has changed. "The criteria for feeding pandas are very high. Many zoos cannot have them because the condition of dens and the zoos' management practices, keepers and veterinarians do not meet the criteria," Zhang said. Approval needed There were 394 captive pandas in China at the end of January. The Wolong National Nature Reserve in Wenchuan, Sichuan province, has 201; the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan has 140; and the rest are in other provinces, Beijing and Chongqing. The Chengdu base has loaned 30 pandas to 14 zoos around the country, while the Wolong reserve has leased 69 pandas to more than 30 zoos. The forestry administration introduced the first regulations on the giant panda leasing system in 2011, outlining how to lease and care for the animals. Zoos need approval from local forestry authorities and must prove they can look after the animals. Teams of experts are sent to investigate qualifications, and cubs under the age of 2 and wild giant pandas may not be leased. Tang Chunxiang, a member of such a team, told Sanlian Life Weekly that zoos prepare on many levels. The temperature-controlled den must be at least 100 square meters and the panda's outdoor environment must include entertainment, plants and pools. The panda's diet is also important and the zoo must have different types of bamboo, fruit and other food. Zookeepers and veterinarians must be trained. "A zoo has to invest about 1 million yuan ($161,000) on hardware and software in the beginning and about 150,000 yuan every year for daily maintenance," Tang said. Overall care has been a problem at some zoos, with panda deaths reported in past years in Shijiazhuang, Hebei province, Nanjing, Jiangsu province and Jinan in Shandong province. In May last year, the forestry administration conducted a nationwide inspection of the panda leasing system and found many problems. Some leases were halted as the animals were being displayed inappropriately or were being exploited to make money. This June, the administration said that strict inspections and supervision of the pandas' conditions should be introduced, and zoos should not profit by allowing photos to be taken with pandas. Zhang Hemin, head of the administrative bureau at the Wolong National Nature Reserve, said, "There is a set procedure to follow, but we have seen violations where the enclosure, keeper, veterinarian or food supply chain did not meet the required standards." He said there were cases of zoos outsourcing pandas to private companies for profit, but this was stopped after the inspections. "Now zoos applying to borrow pandas will have to send their keepers and veterinarians to Wolong for three months' training, and the reserve will send inspection teams to the zoos every year," he said. "We had a training and inspection system before, but it was not that strict." Two pandas loaned to a domestic zoo could pull in as much as 600,000 yuan a year, he said. "But pandas are seen as the flagship of global wildlife protection efforts. They are supposed to have a positive impact, promoting awareness, knowledge and concepts in terms of wildlife and environmental protection," Zhang said. "Leasing pandas must focus on the public interest." Contact the writers at [email protected] and [email protected] 78. HK panda closes in on age record By REUTERS in Hong Kong2015-07-13 page1 The oldest giant panda in captivity is set to challenge the world record for the animals' longevity, with her age said to put her on par with a 100-year-old human. Hong Kong's panda Jia Jia, whose name means ""good"", is about to turn 37 at the Ocean Park theme park, matching the Guinness World Records title for the oldest panda survivor in captivity - Du Du, who died in 1999, aged 37. ""It is rare for pandas to live to this age,"" said Grant Abel, the park's director of animal care. ""It's probably equivalent to a person living to be over a 100 years old."" Jia Jia's caregivers say they are considering sending an application to Guinness World Records after the celebration of her birthday, which is observed in summer, although the exact date is not known, as she was captured in the wild. Born in the Chinese mainland in 1978, Jia Jia was gifted to Hong Kong in 1999, along with another panda, to mark the second anniversary of the city's handover from former colonial ruler Britain. She weighs 80 kg and is considered to be in remarkably good health for her age, even though her vision is severely impaired and her hearing has deteriorated, says Paolo Martelli, the park's chief veterinarian. Jia Jia takes medicines for high blood pressure and arthritis. She walks slowly and avoids the exhibition area of her enclosure, preferring to stay at the back and feast on several kilograms of bamboo shoots and leaves, besides fruit and high-fibre bread. "The first thing I thought when I saw Jia Jia was, 'Oh my God, she's so old, I'm going to be the one to bury her," Martelli said. "But actually it's been 10 years now. And she's had a few ups and downs, but she always manages to bounce back and look surprisingly good," he said. He said it is difficult to predict how much longer she will live. Pandas are native to southwestern China and are endangered because of habitat loss, according to the World Wildlife Fund conservation group. A government survey in 2014 estimated that 1,864 pandas live in the wild, up 17 percent from 2003.

