A simple hand-over ceremony for two Chinese giant pandas to be leased to the Washington National Zoo of the United States was held Tuesday, December 5, in Wolong, the largest nature reserve dedicated to the protection of rare animals.
At the ceremony, Wang Fuxing, deputy director and general secretary of the China Wildlife Protection Association, handed over the pandas' framed pictures, which served as their identification cards, to Dennis Connor, deputy director of the Smithsonian Institute.
Three-year-old panda Tian Tian, a male, and two-year-old panda Mei Xiang, a female, which will leave Chengdu, the Sichuan provincial capital, for Washington D.C. early on Wednesday, will be the second pair of pandas the Washington National Zoo receives.
In 1972, the Chinese government sent pandas Xing Xing and Ling Ling to the zoo after US President Richard Nixon began an historical visit to China. Since then, the Americans have been fond of pandas. They have donated US$18 million for their protection.
Ling Ling died of heart disease in 1992. Xing Xing died of kidney cancer seven years later.
With the approval of China's State Council in April, Tian Tian and Mei Xiang were allowed to be leased to the United States for 10 years. Tian Tian and Mei Xiang will live in the same house in the zoo where Xing Xing and Ling Ling called home.
During their stay in the United States, the American side will pay China a total of US$10 million for the protection and research of giant pandas, said Li Yuming, deputy secretary general of China Wildlife Protection Association.
According to Li, once the pandas give birth to any cub, the cub can live in the United States for at most two years. Their blood and sperm also belong to China, according to the agreement.
No cloning of the pandas will be allowed.
Zhang Guiquan, assistant director of China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong, and a breeder in the center, will accompany both pandas to the United States.
They will stay there for a month to see whether the pandas can adapt to life in the United States, Zhang said.
Tian Tian, which weighs about 80 kilograms, and Mei Xiang, which weighs more than 50 kilograms, are very healthy. Every day, Tian Tian eats 1,700 grams of biscuits, while Mei Xiang consumes 1,100 grams.
Zhang said he has confidence in the two pandas' adaptability on the other side of the globe, since the United States has a relatively long time in tendering China's giant pandas, and the American general public host profound fondness of them.
(China Daily 12/05/2000)
