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The mysterious mountainous area of Wolong lies in Wenchuan County of the Aba Tibetan and Qiang Autonomous Prefecture in the northwest of Sichuan Province.

This is where China's preeminent giant panda research facility is to be found.

The China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda has been currently attracting worldwide attention with the results of its research at Wolong. A journalist from the People's Daily came to visit the center and filed this report.

Problems Solved

The crystal clear waters of the Pitiao River run through the Wolong Nature Reserve. The China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda is located on its middle reaches.

Researchers bringing state-of-the-art expertise from a number of different scientific disciplines have come together at the center. Their efforts are devoted to addressing the problems which have for so long beset the work of artificially breeding the giant panda.

Huang Yan, a top official from the center, outlined the breadth of professional expertise now being applied to the research. There are specialists in zoological and plant ecology, preventive and clinical veterinary science, animal husbandry, genetics and cell biology. Their research is conducted not just in the laboratories but also out in the dense forests that are the natural home of the giant panda.

They have now gained a much better understanding of the oestrus (reproductive) cycle and other matters affecting pregnancy and cub rearing.

Thanks to their efforts, the Wolong center can claim not only the largest roll call of artificially bred panda cubs but also the highest cub survival rate in the world. It is little wonder that Wolong has been acclaimed as the "cradle of the giant pandas."

At Wolong the staff treat the giant pandas like they were members of their own families.

A baby giant panda just six months old catches sight of its keeper coming to visit. Impatiently it raises its voice and as if this was not enough, makes even more noise banging the food dishes in the nursery. "It acts just like a child," said the keeper explaining its attention seeking behavior was just because it wanted to go out and play.

Liu Bin another member of staff at the center went into the feeding area he looks after. As soon as they noticed him "Xiangxiang" and "Fufu" pounced on him and hugged his legs just like children throwing themselves on their parents. Liu offered them their arrow bamboo and they started to eat right away. From time to time they used their front paws to push away the kindly intended touch of the journalist's hand on their heads. Liu explained that giant pandas don't like their heads being touched. His remark served to underline the real understanding and depth of care which the staff show towards their giant pandas.

Impressive Survival Rates

The Third National Survey of Giant Pandas was completed recently. It recorded nearly 150 giant pandas in the Wolong Nature Reserve. This represents no less than 15 percent of all the giant pandas in the world.

Wolong is home to the largest captive-bred population of giant pandas in the world. Of the 67 pandas now in the research center itself, 47 were bred in captivity and the remaining 20 were rescued from the wild. The last 12 years has seen Wolong's captive-bred population increase from just 10.

The Wolong population has become capable of being self sustaining. After many years of research, the center has four male giant pandas able to mate naturally. Remarkably there are only 6 giant pandas in captivity anywhere world that can manage this.

Among the females in the center, the pregnancy rate has risen to between 85 and 90 percent. This success can be attributed to research leading to the "giant panda sperm bank" and techniques of external hormonal enhancement of the sexual gland.

12 cubs including four pairs of twins were carried to term in the center in 2000. One was still born but 11 baby pandas survived. This was unprecedented in the history of the artificial propagation of giant pandas not only for the number of deliveries but also for the survival rate to one year of age.

In June 2001, two pandas in the center each gave birth to a pair of twins and the four cubs are still in good health today. Last year, another four cubs were delivered in three farrows.

The specialists in the Wolong center have also met with success in addressing the problems of raising the cubs once they have been born safely. Survival rates are now much improved.

Liu Bin said the giant pandas need meticulous care. Panda cubs require five feeds a day at first rising to seven as they get older. Their diet needs to be adjusted to take account of changing circumstances. The pandas' living quarters and all the equipment they come in contact with must be thoroughly disinfected twice a week.

Since 2000 all the newborn panda cubs in the center have survived.

Goodwill Envoys

Many of Wolong's giant pandas have been sent abroad in expressions of goodwill by the Chinese people. This has led to the China Research and Conservation Center for the Giant Panda being further recognized as a "cradle of overseas ambassadors."

Everyone loves the giant panda. Each year over 100,000 visitors from home and aboard come to visit the Wolong center.

Giant panda adoption is a burgeoning activity for the center. The initiative came with the recent founding of the Wolong Giant Panda Club. The staff said that right from the start the club has attracted a good response from people all around the world. Already adoption formalities have been completed for more than 80 giant pandas. Some of the adoptive "parents" have made special trips from overseas to adopt their new "family member."

Adopting a giant panda involves making a donation of funds and brings the opportunity to choose a name for the panda. So all around the center there are adorable pandas with delightful names.

Here and there on the walls of the feedlots hang signboards. They are carved with inscriptions recognizing the individual of organization to have adopted each particular panda. Among them there is no shortage of the names of China's top leaders or celebrities in all walks of life.

Release into the Wild

The eventual aim of the captive breeding program is to be able to release giant pandas back into the wild. Work aimed at successfully achieving this mission is underway with the construction of the China Giant Panda Park. The first phase has already been completed and provides the pandas with a semi-wild environment.

The second phase is still to be brought in at an estimated cost of 100 million yuan (about US$12 million). The plan is to prepare the pandas for release in a specially constructed four to five square kilometers, simulated wild environment.

The current work aimed at the release of giant pandas back to the wild needs the approval and support not only of governments at all levels but also of the relevant organizations and experts in the field.

Much hard work lies ahead over many years if the dream of successfully releasing giant pandas into the wild is to be realized. Many people will be involved and it is quite conceivable that this will be a task that will continue over several generations.

The plan is for the first five giant pandas to return to nature in 2010.

With support from the central government and the relevant provincial departments in Sichuan, a new multifunctional building was recently inaugurated at Wolong. It has the modern facilities necessary to support continuing scientific research and a giant panda hospital, the only one in China. This follows a succession of earlier major construction projects completed at the center. These have included the China Giant Panda Museum, new Giant Panda Feeding and Propagation Houses and of course phase one of the China Giant Panda Park. The acreage of the Wolong Nature Reserve has grown to 200,000 hectares, ten times what it was when the reserve was first set up.

In order to better facilitate all aspects of the work, Wolong has been given the status of a special administrative district within Sichuan Province under the auspices of the Sate Council.

(China.org.cn translated by Zhang Tingting, July 2, 2003)