From 00:00 on December 1, 2023, to 24:00 on November 30, 2024 (Beijing time), citizens from France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, and Malaysia holding ordinary passports who come to China for business, tourists, visiting relatives and friends, and transit reasons, will be exempted from Chinese visa to enter into China, for a period not exceeding 15 days from the date of their entry.
The citizens who do not meet the above-mentioned reasons and time limit for visa exemption or holding service (official) passports still need to apply for a Chinese visa before entering China.
If you do come, don't forgot to put Sichuan in your travel list.
]]>1.Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding (Chengdu Panda Base)
Add. 1375 Panda Avenue, Chenghua District, Chengdu.
Chengdu Panda Base is 10 kilometers from the city center (Tianfu Square), 30 kilometers from Shuangliu International Airport, and 70 kilometers from Tianfu International Airport. This base, established in 1987, started with six pandas rescued from the wild.
This is the panda base closest to Chengdu city. It can be reached by taking the subway, bus, or taxi, with a travel time of 30-50 minutes. You can see 50-80 giant pandas. In addition to giant pandas, you can also see red pandas, peacocks, and swans. It has excelled in the relocation protection of giant pandas, giant panda breeding, science education, and cultural tourism. The park covers an area of 3.07 square kilometers and includes panda exhibition areas, shopping areas, restaurants, souvenir shops, and an artificial lake. It is a lovely place to see giant pandas.
2.Dujiangyan Panda Valley
Add. 408 Yutang Section, Huanshan Tourist Road, Yutang Town, Dujiangyan City.
Dujiangyan Panda Valley is 50 kilometers from downtown Chengdu with a travel time of 1 hour and 20 minutes. Established in 2010, the Panda Valley currently houses 20-30 giant pandas. The main function of this base is wilderness training, simulating outdoor environments to help pandas adapt. The park is smaller, but its gardens are beautiful. Popular pandas like Oreo (aka. Ao Li Ao) , Meilan, Jixiao, Chengfeng, and Chenglang reside here.
3.Dujiangyan Panda Base
Add. Shiqiao Village, Qingchengshan Town, Dujiangyan City.
Dujiangyan Panda Base is 55 kilometers from Chengdu with a travel time of 1 hour and 20 minutes. Established in 2013, this park was built with the assistance of the Hong Kong government after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake. In addition to 40-50 giant pandas, visitors can see two Asiatic black bears (aka. Moon bear).
Dujiangyan Panda Base focuses on public education, research experiences, tourism, and panda conservation. Unlike other bases, it has several elderly pandas, and the keepers have scientific methods for their care. Bai Yun and Gao Gao, the giant pandas from San Diego Zoo, currently make their home at this Dujiangyan Panda Base.
*Available program: Giant Panda Volunteering.
4.Wolong Panda Base
Add. Wolong Nature Reserve.
At an altitude of about 1300 meters, Wolong Panda Base is 115 kilometers from Chengdu with a travel time of 1 hour and 40 minutes. Established in 2016 with assistance from the Hong Kong government, the Wolong Panda Base primarily researches giant panda breeding and promotion of public education. The area is known for its beautiful natural scenery and is considered an ideal habitat for giant pandas. The base has 50 giant pandas, and some female pandas can be seen with their cubs in the snow during the spring.
Wolong Nature Reserve is called a "precious biological gene bank" because it is home to a rich variety of animals and plants. The family consisting of Tai Shan, Bao Bao, Mei Xiang, Tian Tian, and Xiao Qi Ji, who returned from Washington, USA, has gathered here.
*Available program: Giant Panda Volunteering.
5.Wolong Hetaoping Base
Add. Wolong Nature Reserve.
Hetaoping Base, which also located in the Wolong Nature Reserve, it is 135 kilometers from Chengdu with a travel time of 2 hours and 20 minutes, and 25 minutes from the Wolong Panda Base. Established in the 1980s, Hetaoping Base is the earliest panda breeding and research base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP).
The Wenchuan earthquake in 2008 caused partial damage to the Hetaoping Base, interrupting transportation. The staff and giant pandas were forced to relocate to the Bifengxia Base in Ya'an. During the earthquake, keepers immediately rescued pandas frightened by the seismic activity. Except for one panda named Mao Mao who passed away and another one named Xiao Xiao who went missing, all other pandas were safely transferred.
In 2010, Hetaoping Base resumed the captive giant panda training and reintroduction project, adopting a new training method—wilderness training with mother pandas and cubs. From 2010 to 2016, Hetaoping Base successfully trained and released six giant pandas, with five of them surviving in the wild. Currently, Hetaoping Base is not open to visitors.
*Available program: Red Panda Volunteering.
6.Bifengxia Panda Base
Add. Bifengxia Scenic Area, Ya'an City.
Bifengxia Panda Base is 150 kilometers from Chengdu with a travel time of 2 hours. Established in 2003, some pandas were transferred here after the 2008 Wenchuan earthquake.
The base is expansive, covering over 6000 acres, providing a tranquil environment for the pandas. It houses 60-70 giant pandas and offers giant panda volunteer activities. Prominent pandas from abroad, such as Xiang Xiang from Japan and Bei Bei from the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. are living at Bifengxia Panda Base. This is a panda base that integrates the breeding, reproduction, rescue, and educational promotion of giant pandas. When visiting the Bifengxia Base, you can see 60-70 giant pandas.
*Available program: Giant Panda Volunteering.
Check the map of 6 panda bases around Chengdu.
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Tangjiahe is also a great place for bird watching, like Red-billed Leiothrix, Collared owlet, Golden Pheasant, White-browed Laughingthrush, Tawny Fish Owl, Wallcreeper, Buteos, Golden Eagle, Tawny Owl,Green shrike-babbler,White's Thrush,Blue whistling thrush,Little bunting,Slaty-blue flycatcher, etc.
If anyone wishes to visit Chengdu, China without having to apply (and pay! ) for an extended visa, then China’s visa-free transit may be a great option. The guidelines are fairly straightforward and simple as long as one plans ahead and provides the required documents. This guide will walk through the updated policy as of March 1st, 2023.
Q: Which Countries & Nationalities Qualify for China Visa-Free Transit?
The following 53 countries are eligible for the 144-hour visa-free transit visa:
Region |
Country |
Schengen Agreement |
Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland. |
Europe |
the United Kingdom, Ireland, Cyprus, Bulgaria, Romania, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro, Macedonia (FYROM), Albania, Belarus, Russia, Monaco. |
America |
United States, Canada, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Chile. |
Asia |
Korea, Japan, Singapore, Brunei, United Arab Emirates, Qatar. |
Oceania |
New Zealand and Australia. |
Q: What is the MUST requirement of 144-Hour Visa-Exemption Transit Policy?
Q: What types of foreign nationals will not be issued a temporary entry permit?
In addition, foreign crew members aboard internationally sailing vessels and their accompanying family members are not eligible for this policy.
Q: What laws and regulations must foreign nationals abide?
They must not leave the specified area of stay or overstay the visa-exemption period. In the first 24 hours of entry, foreign nationals themselves should register their residence addresses with the local public security bureaus or foreigner service stations, or those who provide the foreign nationals with residence can complete the registration on their behalf. For foreign nationals who dwell at a hotel, the hotel has the obligation to register residence for them. In case of force majeure which necessitates a longer period of stay than 144 hours within the visa-exemption area, they need to lodge an application to the exit and entry administration department of a public security bureau for corresponding stay or residence documents.
The following acts will be punishable by law by the immigration inspection authority or local public security authority:
Q: What is the procedure for 144-Hour Visa-Exemption Transit Policy?
Q: Which area can you visit if you enter Chengdu?
Cities including Chengdu, Ya’an, Leshan, Deyang, Suining, Meishan, Ziyang, Neijiang, Zigong, Luzhou and Yibin, most of the panda bases and highlights have been covered.
Q: How is the duration of the 144-hour visa-free transit policy calculated?
The duration of stay as referred to in the 144-hour visa-free transit policy will begin from the entry time, the traveler will be allowed to stay for 144 hours (six days) at most in the area of Chengdu and nearby cities above without entry visa. If visitors are unable to depart on time due to unavoidable reasons, such as flight cancellation or treatment of sudden disease, they need to apply for a visa from Municipal Public Security Bureau (PSB).
Q: If a citizen from one of the 53 eligible countries for the 144-hour visa-free transit policy does not hold a valid connecting travel ticket to a third country or region; can he/she apply for the 144-hour visa-free transit?
According to the regulations pertaining to the 144-hour visa-free transit policy, any applicant must hold a valid connecting visitor tickets for travel, with confirmed seat and departure time within 144 hours, or he/ she must possess relevant supporting documents. The applicant must have these documentations before applying for the144-hour visa-free transit.
Q: If citizens from any of the 53 designated countries arrive in those specific regions mentioned above with a valid ticket for travel to their country of origin, with a confirmed seat and with a departure time within 144 hours, would he/she be eligible for the 144-hour visa-free transit policy?
The policy applies for 144-hour visa-free transit rather than visa-free entry. Therefore, the applicant should transit to a third country or region. Visitors returning to their country of origin would not be eligible for this policy.
For example:
USA - Chengdu – Hong Kong is available to apply for the 144-hour transit visa in Chengdu.
Singapore – Chengdu - Thailand is available to apply for the 144-hour transit visa in Chengdu.
USA - Chengdu – USA is not available to apply for the 144-hour transit visa in Chengdu.
Q: Can I enter China in Chengdu and apply the transit visa, then leave China from another city (for example: Beijing) in the same 144-hour visa-free transit region?
No, you have to leave from Chengdu as well.
Q: What kind of punishment will be imposed on those who have successfully applied for and received the 144-hour visa-free transit but stayed in China for more than 144 hours?
According to the relevant regulations of the Exit and Entry Administration Law of the People's Republic of China, individuals who do not hold a valid Chinese passport and are suspected of illegal residence in China will be warned. In case of gross violation, the offender will be fined RMB500 per day for illegal residence, not exceeding RMB10,000 in total, or he/she will be detained for 5-10 days. Anyone who violates the relevant laws and regulations for the 144-hour visa-free transit policy may not be accepted for future applications for visa-free transit.
]]>What you'll do
*Rated 5 Stars by teams & individuals from Twitter, Starbucks, Instagram, Airbnb, Cisco Systems, LinkedIn, and many more.
Meet a pile of the world's most adorable giant pandas at Chengdu Panda Base in a virtual live experience. (not pre-recorded video) More than 150 pandas live in here. Admire the pandas and go in-depth during the award-winning guided tours.
This experience will start with me talking about my background and my personal journey and passion for pandas. I will then lead the guests to see the culture difference of the oversea born pandas and the local pandas. Some returned pandas need to learn Chinese to "talk" to the keepers.
We will visit the new built enclosures to find their enrichment and toys. Then we will have a close look of their paws to learn the pseudo-thumb.
Through show and tell, I will introduce a brown panda and a gray panda.(little gray) She's still in the park. The pandas could be hidden in the trees, behind the bush, in the cave. Let’s work together and find them.
Planning a unique and different corporate TEAMBUILDING off-site?
Do you need a specific date and it is not listed?
Please send us a message to accommodate your request.
This experience is available from 5pm to 3am PDT (Los Angeles time)
We also offer one with a pre-recorded video to see pandas.
Meet your host, Alvin
Hello from Chengdu-home of giant pandas! We are group of tour guides who share the passion for the love of pandas. Recognized internationally through press and TripAdvisor “Traveler's Choice” in 2019 and 2020. We loves to share our inside stories and connections to the pandas. Our guests really appreciate that unique approach rather than listening to textbook information. Some great stories are inspired by our online community. We’ve been hosting Facebook live experience to see pandas for over 6 years. Recently, we just threw a birthday party on live streaming for the American-born panda, Tai Shan.
*Add us to your Wishlist :)
*Check more reviews about our in-persons panda tours
Make your reservation here.
]]>(February 3) At 11 o'clock in the morning, the nannies walked into the playground of kindergarten with 10 baby pandas, and sent New Year greetings to the people of the country. Afterwards, the nannies put the active panda babies into the "New Year Cute Box" with panda patterns. When the panda babies crawl out of the box, they are like surprises jumping out of the blind boxes. The nannies prepared a bamboo basket with the word blessing for each baby panda, and the babies get some snacks in the baskets. The bamboo basket is something like red envelope. Red envelopes are gifts presented at social and family gatherings such as weddings or holidays such as Chinese New Year. The red color of the envelope symbolizes good luck and is a symbol to ward off evil spirits. In the playground, a "little train" and a "little castle" were built out of cardboard. The little guys smell and bite, and like new toys very much.