79.Study finds pandas slower than the average bear By AGENCIES 2015-07-11page2 Giant pandas are the new couch potatoes of the animal world and just as sluggish as slow-moving sloths, according to a study published on Thursday in the journal Science. Researchers in China tracked five captive pandas at Beijing Zoo and three wild ones at Foping Nature Reserve in Shaanxi province. The study found that pandas are far less active than other bears, expending just 38 percent of the average daily energy of other bears. "The daily energy expenditure values for giant pandas are substantially lower than those for koalas, for example, and more akin to those of three-toed sloths," the study said. The endangered panda is the only one of the world's eight bear species with a vegetarian diet. Pandas, whose ancestors were carnivores, possess a digestive system that evolved to handle bamboo, which accounts for 99 per cent of their food. Bamboo is tough to digest and pandas must devour lots of it to survive. A key to the panda's remarkably low metabolism is the fact that it boasts extremely low levels of thyroid hormones, most likely due to a mutation in a gene called DUOX2, which is involved in thyroid hormone synthesis, the study said. The thyroid gland controls metabolic processes, and thyroid hormones are important for regulating body weight and energy. Low levels can lead to sluggishness. "Giant pandas achieved this low metabolism through a suite of morphological, behavioural, physiological and genetic adaptations during their long evolutionary history," said biologist and lead researcher Fuwen Wei of the Institute of Zoology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Beijing. The researchers said the size of the brain, liver and kidneys in pandas is relatively small compared with other bears. "These reduced organ sizes likely contribute to their low energy demands," Wei said. The researchers found that the wild pandas rested for more than half of any given day. When they do move it is at a rate of 20 meters per hour. With their low metabolism, pandas need their coat of thick fur to retain body heat, the researchers said. The natural habitat of the panda is mountainous southwestern China. The wild population is about 1,600, with another 300 pandas living in captivity. (AFP-- REUTERS) 80.Zoo hopes for baby panda BY FU JING ,LIU JIA and GAO SHUANG 2015-06-23page6 New arrival expected to be born naturally in 2016 Belgium's Pairi Daiza Zoo could welcome a baby panda in 2016, according to the zoo's founder and director Eric Domb. Domb hopes the zoo's pair of giant pandas, who arrived from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Chengdu last February, will conceive a baby naturally. Xing Hui, the 122-kilogram male, and his partner Hao Hao, who weighs 120 kg, are healthy enough to breed the next generation of pandas unassisted by artificial means, according to the zoo's breeding expert Liu Yang. Pairi Daiza, ancient Persian for enclosed garden, was closed for a year while the 8 million euro ($9.1 million) panda pavilion and Chinese garden, which includes a bamboo forest and cave with amethysts, was built. The pandas have a choice of seven different kinds of bamboo, despite being thousands of kilometers away from their hometown, according to Tang Yueqiao, a zoo manager. Liu, who is responsible for Xing Hui and Hao Hao's daily care, said the couple eats up to 110 kg of bamboo a day. ""As a director of a zoo, who wouldn't dream of a baby panda?"" said Domb. He said the pandas' arrival boosted ticket sales and the extra income was reinvested into the zoo. The zoo also recorded a bump in share price, according to Reuters news agency, which said in a February 2014 report that each panda cost $50,000 a year to look after and that there was an annual $1 million fee to pay to China. Reuters also said that each panda was insured for $1 million. Panda diplomacy, as it has been described, is the act of loaning the animals to China's international partners. Decades earlier, however, pandas were gifted to countries. China gave away 23 pandas between 1957 and 1982. Recipients included France, Mexico, Spain, Japan and the United States. Since 1982, China has preferred to loan pandas, or arrange tours. Hao Hao, whose name means friendly, and Xing Hui, whose name means shining star, landed at Brussels airport last year in a pagoda-style cage onboard a cargo plane. Domb said he would be thrilled if a panda is born in the Year of the Monkey, 2016. ""The monkey is very beautiful, but I'm also motivated by the monkey character in Journey to the West,"" he said, referring to the classic novel written