After bidding farewell to the sunshine of San Diego, California, giant panda Hua Mei found herself in the snow-capped hills surrounding the Wolong Nature Reserve in southwest China's Sichuan Province at 3:35 p.m. Friday.

Hua Mei is the first returned overseas-born panda and has been received as a VIP.

Still dozy in her cage, Hua Mei was woken up by hurrahs from surrounding spectators who had been waiting for her since the morning, which is rather rare in the quiet valley.

The chubby creature moved a little and then began staring at the new surroundings with confusion and doubts.

Prestigious panda expert Wei Rongping neared the cage. "Child, you've returned home at last," said the bespectacled expert in tears. Wei, together with other panda experts, has been to San Diego Zoo many times to visit Hua Mei, "She's grown-up and so pretty now."

Two panda keepers, Tang Yang and Yang Bo, are designated to take care of Hua Mei. They washed over 100 kilograms of bamboo for her in the morning and prepared other foods such as apples, steamed corn buns and milk.

"Although it may be a wild wish, I still hope Hua Mei could taste the bamboo I've planted," said a villager, Liu Longhuai, with an armful of fresh bamboo. Liu once lived in the core area of the reserve. Last year Liu and his 200-plus fellow villagers moved out and settled down in a county five kilometers away from the reserve. Liu planted bamboo for pandas instead of grain in his 6-Mu (0.4 hectare) farmland.

Hua Mei, or "China America," will be quarantined for a month and then join with the over 210 pandas in the reserve, including 140 in the wild and 70 in captivity.

Though having parted from her mother Bai Yun, or "White Clouds," in San Diego, California, Hua Mei will meet her father Shi Shi, or "Stone," who returned home last year. Bai Yun will continue to live in the United States with her second husband Gao Gao, or "Tall" and their one-year-old son Mei Sheng or "American Born."

She was just a 100-gram baby at birth, but now has turned into a 200-pound lady and is ready to become a mother, said Terry Mulroney, animal care manager of the Zoological Society of San Diego, who escorted Hua Mei home.

She has entered a heat period and is expected to find a mate in Wolong Reserve soon, but will definitely have to spend her first Valentine's Day in China lonely in the quarantine ward.

Having been talked to in English for years, Hua Mei will have to get used to Chinese and another intonation, said Terry, who used to call Hua Mei "honey" when feeding her.

Hua Mei's parents went to the United States in 1996 as part of a 12-year research cooperation program between the two nations. The husband is about ten years older than the wife and was been repatriated last year after six years of service abroad.

The wife then gave birth to a boy panda last year after living with her second husband Gao Gao, which is considered a great success in increasing the population of giant pandas.

China has poured considerable resources into protecting the endangered species. The giant panda is dubbed a "state gem." Their numbers have been depleted by low fertility, logging, poaching and periodic dying out of their staple food, bamboo. Only 1,000 giant pandas are estimated to live in the wild, all of whom are in China, while over 140 live in captivity across the world.

According to the cooperation contract, cubs of the panda couple sent abroad belong to China and should be returned after they are three years old.

(Xinhua News Agency February 13, 2004)