In the playground, the five-star red flag is fluttering in the wind, and the red Chinese knots and couplets are all setting the atmosphere for the festival. 10 baby pandas enjoy with the these decorations and send the festival blessings to everyone. The average age of the 10 panda babies is about half a year old. The oldest is Qian Qian’s twins baby girls at age of 190 days. While the youngest is the Shu Qin’s town babies for more than 120 days. The birth weight of Shu Qin’s second cub was only 57.1g, which is the lightest panda born this year. The cubs are interested in the decorations and toys in the playground, and they just make everyone laugh by playing with the stuff.
“In 2020, we strictly followed the giant panda breeding pairing coefficient, and according to the estrus situation of giant pandas, scientifically and reasonably promoted the reproduction work. All giant pandas mated naturally. After the cubs were born, a small number of females have poor experience in raising cubs and need to be artificially raised for four months and then returned to the mothers. Now the cubs are all nurtured by their mothers. This year, 22 surviving cubs were bred in the headquarters of our Panda Center, plus 3 from abroad, for a total of 25. The baby pandas unveiled today are just a part of them. After the debut, we will return these babies to mother in time.” Said the panda expert of CCRCGP Zhang Guiquan.
As of December 1, 2020, 44 surviving panda cubs have been bred globally, of which 25 surviving cubs have been bred in the CCRCGP(China Conservation Research Center for Giant Panda)
This year, while fighting the epidemic, the CCRCGP is actively carrying out scientific research and breeding. The expert team has overcome pressure and difficulties through "cloud communication, cloud guidance", and guided the Hong Kong, Taiwan and 7 foreign cooperation units to carry out giant panda breeding.
Giant pandas from Taiwan as a gift. Giant pandas living in the Netherlands, South Korea, and the United States each gave birth to one litter, this is the highest number of litters abroad in history.
In May, the Dutch giant panda "Wu Wen" gave birth to the first baby panda born abroad, named “Fan Xin”. President Xi Jinping and his wife Peng Liyuan exchanged congratulatory letters with King Willem Alexander and Queen Maxima of the Netherlands;
7 August, the South Korean giant panda "Hua Ni" gave birth to a baby, which promoted China-South Korea giant panda scientific research cooperation to a new level.
In August, the US giant panda "Mei Xiang" gave birth to a baby, which is currently the oldest panda to give birth in overseas; In September, the giant panda "Qiao Qiao" introduced in the wild gave birth to a new gene to the captive population; the returned giant pandas "Lin Bing" and “Bao Bao” gave birth to cubs respectively. Great panda friendship between China and the United States.
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This is the diary of the local ranger works in the Foping Nature Reserve, Shannxi, China. The storyline is straightforward. The story is very authentic and meaningful to all panda lovers.
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On the afternoon of December 7, 2020, He Yiwen, one of the staff of the protection station at Sanguan temple, found a wild giant panda who was weak. Mr. He approached the panda and saw that her back was full of blood, and Mr. He reported the situation to his superiors.
Tang Tang was very weak when we saw her in the wild
After the on-site inspection, we named the giant panda "Tang Tang”.
We carried Tang Tang to the protection station
Tang Tang weighed 59 kilograms, which was really too thin for an adult panda. The reason why Tang Tang was so thin is that she had a wound with an area of about 10cm×10cm on her back, which may have been injured for a long time, and the wound was bleeding and purulent. Tang Tang had difficulty eating, she could support her body by one front paw, and pull the bamboo out by another one. The way she ate was bad for herself. Tang Tang had been injured for a while, and the wound had seriously affected her daily life. The protection station invited 9 veterinarians to consult for Tang Tang, and finally worked out the best treatment plan.
Treatment for Tang Tang's wound
9 veterinarians to consult for Tang Tang
On December 14, we conducted a full-body examination of Tang Tang. The examination result showed that Tang Tang is a female giant panda, about 15 years old, weighing about 61kg, and she had a wound with an area of 10x10cm. Fortunately, she has the normal vital signs. What was urgently needed to deal with was Tang Tang’s back trauma. Due to the serious injury, Tang Tang could not sit down and eat normally.
We carried fresh bamboo back from the mountain to fed Tang Tang. She could only eat bamboo while standing. We took turns on duty for the first night. We checked if Tang Tang has eaten and her wound for every hour. We were all relieved that nothing bad happed to Tang Tang for the whole night.
Tang Tang under anesthesia
Tang Tang under anesthesia
Tang Tang was having a medical examination
After a period of treatment, Tang Tang’s trauma has improved and his appetite has increased.
Beside bamboo, we provided honey and apples for Tang Tang, which was good for her recovery. While, Tang Tang did not seem to like the snacks. First, she just threw the apple away and grabbed the bamboo. Then, we tried many ways to encourage her to get more nutrient by spreading honey on the apple. However, Tang Tang just licked the honey and left apple. All we need to do was tried this for several times, and finally she ate the apple. Since then Tang Tang would have 4-6 apples for a day.
Tang Tang’s picky about the fresh bamboo, and she did not eat old bamboo. Therefore, we went to the mountain and took bamboo back everyday, and we put the root of bamboo into the water to keep them from getting dry.
We spent 42 days with Tang Tang and took a great care of her. We cleaned her house, collected the dung and record the data for everyday.
Tang Tang consumed 20-22 kg of bamboo daily, and the weight of feces was 16-17 kg. Tang Tang recovered very well and gained weight gradually. Sometimes Tang Tang was kind of active to play by herself, like bit the bowl after having the meals, or climbed up the wall. We were so glad to see her playing.
On 18th January, we were very sad to be told that Tang Tang would be transferred to get a better care at Qinling Panda Breeding Center. It was real hard to see Tang Tang leave, since we got along well for a month.
Tang Tang
Tang Tang was sleeping after having bamboo
Tang Tang was eating an apple
The staff cleaned the house for Tang Tang everyday
The staff was taking care of the wound on Tang Tang's back
On January 19, 2021, Tang Tang moved to the Qinling Giant Panda Research Center. May Tang Tang fully recover and return to Qinling as soon as possible!
Tang Tang was transferred to the Qinling Giant Panda Research Center
Yong Yange, a well-known panda expert who was studying wildlife in Qinling, found male pandas fighting for mating with a female panda. After that, the team of Yong tracked and made records for a newborn panda cub, Qin Ya and her mother Chun Tian.
In the past 30 years, Yong has reached every corner of the Foping Nature Reserve for many times. Yong always lives in a small tent and has some food without nutrition, following pandas in the forest day and night.
Yong has made breakthroughs in the research of wild giant panda cub by spending time with wild giant pandas. The photo of Qin Ya lying in her mother’s arms, which he took, has also becomes famous, and it has been reported all over the world, which has attracted many people’s attention to protect pandas. Yong hopes that all this he has done will make Qin Ya and other pandas live a better life.
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Song Xingwen, a villager in Goshan Village, Baoxing County in Sichuan Province, found a wild giant panda around his pigpen. It’s his first time seeing a wild panda, and nobody knows what to do with the panda. Villagers are all worried about this panda, and they are not sure if the panda is healthy.
What everyone did not expect was that the giant panda quickly ran up to a 25-meter-high tree. While staring at the panda on the tree, they contacted the Forestry Bureau. The villagers were worried that the branches could not bear the weight of the panda, and the panda would break the branches and be injured by falling from the tree. Everyone is thinking of a way to prevent the panda from falling from the tree. Someone suggested that the villagers go home and bring out all the ropes and bedding at home.
So everyone started to make a safety net for the panda under the tree, using bamboo as a support point, weaving the rope into a net, and then spreading the cotton wool, bed sheets, and mats on the net. If the panda falls from the tree, it will fall on the net and won’t hurt. More and more villagers joined in, and everyone cares about panda.
A staff of Forestry Bureau told villagers the panda will not fall from the tree and he suggested that the villagers remove the net. Staff of Forestry Bureau arranged for the villagers to stay away from the tree, or the panda would stay on the tree and would not come down if he saw the crowd surrounded by the tree. After that, the wild panda got off the tree and ran to the bamboo forest, and soon disappeared.
]]>Dai Li is the first giant panda in the world to undergo amputation, and he is living a happy life with his three legs at Dujiangyan Panda Park. His favorite fruit is apple.
When Dai Li was found by two local villagers in 2001 (only 2 years old then), the leg had been purulent due to bites of other animals. Veterinarians then made a successful amputation on the leg. After a period of recovery, Dai Li is now able to walk normally with his three legs. Dai Li is a very strong male panda, and he does morning exercise for everyday. It is a piece of cake for him to climb trees with only 3 legs.
Dai Li went through the difficulty when he was only two years old, and was able to face life positively after amputation. He must have spared no effort to overcome hardships. He is such a hero. None of us knows if Dai Li ever had the thought of giving up, but he eventually overcome all the difficulties, both physical and psychological. His keepers take a good care of him, and Dai Li inspirers his nannies all the time.
]]>The reproduction of giant pandas in captivity has always been a big problem. There were three main difficulties in reproduction, that is, low mating rate, low conception rate, and low survival rate. In the 50 years from 1937 to 1990, there were more than 200 giant pandas raised in captivity by zoos around the world. Among them, only 11 males have the ability to court and mate; females have less than 30% of their litters; Only one-third of the cubs survived over half a year old. Researchers have stepped up research on artificial insemination techniques for giant pandas to increase the chance of panda pregnancy. And they want to save this beautiful creature by artificial insemination. Therefore, Beijing Zoo used artificial insemination to breed pandas in 1978.
Because giant pandas are very rare, to be on the safe side, researchers have conducted some preliminary experiments with foxes, black bears, wolves, Guangxi monkeys and emerald monkeys. The stimulus index that causes ejaculation is determined through experiments, and the problem of dilution and preservation of semen is solved at the same time. The semen of giant pandas preserved at ultra-low temperature (-196 ℃) between May and June of 1978 still maintained a survival rate of 30%-45% at the time of deposit until May 1980. The female panda “Juan Juan" that received artificial insemination gave birth to two cubs on September 8, 1978, and one of the cub was took care by keeper, (weight 125 grams) died 64 hours after delivery. The other is named “Yuan Jing", which means "the first crystal star" to commemorate the first successful artificial insemination of a giant panda.
After the giant panda artificial insemination technology was successful in the Beijing Zoo, it has been successful in the CCRCGP, Ueno Zoo, Madrid Zoo and Chengdu Zoo, making important contributions to the reproduction of giant pandas.
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I know some folks have been following the news of Mei Xiang and the newborn cub in The Smithsonian’s National Zoo (SNZ) closely. Some netizens have been raising questions and doubt the management of SNZ. CCRCGP(the organization that lent Mei Xiang and Tian Tian) recently posted an article on WeChat that answered and explained the details of the SNZ management.
I found the article is educational and very meaningful to all panda fans. It helps the public to understand the Zoo’s management. So our team translated the article and share it here. I’m very thankful that Mei Xiang(and her family) received a great care in SNZ. And thanks to the CCRCGP step up to share such a good article to help the public to learn the conservation of the giant pandas. *Photo courtesy of the National Zoo.
Original Article Link in Chinese: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/eAwFtrUBjQPXMCAMFLR3nA
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Dear Panda Fans,
Recently, many netizens are concerned about the giant panda “Mei Xiang" in the United States. The Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Pandas (CCRCGP) attaches great importance to the concerns of netizens. CCRCGP had an effective communication with The Smithsonian's National Zoo, according to the issue. The main concerns of netizens are as follows:
1. Feeding
Washington Zoo provides Mei Xiang with 60-100 pounds of yellow trough bamboo and arrow bamboo every day to meet Mei Xiang’s daily food needs. In addition, according to different seasons, complementary foods such as bamboo shoots, cooked sweet potatoes, whole grain biscuits, carrots, apples, pears and sugar cane are provided. Fruit popsicles (frozen food made from diluted apple juice or grape juice with sliced fruit inside) are provided to Mei Xiang as the bonus. All food is distributed to the exhibition areas (both indoor and outdoor) in batches by the keepers several times a day, generally 4-6 times a day. The zoo team regularly conducts physical examinations and assessments of Mei Xiang". By adding appropriate amounts of fruit and vegetable popsicles, apples, and sugar cane to the diet, it can help the keeper to train and guide the giant panda effectively.
Besides bamboo, Mei Xiang and Tian Tian always like to have the fruit popsicles for enrichment. Even if there are bamboos and other snacks next to them, whenever they see popsicles, they will rush straight to them, licking them happily. Due to the long time for licking, most of the juice melted without flowing into the mouth. However, it is a good way to encourage pandas to figure it out how to take the food (of popsicles) into mouths. Giant panda is inherently freeze-tolerant, and feels comfortable in the winter instead of summer. In China, we found most of wild pandas spend lots of time lying on the snow field. While, many domestic zoos usually provide captive pandas with some ice cubes in summer. It is an effective means of enrichment by providing Mei Xiang with appropriate fruit popsicles, and would not be harmful to Mei Xiang.