by Chinese novelist Wu Cheng'en. Apart from his enthusiasm for animals, literature and philosophy, Domb, who has traveled to China more than 20 times, is also a fan of Chinese tea culture and gardening. About a year ago, he met Chinese President Xi Jinping in the hall of the zoo's teahouse and exchanged ideas on culture and history with him. Domb said he believes Chinese tea is the best in the world. ""I invited architects from China to build this teahouse in Belgium, because I wanted to share it with visitors and let them know that tea is found in China's Yunnan province, though many people always only talk about Japanese tea,"" he said. During Xi's visit to the zoo, he met King Philippe of Belgium and planted a magnolia tree, which symbolizes faithfulness and purity. Contact the writers through [email protected] Visitors looking at the magnolia tree planted by President Xi Jinping during his visit to Pairi Daiza Zoo last year. Fabrice Ooghe / for China Daily (China Daily 06/23/2015 page6) 81.Pair of pandas go on show to public By Huang Zhiling in Chengdu 2015-06-01page4 A brief ceremony was held at Seac Pai Van Park in Macao on Sunday to introduce a pair of giant pandas - Kai Kai and - to the public after a monthlong quarantine. The pandas, aged 7 and 8, were presented by the central government to the Macao Special Administrative Region. ""They are healthy and live in a den that is one of the best outside the Chinese mainland,"" said Zhang Zhihe, head of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province. Three keepers from Zhang's base are taking care of the pandas in Macao. They are paying special attention to the pandas' diet, as bamboo in Macao is slightly different from that in Sichuan. "To ensure the pair will gradually adapt to their new life in Macao, we send bamboo from Chengdu to Guangzhou each week, from where it will be transported to Macao," said Zhang, who participated in the ceremony. Two pandas were previously sent to Macao as gifts to mark the 10th anniversary of China's resumption of sovereignty. The male is in good condition, but the female died from acute kidney failure and related conditions in last June. When President Xi Jinping visited Macao in December for celebrations marking the 15th anniversary of its return to China, he promised that two more pandas would be sent. Additionally, on Saturday afternoon, a 10-day exhibition of panda photos by Zhang Zhihe, and oil paintings by Zhang Qikai, a professor of oil painting at the Sichuan Academy of Fine Arts, opened in Macao. The exhibition, organized by the Civil and Municipal Affairs Bureau of Macao and the Chengdu base, also features models of panda bones and videos of pandas, which are shown to Macao children to teach them about protecting animals and the environment. [email protected]

82.Forestry teams search for wild pandas after shooting By Huang Zhiling in Chengdu(China Daily) 2015-05-15 07:30:41 Eight teams of searchers are scouring nearly 40,000 hectares of forest for wild pandas in Southwest China's Yunnan province. The search was prompted by the discovery of the first wild panda in Yunnan in modern times. The panda was killed by two farmers in Longtai village in December. On Dec 3, a sheep was killed by an unknown animal. The next day, a farmer and his brother searched for the animal in the mountains. When the brother saw an animal in a tree, he fired one shot. "The wounded animal fell from the tree and climbed to another tree," said Li Guo you, an officer with the Yunnan provincial Forestry Police Bureau. "Although the brother saw it was a panda, he fired the second shot and killed it." Soon after the incident, a whistle-blower told police about some people trading bear meat. After confiscating meat from a buyer, police asked the Kunming Institute of Zoology under the Chinese Academy of Sciences to conduct a DNA test and found that it was panda meat. The brothers and eight people involved in the trade of panda meat have been nabbed by police. Two other farmers in the village claimed to have spotted wild panda droppings. Zhu Caiyun told Yunnan Television he found droppings with lots of bamboo leaves one day in February when he was collecting bamboo shoots on the mountain. Ming Xinggui said he also had seen droppings with bamboo leaves. The next month, when he collected bamboo shoots on the mountain, he saw a huge animal that looked like a panda, he said. According to Zhang He min, chief of the administration bureau of the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan, the earliest fossil of the giant panda, dating back 8 million years, was found in Yunnan. During the Pleistocene