121. GE exec: More than pandas and hotpot GE exec: More than pandas and hotpot 2013-05-21 07:07:21 Ma Jianing, vice-president of General Electric China Zhang Haizhou / China Daily Ma Jianing and the multinational have found a home in Chengdu Ma Jianing always had a few questions for Americans when he was in the US - "Do you know pandas and hotpot?" "Do you know Chengdu?" The vice-president of General Electric China said "many Americans, no matter in New York or Washington DC or on the West Coast, know pandas and hotpot, but not Chengdu". Ma, who spent more than two years living in Chengdu beginning in 2002, recalls that "they were always shocked when I told them Chengdu is a city with more than 20 international flight routes". Not only Ma believes the capital of Sichuan deserves more international attention. So does his company. The US conglomerate opened its first ever innovation center in the world last year in Chengdu focusing on the healthcare market. As the head of the China Innovation Center in Chengdu, Ma, has ambitious plans. "We want to make it a center for local healthcare and already have three products for the market. "We also would like to see the products from Chengdu go to the rest of the world," he said. The healthcare division of the GE recently significantly increased its investment in rural regions in China, a vital market for the financial health of all multinational corporations. The company sees the huge market potential in rural China, but knows it will be a big challenge for international giants to cater to the diverse needs of smaller hospitals, especially as Chinese medical equipment suppliers improve their competitive strength. GE's innovation center in Chengdu reflects its major push in that direction. Up to 80 percent of GE's healthcare equipment revenue in China comes from the upscale sector. But the company aims to boost income from its basic medical needs division to achieve a balance as early as possible. "We believe open innovation practices, especially the customer co-creation approach embodied in CIC Chengdu, is essential for multinational technology companies such as GE as we participate and contribute to China's future growth," Chairman and CEO Jeff Immelt said. Located in the west park of the Chengdu High-tech Industrial Development Zone, the customer center combines R&D with marketing. In addition to local healthcare, it also focuses on shale gas drilling technology, new industrial automation solutions and green energy. "We want to let colleagues in our headquarters know that China is not just Shanghai and Beijing, but the west too. We hope that GE will be a frontrunner in local healthcare in western China," Ma said. He said the CIC Chengdu now has about 500 employees, 30 percent local hires and another 30 percent returnees from coastal regions. The company's ambitions are a contrast to when Ma first arrived in Chengdu in 2002. "There was only one building (in the CIC Chengdu's area). Even I couldn't eat the spicy food ," said Ma, who is from Nanjing in coastal Jiangsu province. Eleven years later, the high-tech park has not only attracted GE, but also at other global industrial giants such as Intel, Foxconn and Dell, which help form industry clusters in integrated circuits, photoelectric displays, software, service outsourcing and electronic terminal manufacturing. Ma has also adapted to local life. He has even learned a lot of the Sichuan dialect from his driver and sometimes incorporates it into his Putonghua. "Chengdu is an inclusive place," he said. "People know Chengdu for its slow pace and come here to relax, but it's actually also getting faster. "Chengdu's tempo is still a little bit slower than Beijing and Shanghai, but it's proper," he added. [email protected] (China Daily 05/21/2013 page19) 122. After disaster, wild pandas show their mettle ( China Daily ) Updated: 2013-05-11 page12 Wu Daifu has worked with pandas since he was 21, but he says the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake transformed his relationship with the animals - personally and professionally. The 36-year-old had worked as a keeper - feeding bears and cleaning cages - until Wolong National Nature Reserve's post-disaster reshuffle saw him appointed chief of the department responsible for introducing captive pandas into the wild. "We've since discovered many things," Wu says. "We used to believe pandas would get sick without human intervention. But they're stronger without it. It actually does more harm than good. That's why wild pandas are more resilient." He cites weaning cubs too early as an example of interference's harm. "They need more nutrients from their mothers," he says. "We've learned we should let them nurse until they're 2-and a-half years old, rather than 6 months like we used to. This makes a difference, especially