Sugar cane is one of the main snack of Mei Xiang and Tian Tian. All the food are purchased by the nutrition team of the zoo and kept fresh, and then provided to the giant pandas and other animals by the keepers according to the ratio of nutrients. All the bamboo and supply for giant pandas are weighed by the keepers before feeding. Every keeper must write everything into the work log for every time, including the feeding time and the amount. The quality and quantity of food is guaranteed.
2. Behavior
a.Why Mei Xiang pacing indoors in the morning
The keeper cleans the playground (outdoor) at 7 o'clock every morning, and places food after cleaning. The giant panda knows that it is time to go out and have some fresh bamboo, and panda would be excited and pace indoors before go out, which is normal for pandas. In addition, the east US turned 1 hour back to the standard time as for winter time, which is one hour later than the previous daylight time. The time for keepers to open the gate will be delayed by one hour, and the giant panda will be more active indoors during this time.
2.Why does Mei Xiang make some noise?
There are three situations that Mei Xiang would make noise:
a. When she hears the birds
b. When she smells the food
c. When she talks with her child
3. Staffing
The playground for Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, the indoor exhibition area is about 250㎡, and the outdoor is about 2,700㎡. The Washington Zoo is equipped with 4 full-time keepers who are in charge of the daily life of "Mei Xiang" and "Tian Tian”. Two of the keepers know Mei Xiang and Tian Tian very well, since the first day that two pandas arrived in the National Zoo in 2000. The zoo has set up a professional animal nutrition team for giant pandas. The team makes meals according to the panda’s condition, including fruit popsicles and other food for enrichment.
In the wild, the panda would stay at a small and dark tree hole to take care of her child. This is how the wild pandas protect themselves and their newborn cubs. Therefore, the zoo learns from the wild pandas to make a delivery room for Mei Xiang like that. In fact, Mei Xiang has gave birth in such a space for twice before, and everything’s fine with Mei Xiang and her cubs.
4. Panda’s condition
Mei Xiang’s cub
At present, the cub of Mei Xiang is over 80 days old. The cub grows up normally, and can basically withstand changes in environmental temperature. Mei Xiang sometimes would leave the cub on the ground next to herself to have some bamboo. Her demand for food will return to normal or even higher than normal. For Mei Xiang, she has to ensure that her body is in good health, and is able to breeding her cub. Currently, Mei Xiang weighs 106 kilograms. Sometimes, she leaves the delivery room several times a day to eat and drink, and tries to take the cubs out of the delivery room to other rooms for a short time, and her body has recovered gradually.
There is a veterinary team in charge of pandas’ medical care and physical health, and vets regularly monitor and inspect the health of Mei Xiang and the cubs every week. The latest examination results indicated that Mei Xiang and her cubs both are normal.
5. Artificial insemination by anesthetizing the giant pandas
Artificial insemination is an important technical means to rescue endangered wild animals for assisted reproduction. Due to the strong selectivity of the natural mating of giant pandas, the male panda Tian Tian at the Washington Zoo has not been able to achieve successful natural mating with Mei Xiang. They all reproduce through artificial insemination. The national zoo helped the Mei Xiang and Tian Tian breed their offspring by using this way.
In order to ensure the safety of the giant panda and the staff, artificial insemination under general anesthesia of the giant panda is the safest and most effective method. Today, the technology of anesthesia and artificial insemination is very mature for pandas. Perform general anesthesia for pandas 1-2 times a year to carry out physical examination or insemination, which will not be harmful to pandas. Generally, the panda would be awake and return to normal life the next day after anesthesia.
6. Mei Xiang gave birth at age of 22
The 22-year-old Mei Xiang can estrus normally and give birth successfully, which proves that Mei Xiang is in good physical condition. It also shows that China and the United States have been very successful in the breeding and management of giant pandas. In order to take great care of Mei Xiang, CCRCGP has established a team of experts and the Washington Zoo team to pay close attention to the health of Mei Xiang and her cub, and jointly formulated a scientific breeding management plan, real-time online guidance of breeding work, and guarantee the health and welfare of Mei Xiang and the cub.
The Washington Zoo (The Smithsonian's National Zoo) is the only zoo managed by the U.S. federal government and one of the oldest zoos in the United States. The zoo and the Smithsonian Institute of Conservation Biology owns a group of influential scientists. For a long time, CCRCGP and Washington Zoo have maintained close contact, and the two sides have established a long-term exchange and cooperation mechanism. In the previous two births of Mei Xiang, CCRCGP has sent experts to go to Washington Zoo for cooperation. Due to the COVID-19 this year, CCRCGP provided online guidance and exchanges for Mei Xiang. During this period, Washington Zoo closely monitored and cared for the giant pandas in accordance with the requirements of CCRCGP and the opinions of the expert group. Mei Xiang and the cubs both are in good condition.
We will keep update the life of the giant panda "Mei Xiang" and her cubs. Thank you for your attention and support.
China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center
11th Nov.,2020
Recently, in the Baishuijiang National Nature Reserve in Gansu, the staff found a precious picture of wild pandas "kissing" in the forest while collating infrared camera data.
In the video, two wild giant pandas were dating around a tree, and they looked at each other, then kissed.
]]>The wild giant panda Bai Xue was rescued from a small village in the depths of Qinling Mountains, Shaanxi. She had a scar on her nose, which was very eye-catching.
The giant panda Bai Xue is famous as "runaway bride". She ran away into the wild twice before returning to the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center by herself.
The whole story:
On October 2, 1993, villagers found a sick giant panda in Erlangba Township, deep in the Qinling Mountains of Shaanxi. After the villagers reported to the Forestry Bureau, the staff of the wildlife protection station rushed to the scene immediately. It was in heavy snow at that time, and the car could only drive to a small village that more than 40 miles away from the scene. Everyone walked on the snow and finally found the weak panda. The villagers helped lift the giant panda out of the small village and driven her to Taibai County, Shaanxi.
After preliminary examination, this was a female giant panda about 5 years old. There were many parasites inside and outside the body. It was evaluated that the body was extremely weak due to parasites.
The authority of Taibai held a meeting to study a plan to rescue the panda and named the panda Bai Xue. Because the panda was found in a snowy day, and the place where the panda were found was called Taibai. “So white in Chinese” Then named her Bai Xue.(White Snow) Bai Xue was very gentle and beautiful, and the villagers called her "Snow White."
After Bai Xue's condition stabilized, she was sent to the research center in Louguantai National Forest Park to start the new life.
On August 16, 1994, during the loan exhibition of Fangshan National Forest Park in Suzhou, Bai Xue climbed up the roof along the fence and stomped on the roof. She was frightened and fled. This became a big news in the local. Suzhou TV broadcasted the "panda hunting announcement” every day. The army, public institutions, and citizens all went up the mountain to help. Police dogs were also dispatched. It became a national news. After escaping for 80 days, Bai Xue was taken back to Pangshan National Forest Park.
In 1995, Bai Xue was sent to the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center to be a member of panda breeding program. On May 7, 2001, Bai Xue went through three iron gates secretly when all the keepers were cleaning, and she went over a fence, and disappeared among the mountains. The keeper had no idea about how did Bai Xue run away from the enclosure, because she locked the iron door.
After Bai Xue escaped, the staff went up the mountain to look for her. Although the research center provides milk and apples for Bai Xue, and the wild is full of dangers, Bai Xue gave up the comfortable life in captivity and chose the freedom in the wild.
After living in the wild for more than 4 years, in November 2005, Bai Xue came back! Someone saw a giant panda walking around the gate of research center. People tried to lead her back to the mountain, but she refused to leave. Then, the staff of research center use anesthesia to check her body, and found the panda was Bai Xue, who left the center 4 years ago. At this time, Bai Xue was here for help.
She accidentally pierced a sharp bone stubble into her gums while eating and caused infection. As the pain worsened, she could not eat normally. Bai Xue remembered her human friends.
Bai Xue had fully recovered and continued to live in the China Giant Panda Conservation and Research Center after treatment.
The story is like a novel. Unfortunately, the "runaway bride" died of cancer in 2015. Bai Xue left many offspring. In 1997, Bai Xue gave birth to her first child, her eldest son Lin Lin. Lin Lin was chose as a breed male giant panda with the wild genes. His descendants include Yuan Yuan from Taiwan, Xian Nu and Xiang Xiang who lives in Japan, Wu Yi who lives in Chengdu, etc. They are all related to Bai Xue.
Wish all the children and grandchildren of Bai Xue a long and healthy life!
Source (Chinese): https://www.sohu.com/a/149745072_665100
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]]>The oldest male giant panda in the world, Pan Pan, who died at 4:50am on December 28, 2016, at the age of 31, which is equivalent to a hundred years old for humans. (Note: The giant panda Ba Si who has passed away was called “Pan Pan”, because she was the prototype the mascot of the 1990 Asian Games, and the mascot was named “Pan Pan”.) The number of Pan Pan’s offspring is about 130, which nearly is a quarter of giant panda populations in the world. The netizens said that giant panda Pan Pan saved this species by himself.
Ya’an was the hometown of Pan Pan, and he was an orphan and rescued form wild at Sichuan Fengtongzhai Reserve.
An orphan of giant panda: Pan Pan’s hometown Jiajin Mountain
Cui Xuezhen, a former director of Fengtongzhai reserve, who devoted his life to his career and was retired 9 year ago. On December 28, 2016, Cui saw the news of the death of the 31-year-old giant panda Pan Pan.
He has a work diary that records more than 50 giant pandas rescued from the wild by him and his colleagues since the 1980s, which is a history book about panda-protecting of Jiajin Mountain.
It is wrote that the place where and the date when Pan Pan was rescued, and this is Pan Pan’s first profile:
Date: May 1st, 1987
Location: Yanjing county
Age: 3 months
The rescue staff: Liu Zhongming
Note: The panda cub was found in the forest alone without adult panda. It was said that adult panda would not recognize the cub if they are separated from each other for only one night. The cub was named Pan Pan. Later, Pan Pan moved to Wolong.
There is another staff of Fengtongzhai reserve named Yang Benqing, who remembered the day rescued Pan Pan. It was a forest at the altitude about 2500 meters. At that time, the arrow bamboo in Jiajin Mountain bloomed in large areas. The government of Baoxing County and a large number of patrol to rescue the giant pandas from the mountain. Liu Zhongming found the panda cub. The patrol realized that this was an orphan, who might be abandoned by the adult, after monitoring the cub for a whole night.
Liu brought the cub to the office of reserve by confirming that there was no other pandas around. The cub looked very weak and his body covered with sores. The keeper Li Wuke (past away) took a good care of the cub, while he was looking after another panda cub named An An, who was an orphan, too. These two panda cubs were about the same age. Li prepared two milk bottles for the cubs, or they would fight over the milk. Li shareed his bed with the cubs for every night. The pandas would make some noise when they need to pee or poo. Panda cubs were getting stronger and stronger with the great care of nanny Li.
Gao Huakang, who had worked at Fengtongzhai Reserve, has hobby as photograph, and he collected many pandas’ pictures for a panda file. Pan Pan was part of his file. There are two photos which are so precious. One is that nanny Li was feeding Pan Pan with milk, and An An was begging for more milk; another is the cub playing with a little girl, and the girl named Xiang Ke, who is the daughter of the staff. Due to the experience of growing up with pandas, the little girl Xiang Ke, who applied for a college major related to the wildlife and giant pandas when grown up.
Gao Huakang’s wife had spent time taking care of Pan Pan, and she remembered that Pan Pan was very naughty and smart. The panda can open the gate and hang out for a while by himself, even if the keeper locked the door. And he would go back to the house when he was tired.
From September 1990 to January 1991, Pan Pan traveled to Singapore as a cultural ambassador together with An An under the name “Xin Xing". This was the first time that giant panda had been exhibited in Southeast Asia. During the three-month exhibition, the number of visitors reached 450,000. On New Year's Day in 1991, it was the last day of Pan Pan and An An exhibited in Singapore. The sun was shining brightly on that day, and many tourists made a special trip to say goodbye to the giant pandas and hope that the giant pandas would come to Singapore and settle down there.
On September 5, 2012, giant pandas Wu Jie and Lu Bao set off from Bifengxia, Ya'an, and went to Singapore for a 10-year international scientific research exchange and cooperation activities on giant pandas.
Giant panda An An at Hong Kong Ocean Park
A great father: Pan Pan played an important role in this big panda family.
Pan Pan had been living at the rescue base of Fengtongzhai Reserve for more than 4 years. On May 4, 1991, the young panda Pan Pan left Fengtongzhai and came to Wolong Nature Reserve Research Center, which is next to Jiajin mountain.
Pan Pan at Dujiangyan Panda Base
In the 1970s, the Beijing Zoo performed artificial breeding on giant pandas for the first time. Most of the panda cubs, who did not get breast milk from mothers died of diseases. Because the cub cannot grow with a strong immunity without breast milk, and were prone to respiratory and digestive diseases.