era, a period of geological time from 2.58 million to 11,700 years ago, pandas were distributed from northern Myanmar to eastern China, and even as far north as the region around Beijing. Today, pandas survive solely along the eastern edge of the Tibetan Plateau in six mountain ranges within Sichuan, Shaanxi and Gansu provinces, in a 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," said Zhang Zhihe, chief of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan. Li Yingqing in Kunming contributed to this story. Baoxing boosted by panda links By HUANG ZHILING and LI YU in Baoxing,Sichuan 2015-04-20 Page19 Investment in county seat has earned an AAAA rating from the National Tourism Administration Baoxing county in Sichuan province is inextricably linked by panda enthusiasts to Jean Pierre Armand David, a French priest. A naturalist at the National Museum of Natural History in Paris, David was the first Westerner to discover and document the giant panda in Baoxing in 1869. He sent a panda specimen from the county to the museum's Henri Milne Edwards, who in 1870 published a paper declaring the panda a new species. The fourth National Panda Census in 2013 recorded 1,864 wild pandas in China, with 181 of them living in Baoxing - 38 more than in the third National Panda Census in 2000. Located on the western edge of the Sichuan Plain, Baoxing county is an important ecological area on the upper reaches of the Yangtze River. It covers 3,114 square kilometers, 99.7 percent of which is mountainous and 75 percent of which belongs to the core area for the protection of pandas. It is not easy for visitors to spot pandas in the mountains or go to the Dengchigou Church, where David found the panda specimen. It takes a trek of more than an hour in mountainous terrain to reach the iconic church. But people visiting the Baoxing county seat of Muping feel they are really in a panda habitat because the town boasts so many panda statues. In recent years, more than 1.6 billion yuan ($262 million) has been invested to rebuild Muping in line with a traditional Chinese architectural style. The center of Panda Square, which covers 3,000 square meters, features a bronze statue of a panda named Pan Pan. With one limb raised in a gesture of welcome, Pan Pan became the mascot for the Beijing Asian Games in 1990. Panda Square also contains bronze footprints of 17 pandas, representing the 17 that have been sent to foreign countries as national gifts. Visitors to the square can step on the footprints for fun. Baoxing is also a major producer of white marble, and panda statues made from the marble can be found in many parts of Muping. In the reconstruction that followed the Lushan earthquake in April 2013, Baoxing has cashed in on its reputation as a panda habitat to woo visitors. "It has built high-grade toilets, parking lots and signposts and managed to earn Muping an AAAA rating from the National Tourism Administration," said Wu Yusang, deputy chief of the Baoxing Tourism Bureau. During the three-day Tomb-Sweeping holiday in early April, Baoxing received 34,200 visitors, up by 12 percent on the same period last year, and tourism earnings surpassed 20 million yuan, up by 16 percent. Nearly 20,000 of the visitors headed for Muping. Contact the writers at [email protected] 83.Increase seen in number of wild pandas By Xinhua in Lanzhou ( China Daily ) 2015-04-19 page2 The number of wild pandas in Northwest China's Gansu province increased 15 percent to 132 between 2001 and the end of last year, according to official survey results released on Friday. The area covered by panda habitats also increased 3.3 percent in the period. However, the survey warned that the addition of two hydropower plants, 122 kmof roads and 22 km of high-voltage transmission lines in the habitat has disturbed the pandas. "Human activity and the fragmentation of panda habitats have threatened giant pandas' survival," said Duan Changsheng, deputy director of Gansu's forestry department. The Jianshan and Western Qinling subspecies are the most at risk of extinction, as there is only one of the former and two of the latter remaining in the area. As of the end of 2013, there were 1,864 giant pandas living in the wild in China, an increase of 268, or 16.8 percent, from 2003, according to the State Forestry Administration. 