when they're released." Wu's department has made other discoveries about human interaction, since most of his research focuses on disparities between captive and wild pandas. He says he was selected for the job chiefly because he had much hands- on experience with the species. He still leads the feeding and cleaning but now spends much of his day researching behavior at the base in Sichuan province. The reserve uses a network of 177 cameras over 2,400 square kilometers of "semi-wild" forest. The system was installed after the quake. Wu's team is focusing on two mothers raising cubs in the semi-wild area. They are prime candidates for release, authorities believe. He says he and his colleagues devote most of their time to their work. They live in a small room at the base. Most of their families reside in nearby Dujiangyan city, but they can see them only about once a month. But Wu says he doesn't regret his sacrifices. "Pandas mean a lot to me," he explains. "My job is meaningful and challenging. "People around the world love pandas. So do I," he adds. "If I can contribute to their conservation, I've done something meaningful." 123.US zoo hoping for a panda pregnancy By Agencies in Washington2013-04-01 07:49:13 Veterinarians at the National Zoo artificially inseminated its female giant panda Mei Xiang on Saturday after natural mating failed to occur, zookeepers said. Mei Xiang was put under general anesthesia and inseminated with a combination of fresh and frozen semen collected from the zoo's male giant panda, Tian Tian. The Washington zoo said scientists performed a second and final insemination later on Saturday evening. It will be several months before we know if she is pregnant,"" the zoo said in a tweet. Animal keepers detected a rise in panda hormone levels and breeding behaviors last week. A team of scientists performed the artificial insemination after keepers determined there had been no natural mating overnight between the two pandas. Veterinarian Tang Chunxiang traveled from China's Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Sichuan province to assist. Dave Wildt, head of the Center for Species Survival at the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute, said, ""We are hopeful that our breeding efforts will be successful this year, and we're encouraged by all the behaviors and hormonal data we've seen so far."" Scientists will continue to monitor Mei Xiang's hormone levels in coming months and conduct ultrasound tests to determine whether she is pregnant. A pregnancy lasts between 95 and 160 days, they said. Mei Xiang has given birth to two cubs. One died a week after its birth last year. The other, Tai Shan, was born in 2005 and is now at the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong, Sichuan province. The panda house at the zoo has been closed since Tuesday but was scheduled to reopen on Sunday. Reuters-AP(China Daily 04/01/2013 page11) 124.Top hotel caters for pandas By Huang Zhiling ( China Daily) 2013-01-14 05:51page22 Panda experts from the Wolong National Nature Reserve pose for a picture with representatives of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts after planting bamboo trees in the Dujiangyan Giant Panda Rescue and Disease Control Center in Sichuan province. Huang Zhiling / For China Daily Staff volunteer to plant bamboo to nourish animal facing extinction Li Desheng, deputy chief of the administrative bureau of the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Wenchuan country, Sichuan province, gets excited when he recalls his recent participation in bamboo planting in the neighboring city of Dujiangyan. “Lots of representatives of the Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts and employees of Wolong planted bamboo trees together in a new plantation in the Dujiangyan base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda, which is under the administration of Wolong, to mark a new agreement that will help feed pandas in the local panda rescue center,” he said. They are the first bamboo trees in a 1.6-hectare bamboo plantation that Shangri-La is sponsoring in the Dujiangyan Giant Panda Rescue and Disease Control Center as part of its Care for Panda project. Before planting bamboo trees, Zhang Hemin,chief of the administrative bureau of Wolong, which is China’s largest nature reserve for panda conservation, signed a contract with Shangri-La in which the Hong Kong-based luxury hotel group agreed to plant more than 9,000 bamboo trees in a plantation in the Dujiangyan center. The plantation will help provide food for the center's pandas. Currently under construction, the center, which is home to three old pandas rescued from the wild, will eventually house 40 sick pandas more than 25 years old or those in need of aid after suffering wounds in the wild, Zhang said.