The China Conservation and Research Center of Giant Panda in Wolong Nature Reserve was established in 1983. Pan Pan, who had a strong body with a cute face, was selected as a male breeder. At that time, there were only 4 male giant pandas that could mate naturally, and Pan Pan was one of them. The strong panda Pan Pan lived up to expectations. He mated with female panda Dong Dong naturally, and then became a father. The birth of Pan Pan’s first child Bai Yun, who is the first panda cub that survival due to the artificial breeding for past 10 years.
Giant panda Dong Dong
Since then, Pan Pan mated with other females, and had more children. Pan Pan was getting popular as a great papa.
On September 7, 1991, the giant panda Bai Yun was born at the Wolong Panda Base, and was sent to the San Diego Zoo on September 10, 1996. Bai Yun is the first surviving and breeding offspring of Wolong, opened a new chapter in the history of artificial feeding about giant pandas. Having inherited the excellent genes of this heroic father, Pan Pan’s children have bred more offspring, and Pan Pan became the ancestor of this giant panda family.
The daughter of Pan Pan and Dong Dong--Bai Yun at Dujiangyan Panda Base
From the day of the birth, the giant panda Bai Yun (“White Cloud” in Chinese) has been like a white cloud floating in the blue sky of Wolong. She has given hopes to the researchers who had contributed to the career of the giant panda, and also left a historic record in the scientific research of artificial feeding about giant pandas.
Later, Bai Yun moved to the US. She paired with giant pandas Shi Shi and Gao Gao, and gave birth to Hua Mei, Mei Sheng, Su Lin, Zhen Zhen, and Xiao Li Wu in the United States.
Giant panda Shi Shi
The male giant panda Gao Gao was born in Jiajin mountain, which is the same place with Pan Pan’s birthplace. On April 6, 1993, villagers found a panda cub, who was lost in the wild. At that time, Gao Gao was about 1 year old. It was said that Gao Gao was seriously injured with blood on his face and one ear got shredded. Gao Gao was very weak. While, Gao Gao has a tenacious will to be a winner. After being treated by staff of Fengtongzhai Nature Reserve, Gao Gao moved to Wolong Panda Base to start his new life. After all of this, Gao Gao became the son-in-law of Pan Pan, the husband of Bai Yun, and Mei Sheng, Su Lin, and Zhen Zhen, Xiao Li Wu are the children of them.
Giant panda Hua Mei & her cubs Jin Du Du and Hua Meng Meng
Hua Mei is a great mother, and she has given birth to six cubs. Among them, the giant panda that giving to Taiwan, Tuan Tuan, is her son. Bai Yun is Tuan Tuan’s grand mother, and Pan Pan was Tuan Tuan’s great grandfather. With the birth of Yuan Zai, the fifth generation of the Pan Pan family was appeared, and Pan Pan became the “great grand grandfather".
The male giant panda Tai Shan, one of Pan Pan’s grandsons, is a real super star. 220,000 Americans participated in his naming activities after Tai Shan was born. The world’s first giant panda released into the wild, Xiang Xiang, was the grandson of Pan Pan, too.
Pan Pan's grandson--giant panda Tai Shan at Shengshuping Panda Base
Pan Pan’s offsprings, each of them, is shining with a charming halo with their legendary stories.
Pan Pan's 30th birthday party at Dujiangyan Panda Base
The elderly life of Pan Pan
As a “great grand grandfather” of the panda family, the number of Pan Pan’s children is a quarter of the captive giant pandas among the world.
On August 31, 2015, during the first Dujiangyan Giant Panda Festival, the reporter made a special trip to the Dujiangyan Panda Base to visit Pan Pan.
Pan Pan was always energetic and vitality among the pandas when he was young. Pan Pan was very excited, and the smell of hormones was exuded all over his body during the season of mating. When he was young, Pan Pan was so strong with his wild gene, and he was chosen as one of the few male breeders. With time went by, Pan Pan was getting older and older.
Pan Pan was laying on the ground. Nobody knew what he was thinking.
“Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday to you! ” On September 21, 2015, the oldest male panda Pan Pan, who had the most offsprings, celebrated his 30th birthday with panda keepers and fans at the Dujiangyan Panda Base. The keepers of panda base made a great ice cake with carrots for Pan Pan, who was equivalent to 100 years of human, licked the ice lightly.
With the assistance of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, the China Conservation and Research Center of Giant Panda established a panda base act as a “Giant Panda Nursing Home" in Dujiangyan. The nursing home is focus on disease control and taking care of elderly giant pandas. It is a beautiful place to visit more than 20 elderly pandas, including Pan Pan.
Pan Pan moved to the “Pan Pan’s Garden” of Dujiangyan Panda Base with other senior pandas from Bifengxia. When Pan Pan first arrived at the nursing home, he was in good health, with little tooth loss, and he was active for about 5 hours a day. Pan Pan had a good appetite and he consumed 7-10 kg of food every day, mainly bamboo leaves and bamboo shoots.
Sometimes, it is unacceptable to be an old man. From the beginning of 2015, the keeper began to provide Pan Pan with drugs to promote gastrointestinal digestion, such as ammonia nutrient solution, in an attempt to improve his digestion. However, Pan Pan was getting weaker and weaker by the disease, and he suffered from cataracts and tooth degradation, too.
Pan Pan was a brave panda, and he fought with disease in the end of his life. Pan Pan turned 31 on September 1, 2016. At the birthday party prepared by the keepers, Pan Pan was spirited and bit off the number “31” on the birthday cake.
At the beginning of November, Pan Pan’s abdomen became enlarged, and the blood test report showed that many of his health test numbers were abnormal. After undergoing anesthesia examination and CT scan, the doctor found a huge soft tissue density mass in the abdominal cavity of Pan Pan, which was suspected to be a tumor occupying lesion. Due to a long-term illness, Pan Pan's teeth were severely worn and his immune system was weak. His body was so weak that cannot withstand the surgical treatment, so palliative treatment has to be taken.
In the last days of Pan Pan's life, he lived in a quiet house, which is not open to the tourists. In addition to special care for Pan Pan, heaters were installed in the room, and Pan Pan's favorite bamboo shoots were airlifted from outside the province.
Xue Yubin , a photographer of Xinhua News went to visit Pan Pan and took some photos for him in December 2016. A few days later, Pan Pan passed away. Although Pan Pan was very thin and weak, he could react and come to have meals whenever the keepers brought him panda cake and fresh bamboo leaf.
Three days before his death, Pan Pan’s body deteriorated rapidly, he was unconscious and refused to eat. Although medical staff tried their best to rescue Pan Pan, the world’s oldest male giant panda, died at 4:50 on December 28, 2016.
Cui Xuezhen wrote down in his diary: Although Pan Pan is gone, we are not alone, because his story is still persisted, and his children and grandchildren are by our side.
Referece: sohu.com/a/194837149_301667
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Dan Dan (Female)
(1972-2001)
Rescued from the wild at Foping, Shaanxi province, China in 1985
Moved to Xi’an Zoo
There are five brown giant pandas have been reported around the whole world, and the fifth one is the Qi Zai, who are very famous for his brown hair.
Qi Zai
Today, we are going to introduce the first brown panda Dan Dan, who was found by the local rangers.
Dan Dan
The person who found Dan Dan was named Lu Guoyou. On March 28, 1985, when he was patrolling with villagers, he found Dan Dan at the river of Foping County, Shaanxi Province. The sick panda Dan Dan looked restless, who was flapping the bamboo leaves with her paws. After a while, she staggered and rolled on the ground with pain.
Professor Pan Wenshi was tracking giant pandas in Qinling. He rushed to the site when he heard the news. Dan Dan was dying.
Dan Dan was found at Foping
It was confirmed that the panda’s fur was brown by Dr. Pan. That was different from other pandas with black and white fur. The researchers thought it was some dirt stuck on the panda’s fur, but Dr. Pan checked her carefully, and the truth was that she did have the brown hair! Dr. Pan took a rare picture of Dan Dan by his camera.
The panda was surrounded by Pan’s students. A student tried to touch Dan Dan’s fluffy ear with his hand, and Dan Dan yelled and hit him back with the front paws. Then, the panda tried to crawl away with the heavy breath, and she went in the bush and tried to crawl over a rock. However, she was too weak to keep going. So she turned back to the students and sat down without strength. Dan Dan kept her eyes on the students.
Dr. Pan sat down and looked at the panda from few meters away, and he was thinking that the panda was so amazing with a pretty face and the brown hair. What made the panda so special was that her brown eyes, which looked like a brown cat’s nose, lip and fur.
Dr. Pan pass Dan Dan some bamboo leaves, when she calmed down. But she pushed them away, and buried her head into the arms with the back arching highly. This is how the panda to tell other that he/she was angry or agitated. Dr Pan checked the panda again when she buried the head, and he found no black fur on her body. Dan Dan is a 100% brown panda bear!
What Dr. Pan see made him very excited, and this was a unique precious animal!
Dan Dan
At that time, people knew little about the diseases of giant pandas, and there was no suitable medicine on hand. But people realized that methods must be taken quickly to relieve the panda’s suffering and protect her from the cold weather at night. The lads in the village picked up dry wood and lit a bonfire for Dan Dan. Everyone took turns to take care of Dan Dan, and protected her away from wild dogs and other animals. The staff on duty regularly recorded clinical symptoms such as breathing so as to make a correct diagnosis of the diseases.
They prepared sugar and milk for the panda, but Dan Dan knocked everything over without drinking. Faced with the help, the panda became more and more vigilant. Dan Dan had no idea about why people feeding her, and she was very nervous. Then, Dr. Pan realized that it is necessary to make the panda to trust them.
Dr. Pan asked everyone to stay away from the panda as far as they can, and left two of students to get close with Dan Dan step by step. The students whispered to Dan Dan when they were 1 meter away. The bamboo was split with a candy in the middle. The students put the candy into Dan Dan’s mouth gently.
The panda chewed the candy. Then, the students pass Dan Dan the sugar water with spoon. The panda was very clever, and she grabbed the spoon to drink the milk and sugar water. When her life was at stake, people provided nutrients for the panda. But there was another problem that Dan Dan didn’t eat bamboo.
The next morning, people went to the mountain to figure it out that the reason Dan Dan refused to eat bamboo. From the bamboo stubs he had eaten and his feces, it was found that the panda has lost the ability to select tender bamboos and the bamboo leaves in the feces are extremely poorly digested. Usually, the giant panda would choose the tender bamboo leaves but Dan Dan indiscriminately snapped off the bamboo stems at every age.
The feces of a healthy panda are wrapped in masses of intestinal mucus. The bamboo leaves of this panda's feces were scattered on the ground. Besides, her feces contained a lot of water and undigested bamboo leaves——she might have enteritis. Pan Wenshi's team examined a large number of roundworm eggs in the stool under the microscope, proving that the roundworm was continuing to consume the nutrients. Maybe this was why the panda looked so thin and weak.
With the experience of feeding sugar with bamboo poles, the students did the same. Every 3 hours, they would sandwich two oxytetracyclines between the bamboo poles and deliver the medicine to Dan Dan’s mouth for relieving the symptoms of enteritis. Soon, the staff and doctors of the reserve arrived, and Dan Dan was carried to the town. The giant panda was getting better and was getting used to living with humans. After being transported to the Sanctuary, the roundworm in Dan Dan’s belly disappeared and her weight rose from 120 kg to 165 kg.
Dan Dan
Dan Dan’s name was give by Professor Pan. “Dan” is a homophonic of “Single" in Chinese, which means Dan Dan was a unique panda. “Dan" refers to “red”, and which indicated that the panda had brown hair.
On May 8, 1985, Dan Dan settled in Xi'an Zoo, and she attracted lots of visitors to zoo
Everybody was looking forward to see what does Dan Dan’s child look like, since she was the first brown panda found in the world. Would the cub look like Dan Dan with brown fur?
In April 1986, Dan Dan mated with Wan Wan and gave birth to twins on September 13 of that year, but the cubs did not survive. In 1989, Dan Dan mated with Wan Wan again. On August 31, Dan Dan gave birth to a healthy baby boy named Qin Qin with black and white hair.
Dan Dan was mating with Wan Wan
Dan Dan and her baby Qin Qin
Qin Qin
Qin Qin
Qin Qin
On September 7, 2000, Dan Dan died of skin cancer.
In 1990s, Dan Dan was getting old (the average life span of a giant panda is about 30 years), and she had problem with digestion. In 1995, Dan Dan was in a bad condition with weight loss. Dan Dan rarely had some bamboo leaves, and she needed ice to keep cold at summer. In winter, Dan Dan lost appetite without exercise, which was not a good thing to learn.
In summer of 1997, Dan Dan hardly stood up and had meals. Then, some experts were called to consulted for Dan Dan, who was getting better.
In 1999, Dan Dan was partially blind. The zoo took a great care of Dan Dan and used the best medicine to relieve her pain. But her body was getting weak day by day.