84.Panda 'love corridor' under threat By Huang Zhiling in Chengdu and Pen Yining in Beijing2015-04-13 page6 Hikers are disrupting the animals' movement along a vital passageway between nature reserves. Huang Zhiling in Chengdu and Peng Yining in Beijing report. Wildlife watchers and hikers are posing a risk to a vital passageway used by giant pandas in China's southwest to find partners during mating season, conservationists have warned. Dubbed ""the love corridor"" by park rangers, the forests of Anzihe Nature Reserve in Sichuan province link two major habitats for the endangered animals. However, an increasing number of tourists sneaking into the area, which is closed to the public, mean the wild pandas are being scared away from the route, putting further strain on efforts to get the animals to reproduce. "We're seeing more people and less pandas," said ranger Fu Qiang, who has worked at the reserve for six years. He warned: "The corridor might be blocked if people continue to stream in." Anzihe, which is in the northwest corner of Chongzhou city, was set up in 1993 and is a major panda habitat. More importantly, it is a link between the world-famous Wolong National Nature Reserve, in Wenchuan county, and Dayi county's Heishuihe Nature Reserve, and is used as a passageway by male and female pandas in mating season. Cameras to monitor the animals' movements are strategically placed among the trees, and Fu said it is not uncommon for them to capture touching scenes such as those released by the park in 2013, when footage showed a female panda and her frolicking cub navigating a steep slope. Yet the 34-year-old ranger said it was now more common for the cameras to record tourists wandering the forests. During a patrol on one icy morning in February, he and his colleagues encountered a group of six hikers. "Anzihe is very close to a public forest park, and there is no fence between," he said. "I told the hikers not to go any further into the reserve, and pointed out that the boundary tablet was right beside them." Later that same day, his team came across a group of 20 people, all with hiking canes and climbing equipment. "One man pushed me. The path is only 1 meter wide, and I almost fell down the slope," Fu said. "They all got through. We couldn't stop them. One of them said they just wanted a hike in the reserve and wouldn't cause any harm. But they don't realize that their hike has a negative influence on the pandas and other wild animals." That was just one of many conflicts Fu had with tourists, and the frequency is growing. In turn, park rangers have noticed a reduction in the traces of wild panda activity on the reserve's border. Evidence suggests most of the animals have retreated to the core area to avoid invading sightseers. Off limits Since 1998, workers at Anzihe have recorded more than 1,500 traces of panda activity, leading to estimates that the area is home to at least eight pandas, according to Wang Lei, deputy director of the reserve's management office. A report released in February by the State Forestry Administration of China put the number of wild pandas at 1,864, with another 375 living in captivity. Out of the nation's nature reserves, Anzihe has the highest panda population density, with a habitat stretching 99.42 square kilometers, roughly 98 percent of the park's total area. In recent years, the reserve's infrared cameras have captured wild pandas more than 10 times, including the mother panda and her cub, and a panda marking a tree. Staff members have also rescued and treated two sick pandas. Anzihe is the only viable route for wild pandas to travel between Wolong reserve, home to 143 pandas, and the Heishuihe reserve, which has 21. Other parts of the two reserves are blocked by rivers and cliffs. Yet the spot is also popular with hikers, as it is only 70 km from downtown Chengdu, the provincial capital. Wang, in the management office, said national nature reserves prohibit any human activity within core areas, while the outer areas are used as buffer zones and should be accessed only for the purposes of scientific research, which is tightly controlled by the forestry administrations. Tourists are strictly banned from entering all areas, but they continue to sneak in, he said. The park rangers at Anzihe, of which there are only nine, find it almost impossible to stop them, whether they be in large groups or individuals, because of the large, unfenced area they need to cover. Confrontations with tourists have led to attacks on staff members, Wang said, adding that there are no regulations or laws to punish hikers found on the reserve. "People may think they are just visiting a park, but once they step foot on that prohibited land they are harming the wildlife," he said. "When the environment in Anzihe is affected, the breeding grounds and general habitat of the pandas and other endangered animals in the two adjoining reserves are influenced too." Hou Rong, director