A "Macao Panda" website was officially launched on Tuesday as part of a series of activities initiated by the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) government to introduce to local residents a pair of pandas given by the Chinese central government.

Qimiao (L) and Shuxiang, selected as gifts for the Macao Special Administrative Region, eat banboo at the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding and Research Base, in Chengdu May 31, 2010. [Xinhua]

The central government has chosen two pandas, a male code-named 717 and a female code-named 710, from the Chengdu Research Base of Panda Breeding in southwest China's Sichuan province, as a gift to the SAR.

Although the pandas were yet to come to the SAR, the new website will provide local residents and tourists with the latest updates of the panda pair in articles, photos and videos.

Through the website, people can learn about the pandas and understand the importance of rare animal conservation, said Tam Vai Man, president of the SAR's Civic and Municipal Affairs Bureau.

The SAR government has previously announced that it will spend 80 million patacas (10 million U.S. dollars) on the construction of a facility that will house the panda pair, and the project was expected to be completed in September this year.