On May 8, 2000, the keeper Wu Shuqin found some lumps around Dan Dan's anus, and Wu reported to the veterinary. On May 12, the veterinary of zoo consulted with relevant experts from the Dermatology and Oncology Department of Xijing Hospital, and the initial diagnosis was squamous cell carcinoma. On May 15th, the zoo held an emergency meeting and made detailed preparations for Dan Dan’s biopsy on the next day. Dan Dan was decided to fast for a while by the zoo to ensure that she can receive a biopsy with the empty stomach.
Dan Dan suffered from cancer in May. Her abdomen and lungs were inflamed, and she was accompanied by fluid accumulation. Dan Dan had symptoms of convulsions, the duration of convulsions was getting longer and longer, and the interval was getting shorter and shorter. The zoo applied the best treatment on Dan Dan, but she seemed not get better.
Dan Dan was rescued by the doctors
On September 1, Dan Dan convulsed all day and couldn't eat anything. She was extremely weak and laid down in the enclosure. The veterinary rescued her for twice. Dan Dan had oxygen in her nostrils for 24 hours, and this was how she sustain the life. More than a dozen staff of the zoo kept watching Dan Dan’s condition closely. Several zoo experts from the northwest region who were meeting in Xi’an rushed to the zoo.
At around 9 o'clock in the evening on September 6, Dan Dan suddenly quickened her breathing and opened her mouth wide. The keeper and veterinarian who had been stayed with Dan Dan rescued her immediately.
At 12 am on September 7th, the doctor put medicine into Dan Dan’s mouth. At 2:05am, the veterinary gave her the medicine again. From 4 am to 9 am, Dan Dan breathed faster and faster, and her heartbeat kept accelerating. At 10:30am, the heartbeat reached 74 beats per minute.
At 10:35am on September 7, 2000, Dan Dan, who had fought the illness for more than three months, finally stopped breathing and left us forever.
The zoo was quiet, while Dan Dan’s son, Qin Qin, who stamped his feet around the enclosure
Dan Dan lived in this world for 29 years. Five years after Dan Dan passed away, on November 22, 2006, Qin Qin died of severe pulmonary congestion and edema at the age of 17.
Some details of Qin Qin before his death are clearly remembered in the staff's notebook: At 10:00 on November 21, Qin Qin was playing with tires in the yard; At 18 o'clock, Qin Qin had some carrots and panda cake; At 0:30am on the 22nd, Qin Qin had some bamboo; at 1:30am, drinking and defecation; At 3:30am, rested in bed and breathing normally; At 8:37am, it was discovered that Qin Qin had stopped his heartbeat, the stool was normal. There was no trace of struggling, and the lying position was no different from normal.
After Qin Qin passed away, the keepers was really sad and cried in front of the empty enclosure
The keeper who spent 13 years taking care of Qin Qin wailed on the ground
After Dan Dan, the brown pandas were found in the wild in Foping in 1990, 1991, and 1992, and all of them disappeared in the forest. Except the famous one, Qi Zai, who was found in 2009.
Qi Zai
As the rare individuals of the giant panda, the brown panda is related to genetic or geographic factors. Scientists have not yet found the exact cause, and we look forward to solving this mystery one day.
Reference: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/mEEsjWtNh_QxgPRBWNfhdg
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Yong Yange (1st person from left) was taking photo for Xi Yue with his team
I learned Xi Yue from this article. He's a wild panda rarely known to the outside world. Enjoy the good read.
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Xi Yue (Joy) was a wild giant panda found in Qinling Mountain. 10 years ago, Xi Yue was a young boy, and he met human in the forest. For now, Xi Yue lives at the wild of Sanguan temple, Shaanxi province, China. There are some amazing stories between Xi Yue and human.
It is well known that giant pandas spend most of time eating and sleeping. Bamboo is the most important food for giant pandas. They spend at least 12 hours each day eating bamboo. Because bamboo is so low in nutrients, pandas eat a lot of it daily. This is why visitors always see pandas eating or sleeping in the zoo. Xi Yue was as same as other pandas on habitat and diet. Here are some amazing stories about Xi Yue.
The giant panda moves around the mountains according to different seasons in the wild. As a wild panda, Xi Yue was able to settle down in the forest and mate with other pandas. The average lifespan of wild giant panda is about 20 years, while the longest lifespan of the giant panda raised in captivity is 37 years old. Xi Yue was an elder panda since the first time he was found.
The habitat of Xi Yue was around Sanguan temple, where he lived a wonderful life. Lots of visitors came to the mountain to meet the panda Xi Yue, and someone were lucky to meet the panda and shared some beautiful memories with him. However, someone missed him by looking for the panda all around the mountain.
The stories of Xi Yue:
1st Story
At that time, if you met a giant panda in the wild around Sanguan temple with camouflage, then gently called him: kitten! kitten! This giant panda would come to you slowly, and he was Xi Yue. At Foping nature reserve, it was available only for lucky ones to meet the panda.
Xi Yue
For the animals in the wild, when humans enter animals’ territory, animals will leave the territory or warn the trespasser to leave. While, Xi Yue was different from other animals. He would not go away when he heard human’s talking, and he didn’t refuse the people, who worn camouflage, to get close to him. Xi Yue was very popular by taking some bamboo shoot from the human when met in the forest. People loved the way that Xi Yue ate bamboo, and they became the fans of him.
In March 2014, I met Xi Yue for the first time. I called him “kitten” but he kept eating without respond. I guess the eating was more important than talking to me. 10 minutes later, it seemed that Xi Yue had enough bamboo and he kept walking to the path instead of returning to the bush. The panda marked all the way, and he keep looking back at me. The way he walked was just like a model walking on T-stage, which impressed me a lot.
2nd Story
When I first met Xi Yue, I thought he was just a young panda. But he actually is a strong giant panda. He always wins the fights to other male pandas. He is very popular among the female pandas.
Xi Yue
Xi Yue was the strongest panda I have ever met in the wild. In 2013, Xi Yue's left canine was knocked out in a fight for the right of mating. What surprised everyone was that he let people to treat his wound without attacking. The man who treated Xi Yue was Dr. Jin Yipeng, a professor of China Agricultural University.
The researchers would find Xi Yue and checked his body from the mountains, and he was willing to do all of this. Xi Yue grown so strong and was able to defeat opponents to take mating rights, which is might due to the physical check. Xi Yue was famous for his good looking and strong body.
3rd Story
In April 2010, Xi Yue won the right of mating, and he mated with a female in the wild. The female climbed the tree after mating with Xi Yue. While, Xi Yue just guarded his lover under the tree, and he was afraid that some other males would come to the female. Liang Qihui, a photographer of wildlife, who was so lucky to met Xi Yue and his lover by accident. However, Xi Yue noted that Liang was watching him, and the panda was annoyed. Suddenly, Xi Yue stood up from the ground and ran after Liang. Liang was scared and ran away by jumping off the hillside. Maybe Xi Yue knew that Liang was weak and not the enemy. Xi Yue did not chase Liang anymore, and he went back to his lover.
In March 2014, Yong Yangge, a panda expert, who met Xi Yue again. It’s the mating season of giant pandas, and Xi Yue was fighting for his lover with other male pandas. Yong and his team were the audience of this competition. Xi Yue punched Yong on his chest when he found the humans around, and Yong’s jacket was tore into pieces. Then, Yong came up to an idea by calling him “kitten”! Xi Yue found Yong’s not a competitor, he left Yong and his team and ran after other male pandas.
Xi Yue
On November 11, 2014, a giant panda was spotted by villagers gnawing antelope legs. It was confirmed that this giant panda was Xi Yue. I have seen animal bone residues in the feces of giant pandas, but this was the first time I have seen giant pandas eat meat.
Xi Yue and a female panda
4th Story
As he grown older, Xi Yue was more cautious when fighting for mating rights. He took advantage of the geographical conditions, seized opportunities that were beneficial to him, and became more wise.
In the spring of 2015, Xi Yue followed a female with several male pandas. Unfortunately, Xi Yue was failed to win the female’s heart by losing the opportunity to beat other males.
In 2017, even though Xi Yue defeated other male pandas, he was not favored by the female and lost the opportunity to mate again. He kept fighting with other for the right of mate.
In the spring of 2018, the senior Xi Yue appeared in the fight of mating. Xi Yue was found following a young female panda. However, it seemed that the young panda would like to mate with a young male instead of the elderly Xi Yue, and the female hidden herself into a cave.
5th Story
In 2019, Xi Yue was wounded by fighting with other males, and his right leg was injured. Xi Yue was no longer a vigorous giant panda waling in the forest, but a disabled elderly panda. However, Xi Yue is not an ordinary panda. He did not give up for fighting right to mate. He continued to persist in his territory and live tenaciously.
In 2020 Spring, Xi Yue was found in the fight for mating rights again! He broke the record of the mating age of giant pandas. It gave us more hopes on reproduction of the giant panda population in Foping. However, Xi Yue was injured again in the fight and did not win mating rights like last year.
Xi Yue is a legend with his amazing life!
Resorce: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/H89E-uu5obrXh6lj025z1Q
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]]>26 years ago, He Changlin rescued a panda cub by feeding him with his grandson’s baby milk bottle. 25 years later, He’s grandson, He Xin, who works as a panda keeper, spent about three years with Ping Ping in Foping Panda Base. This is an amazing story about the giant panda Ping Ping and He’s family.
Ping Ping at Hua Yang County, Shaanxi
The villager saved Ping Ping’s life
On an afternoon in November 1991, Wu Yuncai and Wang Tiejun, the staff of the Foping Nature Reserve, surprisedly found a panda cub that the size of a kitten while they were patrolling. This cub was lying on the snow with half-squinted eyes, and he looked very weak with some wailing sound. Wu Yuncai, who has been worked at reserve for many years, picked up the cub from the snow and held him in his arms. Wu knew that the female panda would abandon the cubs if they smell something strange from the cubs. The staff carried the cub to a shelter around Sanguan temple by walking for 2 hours at night.
Ping Ping
The cub was named Ping Ping by the staff, and they hope the cub live a good life without dangers. Ping Ping was too young to have some food, so someone put a little milk powder in a teacup to made the milk and fed him with a spoon, while the cub didn’t seem to like milk.
Wang Tiejun held Ping Ping with his arms to sleep for a whole night. Wang was amused by Ping Ping, who was just like a baby rolling on the bed.
Sanguan temple is located in the Foping National Nature Reserve and is the core area of giant pandas’ habitat. At that time, there were 14 households with more than 50 villagers. The village was remote and the villagers were very poor, and all the daily necessities were needed to be transported from the town about a hundred miles away by horses. Wang heard that a villager named He Changlin, and he had a grandchild who was still breastfeeding. Then, Wang went to borrow a baby bottle for the panda cub.
Although the milk powder was very expensive to the villagers, He Changlin and his wife filled a bottle of milk for the panda. However, Ping Ping showed no interests to the milk. When HE saw it, he hugged it in his arms like a child. His wife squeezed a drop of milk onto his mouth. It worked very well. Ping Ping immediately grabbed the pacifier and sucked it. After a while, he drank it up.
He Changlin was feeding Ping Ping with his wife
The shelter of Sanguan temple was not qualified to take a good care of panda. Therefore, Wang Tiejun carried the cub to the town by walking in the snow. There was a staff named Zhao Naxun, who came from the office of Foping nature reserve, and he took Ping Ping away.
Zhao took care of Ping Ping for two years, and sometimes he walked the panda around the forest at sunny day. Ping Ping enjoyed playing with some kids when he stayed at the keepers’ office, and he was interested in imitating the behaviors by watching keepers pick up phone. Ping Ping was identified as a boy at age of 6 months by professor Pan Wenshi.
Zhao Naxun was walking with Ping Ping
In November 1993, Shaanxi Wild Animal Rescue Center (SWARC) was qualified to raise and rescue wild animals. The office decided to send Ping Ping to SWARC. On the departure day, Ping Ping was reluctant to leave. Zhao was very sad to see him leaving.
Ping Ping at the keepers’ office
Ping Ping climbed the car
Ping Ping became a father by mating with female panda Xue Xue at SWARC. Ping Ping's daughter Lou Sheng was born in 2003, who is the first giant panda successfully reproduced by artificial insemination in Shaanxi Province. In 2009, Lou Sheng gave birth to twins, and Ping Ping became a grandfather. Ping Ping became a great panda papa with a strong fertility.
Ping Ping and Xue Xue
Xue Xue and Lou Sheng
Lou Sheng
Ping Ping, who had been away from his hometown for 19 years, came from the research center to the Foping Panda Base and "reunited" with his old friend He Xin. At this time, Ping Ping was 21 years old and weighed 109 kilograms, which was equivalent to 70 years of human.