of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, echoed his warning, adding that when humans invade, wild animals are scared away. Her center has helped to breed many pandas as well as trained them for survival in the wild, but she said pandas can potentially migrate great distances after they are released. "We've traced our pandas kilometers away from where we released them," she said. "It's very likely they will notice a lot of human activity and will feel unsafe. For wild animals, long-distance migration holds a high risk of death." Danger zones According to data from the State Forestry Administration in February, China's wild pandas are spread among 33 groups, many of which have a population of less than 30. Twenty-four groups, including 223 pandas, are at "considerable" risk of disappearing, while 18 groups have less than 10 pandas and face a "high" risk. "For small groups, the love corridor is their only chance to find a partner and survive," Hou said. "If the corridor is taken over by people, the pandas will disappear in a few years." It is not just the wildlife the tourists are affecting. They also leave piles of garbage and potential fire hazards in their wake, according to Liu Yong, another park ranger at Anzihe Nature Reserve. He said two groups of about 30 hikers in February left plastic bags and empty containers for instant noodles strewn along the forest floor. "We had to clean up all their garbage in the snow and at altitudes of up to 2,000 meters." Hikers in prohibited areas are also putting their own lives at risk. In July, four people had to call the police after getting lost in the reserve. A rescue team of more than 10 people, including eight park rangers, searched for nine hours until the group was found at 3 am. And last month, a 44-year-old woman fell down a slope while hiking with a group of 38 people. She suffered severe injuries to her eyes and lungs, and it took 29 people 22 hours to save her. Rescuers said she had been lucky, as a boulder had prevented her plummeting 40 meters into a valley below. "We find that many hikers get lost in the woods, or fall or hurt themselves some other way," Liu said. "For the safety of the pandas, the other wild and animals and people, we just can't let tourists in." Contact the writers at [email protected] and [email protected]

85. Expert says pets may have infected pandas By LI YU and PENG YINING 2015-03-14 page5 Tourists who took their pets along when they visited a wildlife center in Shaanxi may have spread the canine distemper virus that killed four giant pandas, according to National People's Congress deputy Hou Rong. Experts are still looking for the source of the virus, and I think pets are a possibility,"" said Hou, the head of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in Sichuan province. “Some tourists have hidden their dogs or cats in bags and brought them into our panda base. Though this is prohibited and there are 'no pets' signs everywhere, people still do it.” Canine distemper is a highly contagious virus that mainly affects dogs and cats and has a mortality rate of up to 80 percent. The pandas that died were at the Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Research Center in Xi’an, the capital of Shaanxi province. The first animal died on December 9, and the most recent death occurred at the beginning of February. Another panda became infected and three more displayed symptoms, but all four survived. Hou, speaking at the NPC’s annual session, said no cases of canine distemper have been found at the panda base in Sichuan. However, she feels the conduct of tourists should be regulated. “At a zoo in Nanjing, a giraffe had a nervous breakdown because of the loud music played by people who went there and danced,” she said. “Giraffes are very sensitive animals and have evolved to live in a quiet environment. “People are not supposed to feed the animals. However, after every holiday, zoos often find dead monkeys that have eaten too much.” An amendment to the law covering wildlife conservation was on the agenda of the NPC session, and consequently Hou feels this is the perfect time to introduce legislation regulation the behavior of tourists. “If we don’t have laws, we have no power to stop people from harming animals,” she said. She gave the case of Liu Haiyang, a student at Beijing’s Tsinghua University, as an example of the sort of behavior that should be outlawed. In 2002, Liu took acid to Beijing Zoo and threw it onto bears, causing burn wounds. Liu was accused by prosecutors of destroying public property, but escaped without penalty because the court ruled that the damage was minor.