He Xin and Ping Ping
Ping Ping was curious about his new home. He Xin woke up at 6 o’clock, and prepared bamboo and milk for Ping Ping. He would do the house-swapping when Ping Ping was playing and eating in the garden. Sometimes, He Xin had to make sure that Ping Ping is fine in the middle night, and he wrote down everything about Ping Ping. It was not an easy job for He Xin, but he loved to spend time with Ping Ping. He Xin said, Ping Ping had a good appetite for consuming 80kg of bamboo everyday. It was necessary to cut the bamboo leaves into pieces, and Ping Ping’s teeth were worn out badly.
In 2006, the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Foping Nature Reserve started a long-term cooperative research project on giant pandas. The son of He Changlin, He Qinggui became a ranger to track and monitor giant panda in the wild. He Changgui’s eldest son is a tour guide, and brings many tourists come to his hometown to introduce giant pandas to them. He Xin, one of He Changlin’s grandchildren, becomes a panda keeper at Foping Panda Base. He Xin was told by the other about that Ping Ping was rescued by sharing with his milk, when he was an infant.
He Xin's holding a panda cub
Ping Ping enjoyed his new life with the care of He Xin at Foping Panda Base. Ping Ping liked to play with the milk bowl, and he put the bowl on his head after drinking. Sometimes, Ping Ping sat on the bowl, and He Xin would bring a new bowl when Ping Ping broke it. Ping Ping liked to lick the crumbs when he was eating panda cake.
Ping Ping was playing with a bowl after drinking the milk
I was very fortune to meet He Xin in Foping Nature Reserve. He was taking care of the brown panda, Qi Zai. He shared so many good panda stories with us. I will sure post it here later.
(Right to Left: Me, Karen, Christie, He Xin)
Ping Ping passed away in 2015.
Reference: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/zYB75FfAfTxUpj1SgRASVA
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A giant panda named Jin Zhu was found to have both male and female reproductive organs. This is the first giant panda with intersex reproductive organs found in the history. Jin Zhu might have been live a miserable life, because he/she could not determine the gender or breed offspring like other pandas.
Fortunately, humans helped Jin Zhu to live a happy life. Out of respect for Jin Zhu, the research team of giant panda helped her to be a female giant panda successfully by applying the method called gender guidance instead of surgery. Jin Zhu became a mother after being treated. For the whole country, it was a miracle among the animal world.
In June 2002, Li Desheng, the director of the China Conservation and Research Center of Giant Panda in Wolong, Sichuan received a call from Kobe, Japan: "It's unbelievable! The giant panda Jin Zhu brought on loan from China, who’s found to have both male and female reproductive organs. We hope some expert in China come to help us to tell Jin Zhu’s gender!” Mr. Li flew to Kobe Oji Zoo after the call.
In July 2000, as ambassadors of peace and friendship, the 4-year-old male giant panda Jin Zhu and the 5-year-old female giant panda Shuang Shuang moved to Japan and started a 10-year loan life. Jin Zhu and Shuang Shuang were very popular in Japan, and they became the super stars in Kobe.
Jin Zhu were turning 6 years old after living at Kobe for 2 years, and it’s time for them to make the panda babies. However, Jin Zhu showed no affection for the female panda Shuang Shuang. Experts at Kobe Zoo were worried about the pandas, then they performed a physical examination on Jin Zhu. What surprised everyone about the report was that Jin Zhu, who had been regarded as a male, had both male and female genitalia!
Li Desheng checked Jin Zhu carefully, and was surprised too. He admitted that Jin Zhu did have both male and female genitalia, and Jin Zhu was the first intersex giant panda in the world.
After discussion between China and Japan, it was decided to bring Jin Zhu back to Sichuan, China. Both parties agreed that it’s the best choice to take Jin Zhu home, according to the panda’s condition.
The China Conservation and Research Center of Giant Panda took a great care of Jin Zhu by arranging the experienced keepers at hometown.
Mr. Li and his colleges checked Jin Zhu carefully again, which showed that Jin Zhu has both male XY chromosomes and female XX chromosomes. Now, Mr. Li was worried about Jin Zhu’ future life: The panda would never be a real male or female.
Something bad happened to Jin Zhu. Jin Zhu’s behavior seems to be very masculine. some female pandas treated Jin Zhu as the Mr. Right, when they were together. The female pandas kept showing their affections for Jin Zhu, while Jin Zhu had no respond to them. The females walked away in frustration.
However, some males thought Jin Zhu was a girl. One day, a very strong male followed Jin Zhu all the way, and he wanted to mate with Jin Zhu. Jin Zhu refused the male and pushed him away. While the male was offered by Jin Zhu, and he beaten Jin Zhu too hard. Luckily, another male panda named Lu Lu saved Jin Zhu from the danger. Then Jin Zhu stood up from the ground when the male went away.
The pandas had no ideas about Jin Zhu’s gender.
It seemed that Jin Zhu realized that there was something different from others. Jin Zhu looked unhappy and lost some wight. Mr. Li was really sad about Jin Zhu, and he was trying to fix it.
Li Desheng and his colleagues believed that if Jin Zhu was artificially performed sex reassignment surgery, it might go against the panda’s will. Moreover, even if a sexual organ could be removed by surgery, it might not help Jin Zhu choose the gender correctly, for Jin Zhu already had his/her own thoughts, and the experts cannot determine the panda’s gender with the surgical only. The best way was to guide Jin Zhu to determine his gender psychologically, which would cause the increase or decrease of sex hormones in the body, and finally confirm the gender physically. However, this approach was likely to end in failure.
Ya'an Bifengxia Panda Base is a subordinate base of the China Conservation and Research Center of Giant Panda, where several pandas needed to be transferred from the center for the exhibition. Experts agreed that it would be helpful for Jin Zhu to start a new life with a different place. And the male giant panda Lu Lu, who had left a good impression on Jin Zhu, was sent to help Jin Zhu with the treatment in Ya’an.
On December 22, 2003, six giant pandas including Jin Zhu and Lu Lu arrived in Bifengxia. Jin Zhu enjoyed this new home in Bifengxia, and then he/she became cheerful. Jin Zhu had a crush on Lu Lu and always wanted to play with him. Lu Lu was very irritable, but he was very gentle when he spent time with Jin Zhu.
Li Desheng found that Jin Zhu's temperament slowly changed. Jin Zhu became gentle and always accompanied Lu Lu inseparably, and Lu Lu took great care of Jin Zhu. The researchers said that Lu Lu is too macho. Li Desheng was very excited. He knew that it is the way the pandas show love to each other. Mr. Li guessed that Jin Zhu might have accepted that she was a female panda.
Jin Zhu moved back to Wolong. Mr. Li checked Jin Zhu and found that the panda had 93% of XX chromosomes and only 7% of XY chromosomes. The male reproductive organs were fading.
“What a miracle for Jin Zhu! It’s unbelievable! ” Everybody of the center was excited to hear about this.
The experts made a breeding plan for Jin Zhu: The first step was to sexually induce Jin Zhu with male panda urine. The second was to show Jin Zhu the “panda porn”. At the beginning, Jin Zhu showed no interest to the videos, and didn't even look at it. Later, Jin Zhu was getting curious about them, and the panda could’t take the eyes away from the videos. The last one was to let Jin Zhu mate with the male panda. Obviously, Jin Zhu was willing to mate with others.
In March 2005, it was the estrus season for giant pandas. The experts decided to let Lu Lu mate with Jin Zhu naturally, which was a historically significant moment.
Mr. Li checked Jin Zhu again, and he found that Jin Zhu has no male chromosomes anymore. Jin Zhu’s female system was basically complete, and the male system has disappeared. It could be assumed that Jin Zhu has completed the conversion to female.
On April 6, 2005, Jin Zhu and Lu Lu were dating in a house. The two pandas were both excited when they met again. Lu Lu is such a master of love, and he flirted with Jin Zhu, then Jin Zhu gave some feedback to him. Suddenly, Lu Lu held Jin Zhu from her back tightly, which means he wanted to make out with Jin Zhu. It seemed that Jin Zhu was happy to mate with Lu Lu, while she seemed to forget the videos, and had no idea about it. These two pandas held each other and rolled on the ground.
Mr. Li and his colleges were afraid that the pandas would be fail to mate, and the researchers were cheered them up to try again. Jin Zhu and Lu Lu both stood up when they heard the noise. Fortunately, they mated naturally. All the staff were excited to clap hands.
Next day, researchers wanted Lu Lu and Jin Zhu to mate again, which they worried that the two pandas were failed to mate for the first time. However, Lu Lu was not in the mood, and he refused to mate with Jin Zhu. What’s worse was that Lu Lu beaten Jin Zhu. Jin Zhu spent a week to recover. After all of this, Lu Lu seemed feel very sad for Jin Zhu, and he showed affections to Jin Zhu again.
What surprised everybody was that Jin Zhu got pregnant, which means Jin Zhu was officially a female giant panda. Jin Zhu gave a birth to a cute baby at the end of this year. For all of us, this is such a miracle of the world.
Li Desheng said, Jin Zhu was not completely differentiated during the embryonic period, and the sex split was atypical, which led to gender disorder. The only way to solve the problem was Jin Zhu’s control on her genes. What we could do was to guide her to make a choice by herself. The guide treatment of gender transfer was a milestone for the history of panda conservation.
Reference: http://news.sohu.com/20070219/n248299519.shtml
Let us know who is your favorite giant panda. Please leave you ideas in the comment section. Your support keep us going :)
]]>"It doesn’t take long to fall in love with a panda and most become a super fan after listening to all the fun and educational stories. " - Alvin
We were recently honored to be featured in That's Magazine. Our founder Alvin talks about panda diplomacy and conservation in the interview. We would love to share it with you :)
If you want to start a conversation with Alvin Liu, just say the word ‘panda.’ When he was working in the commercial aviation industry, Liu took advantage of discounted flight tickets and traveled to Chengdu back in 2012. It was in the province’s capital city where he tried spicy Sichuan cuisine, met his future wife and discovered a passion for the cuddly creatures. Two years later, Liu moved to Chengdu to pursue a career in tourism, and founded My Panda Tour. Below, Liu shares his thoughts on giant panda conservation and panda diplomacy.
Q: You’ve created a company that profits on panda power. In what ways do you give back to these loveable bears?
Conservationism is at the core of My Panda Tours. We’re lovers of all things nature and the environment. Our focus is on saving the vulnerable giant panda species, but we believe this means touching every aspect of Mother Nature. When you visit you’ll see our devotion to Mother Earth, everything from recycling on our tours to giving back to the local community by taking our tour groups out to dine and shop at the areas around the panda bases. We also donate to panda programs around the world.
Our team with Cats in the panda's habitat. Read what people say about our team
We celebrate the Birthday for giant panda"Bao Bao". Watch the full video here on Facebook.
The panda base camps [in Chengdu] offer a chance for research, as well as mating programs to get giant pandas back into the wild. Our community has high expectations of the panda bases that are in charge of all captive pandas in the repopulation effort. Of course, many challenges still lay ahead; from continually improving the well-being of captive giant pandas to enriching their gene pool and creating a more ‘giant’ giant panda reserve to boost the wild population.
Overall, I think communication is the key to understanding each other and I believe we’re really making a difference, along with our community, which is leading to an improvement in the well-being of our favorite lovable bears.
Alvin with the panda
Q: As we’d presume, you’re likely a giant panda fan (no pun intended). Do you think panda diplomacy and the renting out of pandas has helped or harmed the species?
One-hundred percent. I used to visit Wu Wen a lot. You could say she was my first panda love. She was born at the Bifengxia Panda Base in 2013. She is a beautiful female panda who loves to tumble and roll on the grass. She was sent to the Netherlands in 2017. It was hard to say goodbye.
I truly believe in the panda diplomacy program. Not only has it helped the world to understand the giant panda better, but all the nuances that go into the repopulation effort to save the species for generations to come. I would not suggest long-distance flights for pandas that are old or ill. But people appreciate living in the same city with one these special creatures, and the young bears are fit for such journeys.
Most cities that participate in the program fall in love with the pandas born at their local facilities. I really believe this raises awareness, which has many benefits in the long-term protection of the species.
Q: How do you provide a fun and educational panda experience to tourists?
It doesn’t take long to fall in love with a panda and most become a super fan after listening to all the fun and educational stories. A lot is learned from the questions our tour groups ask along the way, which further enriches our collective engagement as a community. Our guides love to find out our tourists’ points of view. The discussions can go very far and deep, spanning everything from the pandas to each other’s cultures. So it’s a two-way street rather than us ‘teaching and preaching.’
We also often update our newsfeeds with panda content and host fun events for our followers. Recently, we threw a birthday party on Facebook Live for the American-born panda Tai Shan. They appreciate seeing the pandas live, even after returning home. It always brings back their good memories of the visit or a panda that may have been born in the country.
Q: What makes Chengdu the panda capital of the world?
The natural habitat first and foremost. Also, the whole city gets behind the pandas, with fun panda-themed elements that can be found everywhere in Chengdu. The city’s most famous landmark is a giant climbing panda sculpture on Chengdu’s Chunxi Road, and the world’s only panda-themed KFC restaurant sits right across street. Panda-themed subway trains are available, and unique panda post offices offer travelers postcards stamped with the panda logo in various forms to send to family and friends. But the most exciting part, of course, are the real pandas.
*My Panda Tours was found in 2016 to help the travelers to see the beautiful pandas.
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2.Song Xian Qiao Antique and Art Market, the best place to find antique in Chengdu (2hrs)
3.Wenshu Monastery, is the largest and best-preserved Buddhist temple in Chengdu, with more than 300 statues of Buddha's and Bodhisattvas moulded in copper, iron, bronze, jade, gauze and clay, or carved from wood and stone. Free Admission (2hrs)
4.DuFu Cottage, who was a famous Tang Dynasty poet, the site has a very beautiful garden with many cultural relics. (2hrs)
5.Kuanzhai Ancient Street and Panda Post , the combination of modern and ancient street. Great for souvenir. (2hrs)
6.Jinli Pedestrian Street, similar to Kuanzhai Ancient Street, pick either one. (2hrs)
7.IFS, Panda “I’m Here”
8.People’s Park, central park in Chengdu, where we can see local people dance and play mahjong. A great stop to enjoy the tea. (2hrs)
9.Jinsha Site Museum, an important site of Shu culture. It is considered has unearthed the richest gold and jade wares and the densest elephant tusks in the world (3hrs)
10.Chengdu Museum, the newest museum with tons of relics and artefacts from Shu era. Free admission (2hrs)
11.Qingyang Palace, the location has been considered as holy ground by Taoists for thousands of years. (2hrs)
12.Wangjianglou Park, a park to memorise a female poet from Tang dynasty, with more than 200 different kinds of bamboo grow in the park. (2hrs)
]]>2.Dujianyan Panda Base, where you can do the Panda holding and volunteering. (Half-day)
3.Leshan Giant Buddha, the largest Buddha statue in the world. UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Half-day)
4.Mt. Qingcheng , is one of the places where Taoism originated and also a renowned Taoist mountain. UNESCO World Heritage Site. (Half-day)
5.Dujianyan Irrigation, the oldest and only surviving no-dam irrigation system in the world. UNESCO World Heritage Site (Half-day)
6.Sanxingdui Museum, an important site of Shu culture(old name of Sichuan). With tons of treasure like bronze tree with birds, flowers, and ornaments (396 cm), and dozens of large bronze masks and heads with at least six with gold foil masks originally attached. (Half-day)
7.Baoguang Temple, with the largest Qing-era Arhat Hall in China, containing 500 two meter high clay figurines of Arhats. (3hrs)
8.Jiuzhaigou Nature Reserve
9.Mt.Siguniang
10.Tangjiahe Nature reserve
11.Bifengxia Panda Base
12.Mt Emei
13.Wolong Panda Base
]]>I have traveled in Europe, Brazil, the Caribbean and Asia and have, on occasion, hired tour guides. I can, without hesitation, say that My Panda Tour/Alvin Shun H Liu is by far the best tour company and guide and I highly recommend him for any upcoming travel to China. The trip we booked with Alvin was both very enjoyable and memorable and a definite highlight of the trip.
From the first time we met Alvin in our hotel lobby to the end of our trip two days later, I was both amazed and impressed at how well planned and coordinated each part of our trip was. Always punctual, he was waiting for us in our hotel lobby and, as we had requested, made sure to hire a car that was big enough to accommodate all our luggage. The eight-hour car ride from Chengdu to Foping seemed daunting at first but the hours flew by and, before we knew it, we had arrived. During the eight hours, Alvin had planned periodic rest stops, had water and Chinese snacks in the car as well as having videos and movies about our favorite Giant Pandas on his iPAD that we watched. He is also a wealth of information when it comes to Chinese history, art and culture as well as Giant Pandas. He provided us with so much fascinating information about the areas through which we traveled and entertained us with his great sense of humor.
While en route to our hotel, Alvin called ahead to make sure our reservation was set, and that the hotel knew we would be arriving shortly. Once we arrived, we were delighted to find that we were staying on the Foping Reserve in a Panda Hotel. The restaurant directly across from the hotel was amazing as well. Alvin not only walked through the kitchen to ensure that it met his standards, but he also talked to the chef about preparing our food. Alvin is a “foodie” and is also very keen to ensure any dietary restrictions that his clients have are fully supported. Needless to say, the food was perfect.
During our stay in Foping, Alvin accompanied us and translated for us throughout the day. He helped us navigate the reserve and visit both giant panda Qi Zai as well as 80 free ranging Golden Snub-Nosed Monkeys who live at the top of the base. The time spent at the Foping reserve was enchanting.
From Foping, our travels took us to Dujiangyan. Alvin took us to the Dujiangyan Giant Panda Base where we spent most of the day. We had visited the Base during previous visits to China and knew some of the staff and of course our favorite pandas. However, it was very nice to have Alvin there to translate for us as well as enjoy the Pandas. He is truly a student of Giant Pandas and knows so much about every aspect of their lives.
As we left China, I felt that Alvin was and is so much more than a businessman and tour guide – he is a friend who shares our passion for Giant Panda conservation. He is a consummate professional who makes every effort to ensure that each of his tours is well planned and organized and that his clients are comfortable and happy throughout their travels. He also remains flexible in terms of accommodating changes in plans when possible.
Once again, I highly recommend Alvin and My Panda Tour for your future travel in China. I know that you will be as delighted with your travels as we were with ours. Thanks so much Alvin for making our trip so memorable.
Read more reviews on TripAdvisor:
www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g297463-d12407687-r552342968-My_Panda_Tour-Chengdu_Sichuan.html#REVIEWS
]]>Chengdu is the capital of the Sichuan province of China. Chengdu is the home of the most popular panda base or sanctuary but it is actually only one of the five sanctuaries in Sichuan region. These five sanctuaries work together to help save, bred and release giant pandas back into the wild. This is the perfect location for the panda bases as it is part of their natural habitat. We were lucky and we were able to spend a full day at Wolong Giant Panda Sanctuary volunteering with these wonderful animals. The volunteer program was our preferred way to spend our time with these animals as it included education, work and close encounters with giant pandas.
We originally wanted to volunteer at the panda base closest to Chengdu but they did not have any availability. With the help of our hostel and our tour guide, Alvin, we found that Wolong Panda base had availability. It was a two hour car ride outside of Chengdu but by the end of the day we were convinced it was absolutely worth it! The two hour car ride took us into an area that pandas would live in naturally. We were surrounded by beautiful, dark green mountains. The area was stunning!
Our first surprise of the day- we were two of seven volunteers and the only two English volunteers. This meant that instead of being 2 in a group of 30 people we spent time with staff and pandas independently! We were quite excited about this turn of events and felt as if we had an even better day due to this. We put on our jumpers and were taken up to the pandas‘ habitats.
We started our morning with cleaning the pandas outdoor habitat. In the sanctuary each adult panda has their own outdoor space and indoor space. For most of the day and all night the panda can go inside or outside at their pleasure. However, for the safety of staff and volunteers when cleaning an area the panda bear is kept in the other are. Once the giant panda was inside we went to work! We picked up the old bamboo for the evening and carried it outside to be taken away, we then had to sweep the bits and pieces of bamboo. Once this was done we cleaned a bit of panda poo and carried a bunch of fresh bamboo into the enclosure. We worked along side of the zoo keeper and some staff to clean the habitats of three giant pandas.
This was the closest that we had ever been to giant pandas and we had to stop to take a few photos. It was hard work to clean the habitats but we felt good about helping the Pandas. We even noted what a close relationship that the panda bears have with the zookeeper. He petted each panda bear and fed the bear tender pieces of bamboo. The pandas walked right up to him and wanted to greet him. Alvin, our tour guide, explained that the keepers sleep at the base in shifts, in case of any panda emergency.
We took a short walk around the facilities. We cleaned 3 habitats but the panda sanctuary has about 50 pandas living there! We saw “our pandas” munching on the fresh bamboo we provided them.
We then walked to “Kindergarten” which is the home to the young pandas under two years old. This is another reason to come to this base- panda kindergarten- and not all of the bases have one. The young pandas were also sitting outside munching on their fresh bamboo. There are 8 pandas in the kindergarten. Pandas are known to be the most active when they are children or teenagers. Being able to see so many panda together in one place was astonishing!
We were brought back into the area with a large male panda, Lu Lu. We cleaned his habitat that morning and he is knowns as a “hero father” because he has successfully fathered many cubs at the sanctuary. He is 18 years old and is known for his good temperament. We fed Lu Lu snacks of “panda cakes” and fresh apples. The panda puts a paw out on the armrest and leans in, while the volunteer feeds the treat right into their mouth! It was a bit scary at first-we were feeding a bear with rather large teeth! However, you looked into his eyes and you could see he was gentle. Feeding a giant panda will be something we remember for the rest of our lives; it was magical. When we fed Lu Lu the apples, we even touched his wet nose and felt his tongue. As we were the only two volunteers, we had the whole plate of treats to give him, but it still went too fast.
We ate lunch with our guide (and personal photographer) of local food at the base. It was delicious and we enjoyed talking to Alvin about his life. He lived in the USA for school for 8 years and spoke impeccable English. We found out all about his life and what living in Chengdu, China is like.
We watched a documentary about the pandas in the afternoon. This talked about the mission of rescuing the giant pandas, the process of breading in captivity, and releasing pandas back into the wild. The whole documentary was interesting but Megan especially loved how they were reintroducing giant pandas back into the wild. That work was being done only at Wolong National Reserve as it has the most natural land. The baby panda destined to be released rarely interacts with humans, and when he does the humans wears panda suits scented with panda urine in order to confuse the giant panda. It is a long and detailed program but it works! They have successful released 5 giant pandas into the wilderness! We also got to make the cakes that are fed to the pandas as treats.
We went back to the kindergarten in the afternoon and we were delighted to see some of the cubs playing and wrestling! Currently there are two sets of twins in the kindergarten and they like to rough house! We knew how lucky we were to witness this behavior as even Alvin was very excited by this!
We had the immense pleasure of feeding another giant panda, Tong Tong. He is a 13 year old male and we fed him “panda cakes” and carrot sticks. Feeding Tong Tong was as incredible as feeding Lu Lu. Once we were done giving him his treats we watched him devour the root of a bamboo plant. It was large but he made easy work of it with his strong teeth. We were very impressed with his ability to crunch his way through the root, while still being picky about which portions he consumed.
We walked around the remaining parts of the sanctuary and viewed a few more pandas before receiving our certificates of volunteering. We left Wolong Nature Reserve and Panda Sanctuary tired but fulfilled with our day.
After our ride back into Chengdu, Alvin took us to to a local restaurant serving wontons. It was a real experience! The restaurant was in of an apartment inside large apartment building and served about 8 wonton dishes. The lady making the wontons sat at the table next to us and is boasted to be able to fill and fold 30 wontons in a minutes! Chris ordered spicy wontons, Megan has sweet and sour while Alvin had chicken and they were amazing! It was the best meal we have had in China! Ours were filled with pork while Alvin’s had chicken; Chris ate the spicy flavor (ma la). He was nice enough to allow us one of his wontons and they were all amazing. We have wished we could return multiple times since that meal and continue to discuss how delicious it was.
We strolled around the streets of that part of town with Alvin. He explained local life to us and showed us the fruit and vegetable market. We even bought some peaches for the next day’s train ride.
**If interested in Panda Tours we HIGHLY recommend Alvin and his company!
Read moreI.China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP), it was established with the effort of both WWF and the Chinese government in June 1980. Is serves the purpose of breeding, rescuing, and reintroducing the pandas to the wild. It‘s the first organisation focused on Panda conservation and habitat protection.
There are three facilities belong to the organization:
a.Wolong Panda Base(中华大熊猫苑)
b.Dujianyan Panda Base (都江堰熊猫乐园)
c.Bifengxia Panda Base(碧峰峡熊猫基地)
All of these facilities offer Panda volunteering.
a.Wolong Panda Base(中华大熊猫苑), a panda base was built after 2008 earthquake and opened in 2016. It’s located in Shenshuping of Gengda Town which is about 2 hrs drive from Chengdu city. The panda base serves the purpose of breeding and reintroducing the pandas to the wild. The scenery of the Panda base are stunning thanks to the Wolong Nature Reserve, and there is a opportunity to see the pandas rolling one the ground when it snows at winter. There are about 60 pandas living in the base. The altitude of the base(1200m) is higher than the city, so the temperature is cooler here. It is a great destination for summer escape. Bao Bao and Tai Shan who’re born in Washington DC live at Wolong Panda base now.