86. Reserves expanded to protect panda's habitats 2015-03-02 07:37:18 China will continue its efforts to protect giant pandas by expanding nature reserves and forbidding all kinds of construction and development in their habitats and surrounding areas. The State Forestry Administration, China's wildlife watchdog, released results of the Fourth National Survey on Giant Pandas on Saturday. Despite the increase of both population and habitat area, the survey said economic development remains a threat to the preservation of the rare animal and its habitat. The survey said habitat fragmentation is the major factor threatening the survival of giant pandas. Due to geographic isolation and human intervention, the wild population is fragmented into 33 isolated populations. Twenty-four of those have fewer than 100 pandas and are at high risk. The major disturbances in the habitats of wild giant pandas include 319 hydropower plants, 1,339 kilometers of road and 268.7 kilometers of high-voltage transmission lines. Chen Fengxue, deputy head of the administration, said the situation is still alarming and they will continue efforts to protect the habitats. "Now about 42 percent of panda habitat is not included in the network of nature reserves. We will establish new ones and expand old ones, trying to include all habitats and surrounding areas into the network," said Chen. "At the same time, we will connect and bridge the fragmented, isolated wild panda populations," added Chen. By the end of 2013, the population of giant pandas across the country had reached 1,864, an increase of 16.8 percent. The number doesn't include cubs younger than 18 months. Nearly 75 percent of wild pandas live in Sichuan province. At the same time, the total area of their territory reached 25,800 square kilometers, an increase of 11.8 percent. Fan Zhiyong, WWF China's species program director, said human intervention has broken the habitat into fragments. "If the habitat is cut by a railway or other form of transportation network, then it could not be bridged easily," Fan said. Fan suggested the protection of habitats needs an overall panda management network. "The fragmented habitats in different provinces now belong to different government bodies to manage, which leaves room for construction and other human activities that can destroy the habitats," said Fan. [email protected]

87. Fourth panda dies from distemper By Ma Lie in Xi'an ( China Daily ) Updated: 2015-02-07 07:59:38 Another panda has died in the Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Research Center in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province. It is the fourth panda death caused by canine distemper since Dec 9. The female panda, named Feng Feng, died from organ failure and breathing difficulties on Wednesday. She was diagnosed with the infection on Dec 26 and had been receiving emergency treatment from 30 experts from around the country. According to Han Xueli, general office director of the Shaanxi wildlife rescue center, 5-year-old Feng Feng was the youngest of the four pandas to die from the disease and had fought the disease longer than the others. The three other pandas died in December and last month after days of treatment, Han said. When the epidemic hit in December, the center followed its emergency plan for disease control and prevention by putting animals in separate rooms, with a staff member assigned to care for each of them, and by using high-strength disinfectant in the entire center, Han said. Distemper is a highly contagious virus that mainly infects canines and felines. The mortality rate can be up to 80 percent. Besides the four dead pandas, another one has been diagnosed with the virus, and three others are suspected of being infected. They were reportedly in stable condition. "We are unable to say that the four pandas diagnosed and suspected to have the disease have fully recovered. Intensive care and continuous treatment will continue in the following days," Han said. [email protected] 88. Vets battle to save stricken panda in Shaanxi By HUANG ZHILING in Chengdu 2015/1/16 PAGE1 Vets are racing to treat a 5-year-old panda diagnosed with canine distemper at the Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Research Center. Feng Feng, a female, has serious heart, liver, kidney and lung damage from the virus, which has killed two other pandas. "Canine distemper is a fatal disease for pandas, with the death rate as high as 80 percent," said Wang Chengdong, director of the animal hospital at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan province. Feng Feng tested positive for canine distemper on Dec 26. Cheng Cheng died on Dec 9, and Da Bao on Jan 4 at the Shaanxi center. Both were 8 years old. Another infected panda, 14-year-old Zhu Zhu, was in stable condition there. Canine distemper, which can kill dogs and other members of the canine family, can also infect pandas. It affects the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract, spinal cord and brain. Zhang Hemin, director of the Wolong reserve's administrative bureau, said, "Canine distemper, parvovirus, hemorrhagic colitis (a type of gastroenteritis) and intestinal flu are among the diseases that may cause pandas to die. "Canine distemper and parvovirus are more often found among wild pandas, while captive pandas are more likely to fall victim to hemorrhagic colitis and intestinal flu," he said. In 1989, when the Chinese Committee of Breeding Techniques for Giant Pandas was formed, there were only 92 captive pandas worldwide. There are now more than 380. Captive pandas are kept mainly at three bases, at Wolong, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and the Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Research Center. The rise in population density has resulted in a higher risk of infectious diseases. Pu Anning, head of the general office at the Chengdu research base, said, "If a panda catches flu, other pandas fall victim, too." To find a solution, Wolong, which has 200 captive pandas, opened a new base covering 51 hectares in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, last year. It houses 27 pandas.

Panda center facing scrutiny By Ma Lie in Xi'an ( China Daily ) 2015-01-16 page4 Questions have been raised about the Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Research Center in Xi'an, Shaanxi province, which has been earning money by displaying rescued pandas - some of which later became sick and died. The Paper reported on Thursday that the center saved eight seriously injured pandas in the wild and then put them on display in a cage at the center. They charged ticket prices of 30 yuan ($4.80) in peak season and 20 yuan in the off-season. The report said that the pandas should be sent back to the wild after they recovered and questioned whether the center is suitable for keeping wild animals. An 8-year-old female panda at the center named Cheng Cheng was diagnosed on Dec 6 with distemper and died on Dec 9. From Dec 24 to 30, another three pandas in the center were diagnosed with the virus, according to Han Xueli, director of the center's general office. Distemper is a highly contagious virus that mainly infects canines and felines. The mortality rate can be up to 80 percent. On Jan 4, an 8-year-old female panda named Da Bao, one of the three diagnosed pandas, died of the disease after days of treatment. Another of the three pandas was in critical condition and the other was in stable condition after treatment by 30 experts from around the country, Han said on Thursday. Han confirmed that the center kept 25 pandas before the epidemic, eight of which - including Cheng Cheng and Da Bao - were rescued by the center from the wild after they were seriously injured. But Han said that the rescued pandas were treated and were to be sent back into the wild after they recovered. [email protected]

89. State funds campaign to halt spread of panda distemper By XINHUA 2015-01-09 page6 Authorities stressed on Wednesday the importance of treatment and disease prevention for pandas after two of the animals died of a virus related to human measles. Funds have been allocated to treat pandas sick with distemper and prevent the disease from spreading, according to the State Forestry Administration. It did not give specifics about the funds. Zhao Shucong, head of the administration, urged that effective measures be put into place to save sick pandas and guard against the spread of the disease. Two pandas have died in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, local authorities confirmed on Monday. An 8-year-old panda named Da Bao developed a twitch on Dec 24 after being infected with canine distemper virus, a viral disease that affects a wide variety of animals including dogs, primates and large cats. Da Bao died on the afternoon of Jan 4 from heart failure and lung edema. Another panda, 8-year-old Cheng Cheng, died on Dec 9 of the disease. Two more pandas are ill, with one in critical condition, and four others have shown fever symptoms and been quarantined for further diagnosis. More than 30 experts from across China are caring for the pandas. Canine distemper affects the gastrointestinal and respiratory tract, as well as the spinal cord and brain. The infected animals usually have symptoms including high fever, eye inflammation, coughing, vomiting, diarrhea and lethargy. The disease is highly contagious, with a high fatality rate, and is commonly spread through contact with infected body fluids or contaminated food and water. Before the outbreak, the wildlife rescue, breeding and research center of Shaanxi was home to 25 giant pandas. After the disease was diagnosed, the center sent its healthy pandas to nature reserves elsewhere in the province.

90. Distemper blamed in death of panda By MA LIE in Xi'an 2015-01-05page4 The Shaanxi Rare Wildlife Rescue and Breeding Research Center in Zhouzhi county, Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, has launched an emergency response system after four giant pandas raised in the center came down with distemper and one died on Dec 9. According to Han Xueli, director of the center's general office, the 8-year-old female panda named Cheng Cheng was diagnosed on Dec 6 with the disease and died at about 1:50 pm on Dec 9. Distemper is a dangerous disease that mainly infects canine and feline animals. The distemper virus is highly contagious, and the mortality rate can be up to 80 percent. From Dec 24 to 30, another three pandas in the center were also diagnosed as suffering from distemper and the center was closed on Dec 31. "Such an epidemic has never hit our center before," Han said. The center followed its emergency plan for disease control and prevention immediately after Cheng Cheng was diagnosed with distemper, putting the animals in separate rooms with a staff member assigned to care for them, and applying high-strength disinfectant over the entire center, Han said. "We invited 20 experts on distemper and panda diseases from all over the country to our center for disease control, treatment and prevention," the director said. The center has raised 25 pandas, the third-largest captive panda population in the world, and now has 24 of them. At present, the sick pandas are undergoing careful treatment and the healthy animals have been isolated and are under close 24-hour monitoring.