Wolong Panda Base
b.Dujianyan Panda Base (都江堰熊猫乐园), one of the most popular panda base since it’s close to Chengdu city (1.5hr drive). The Panda base was built in 2014. It is dedicated to the study of disease control and rescue of wild pandas, the 3-leg panda Dai Li who’s rescued from wild and now living at the base. Also it’s a home of many celebrity pandas whom lived oversea, like Bai Yun and Gao Gao from San Diego Zoo. There are about 20 pandas reside in the base.
Dujiangyan Panda Base
c.Bifengxia Panda Base(碧峰峡熊猫基地), it was built in 2003 and opened in 2004, which makes the best vegetation with clean air and water. Surrounded by the tall and frondent trees, the pandas prefer sitting and sleeping on the branches. It serves the purpose of breeding and nursing. It’s about 2.5hrs drive from Chengdu city. The giant pandas, who temporarily lived in the Bifengxia Base because of the great earthquake in 2008, returned to the Wolong Panda Base after its restoration after two to three years. There is a panda kindergarten is the base, where you can see the baby pandas playing around. Bei Bei who’s born in Washington DC lives here. Besides the panda base, there are other attractions which are very close: Bifengxia Canyon and Wildlife Park.
Bifengxia Panda Base
II.Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding or simply Chengdu Panda Base, it was found in 1987 with 6 pandas rescued from the wild. There are two facilities that located in Chengdu and Dujiangyan. Both facilities DON'T offer Panda volunteering and Panda photo taking.
a.Chengdu Panda Base, since the panda base located within the city, it has become the most popular Panda base in the world. There are more than 160 giant pandas and red pandas reside in the base. It serves as conservation education center and breeding facility for giant pandas. There are some America-born pandas are living here. Pandas like Mei Lun, and Mei Huan thank to the partnership with Zoo Atlanta.
Chengdu Panda Base
b.Panda Valley, a branch located in Dujiangyan. It serves the purpose of studying reintroduce pandas to the wild. There are only about 5 pandas reside in Panda Valley now.
Dujiangyan Panda Valley
Maps of Panda Bases in Sichuan
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Airport Transfer
We provide the private transportation with Chinese speaking driver. (no tour guide)
RMB250 for 5-seat car per trip
RMB300 for 7-seat car per trip
Sichuan Face-Changing Opera Show
Ticket Class |
Price (RMB) |
Type VIP Ticket |
300/pp |
Type A Ticket |
240/pp |
Type B Ticket |
180/pp |
Type C Ticket |
120/pp |
Sichuan opera show is considered one of the highlight of Chengdu city. It features the mask-changing and fire-spitting tricks, it has won its popularity and fame across China. The show starts by 8:00 pm everyday. It usually lasts for about 80 minutes. It’s suggested to arrive there by 7:30 pm. Please ask us to arrange the program. If you’ve chosen VIP seating, please enjoy a chair massage or get your ears cleaned (a traditional teahouse service) before the show. Some travelers want to take the opportunity dress up in an opera costume and makeup for a photo before the show.( The makeup will cost additional RMB220/pp)
Popular Souvenirs
Panda Poo TissuePopular Activities in Chengdu
Chengdu Hotpot DinnerPanda cub volunteering
The Terracotta Army and Ancient Wall Private Day Tour
I.China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda (CCRCGP), it was established with the effort of both WWF and the Chinese government in June 1980. Is serves the purpose of breeding, rescuing, and reintroducing the pandas to the wild. It‘s the first organisation focused on Panda conservation and habitat protection. There are three facilities belong to the organization, Wolong Panda Base(中华大熊猫苑), Dujianyan Panda Base (都江堰熊猫乐园), and Bifengxia Panda Base(碧峰峡熊猫基地). All of these facilities offer Panda volunteering.
a.Wolong Panda Base(中华大熊猫苑), a panda base was built after 2008 earthquake and opened in 2016. It’s located in Shenshuping of Gengda Town which is about 2 hrs drive from Chengdu city. The panda base serves the purpose of breeding and reintroducing the pandas to the wild. The scenery of the Panda base are stunning thanks to the Wolong Nature Reserve, and there is a opportunity to see the pandas rolling one the ground when it snows at winter. There are about 60 pandas living in the base. The altitude of the base(1200m) is higher than the city, so the temperature is cooler here. It is a great destination for summer escape. Bao Bao and Tai Shan who’re born in Washington DC live at Wolong Panda base now.
b.Dujianyan Panda Base (都江堰熊猫乐园), one of the most popular panda base since it’s close to Chengdu city (1.5hr drive). The Panda base was built in 2014. It is dedicated to the study of disease control and rescue of wild pandas, the 3-leg panda Dai Li who’s rescued from wild and now living at the base. Also it’s a home of many celebrity pandas whom lived oversea, like Bai Yun and Gao Gao from San Diego Zoo. There are about 20 pandas reside in the base.
c.Bifengxia Panda Base(碧峰峡熊猫基地), it was built in 2003 and opened in 2004, which makes the best vegetation with clean air and water. Surrounded by the tall and frondent trees, the pandas prefer sitting and sleeping on the branches. It serves the purpose of breeding and nursing. It’s about 2.5hrs drive from Chengdu city. The giant pandas, who temporarily lived in the Bifengxia Base because of the great earthquake in 2008, returned to the Wolong Panda Base after its restoration after two to three years. There is a panda kindergarten is the base, where you can see the baby pandas playing around. Bei Bei who’s born in Washington DC lives here. Besides the panda base, there are other attractions which are very close: Bifengxia Canyon and Wildlife Park.
II.Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding or simply Chengdu Panda Base, it was found in 1987 with 6 pandas rescued from the wild. There are two facilities that located in Chengdu and Dujiangyan. Both facilities DON'T offer Panda volunteering and Panda photo taking.
a.Chengdu Panda Base, since the panda base located within the city, it has become the most popular Panda base in the world. There are more than 160 giant pandas and red pandas reside in the base. It serves as conservation education center and breeding facility for giant pandas. There are some America-born pandas are living here. Pandas like Mei Lun, and Mei Huan thank to the partnership with Zoo Atlanta.
b.Panda Valley, a branch located in Dujiangyan. It serves the purpose of studying reintroduce pandas to the wild. There are only about 5 pandas reside in Panda Valley now.
|
Chengdu |
Wolong |
Xi'an |
|||
|
High |
Low |
High |
Low |
High |
Low |
January |
49 |
36 |
45 |
34 |
41 |
24 |
February |
52 |
39 |
50 |
37 |
47 |
30 |
March |
61 |
46 |
65 |
52 |
58 |
39 |
April |
70 |
54 |
70 |
55 |
70 |
49 |
May |
78 |
63 |
75 |
63 |
79 |
58 |
June |
82 |
68 |
81 |
66 |
89 |
67 |
July |
85 |
71 |
81 |
70 |
90 |
72 |
August |
85 |
70 |
84 |
70 |
87 |
70 |
September |
77 |
65 |
73 |
63 |
77 |
61 |
October |
69 |
58 |
68 |
59 |
67 |
50 |
November |
60 |
48 |
61 |
50 |
54 |
37 |
December |
51 |
39 |
46 |
41 |
43 |
27 |
Chengdu weather is mild and humid all year round, featuring four clear-cut seasons –short and warm spring, long and sultry summer, cool and rainy autumn, and cold and foggy winter. The distinctive characteristics of Chengdu climate is fog and humidity. There are fewer hours of sunlight per day,
Meals and Drinks
Sichuan cuisine is considered as one of best in the world and most of the tourists always love to experience Sichuan foods again and again.
If the lunches and dinners are included, we are always taking you to the best authentic, local cuisine. Rather than going to tourist-specific crowdie restaurants, we opt for the simple, local eateries. Meals are often served in traditional Chinese family-style – several different dishes will be brought to the center of the table, and travelers will serve themselves from these shared dishes.
Sichuan have wide varieties of foods available – Rice, Noodles, Pork, Beef can be identified as the main food items and meat. Usually almost all the vegetables are available here in Chengdu.
The rice is generally brought out at the very end of a meal, after all other dishes have been served. If you would like to have rice served at the beginning of a meal with the rest of your food, you will need to specify this at the time of ordering.
Vegetarian and other reasonable special dietary needs will be accommodated to the best of our ability. Please give us ample notice prior to your departure.
Because of the influence of neighboring provinces there are quite a lot Muslim food outlets also available in the town.
Smoking
Throughout the country, you will find that an large number of Chinese citizens smoke. We will do our best to mitigate this as much as possible while dining, but do not anticipate that there will always be separate designated smoking and non-smoking areas, including the use of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), is not permitted in our vehicles. For those travelers who do smoke, we will stop our vehicles in regular intervals and you can have a smoke at that time. We ask you to be considerate and smoke only when others in your group are not around.
Washroom/ Toilet Facilities
During outings, while we will stop at the cleanest and most modern bathroom facilities available, there may be times when primitive squat toilets in basic, and sometime dirty, local facilities are our only option. Should this occur, feel free to talk to your guide if you have any questions or concerns.
Intestinal Health
Wherever one travels in the world, stomach upsets and diarrhea can occur. This is mainly due to being in a new environment, eating new food, and drinking water with a different mineral content. An effective precaution against getting sick is taking “acidophilus” capsules every day, Start couple of days before your adventure and keep using it even after few days you arrive here. If you became sick, one dose of Imodium will often clear it up. In the meantime, replace lost fluids and minerals such as sodium and potassium to avoid dehydration, eat a mild diet, drink caffeine-free beverages that are in factory-sealed containers and avoid dairy products.
Remember in Chengdu because of the weather you rarely feels thirsty but make sure you drink enough water for your body.
-It is very important that you drink enough water each day to limit the effects of dehydration.
-Tap water is never suitable for drinking.
-Most soft drinks, beer and liquors are okay to drink. Tea is safe as well, since the water has been boiled.
-Wash your hands frequently with soap, or use a waterless hand sanitizer.
Time Zone
China is bigger than USA from land but surprisingly while USA having 6 time zones in the country. China is maintaining just one time zone which is time in Beijing for whole country. The entire country follows the time zone of UTC/GMT + eight hours, which is thirteen hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time. China does not recognize Daylight Saving Time.
Gratuities
-Tour guide
We suggest a tipping guideline below for your convenience. These amounts are entirely at your discretion and should reflect your level of satisfaction with services rendered. If you feel the tour guide has done an outstanding job and wish to offer a gratuity, we recommend RMB50-200 per person, per day, including children.
-Driver:
Tips for taxi drivers in China are not expected, but certainly appreciated. If your driver assists you with your luggage, RMB50-100 per group, per day is an adequate tip.
-Restaurants and Bars
Tipping is not expected in local restaurants and bars. Most establishments will include a service charge with your bill.
Money Safety & Theft
There is always a possibility of theft while traveling. When alone in larger cities like Beijing, pay close attention to bumping and shoving, which are common techniques used by thieves to distract you while they steal your valuables. Be especially aware of this when in public spaces, as pick pocketing happens in China.
If possible, do not carry a purse or wallet. Instead, either store your valuables in a hotel safe (if available), or purchase a money/document pouch that can be kept hidden underneath your clothes so that you can keep your valuables with you.
If you are traveling on your own, either before or after your tour, be aware of taxi scams. Don’t follow someone at the airport who approaches you offering taxi service. Instead, go to an official marked taxi stand to wait for the next available taxi, and always ask for a meter to ensure you aren’t overcharged.
In public places it’s better to keep your backpack in your front side rather than keeping it in your blindside.
Credit Card/Wechat/Cash
Cash is still more widely used in China than credit cards, especially in smaller cities and away from more touristy areas. However, more and more places in China, including hotels, upscale restaurants, and foreign brand name stores accept credit cards, so it is still worth bringing your credit card with you. Visa, MasterCard, and American Express are widely accepted in China. You can exchange your home currency for CNY before you leave or after you arrive in China. The best thing to do is to exchange some money before arriving in China, and bring at least one credit card for any big payments and one debit card to withdraw more cash after you arrive in China.
It is easy and quick to get cash on arrival at any Chinese international airport. There are usually cash machines in the baggage reclaim area and after exiting customs on both the arrival and departure levels. There are also currency exchange counters in the airport, although they may apply a steep fee.
While you are in China, you can use your debit card to withdraw money from 24-hour ATMs. Big cities and smaller towns all have 24-hour ATMs. However, many rural areas, don't have many ATMs.
Not every card works in every machine, so it is best to stick with major banks such as the Bank of China, ICBC, China Construction Bank or HSBC. Check to see which cards are supported before you use the ATM.
APPs are useful in China
XE Currency =calculate live currency and foreign exchange rates with this free currency converter.
Pleco =is an simple English & Chinese Dictionary application for IOS and Android devices.
WeChat =is a Chinese multi-purpose messaging, social media and mobile payment app
Preparation
Toilet paper
As toilet paper is not often provided in public restrooms, we recommend bringing a roll with you and keeping it in your daypack. Remove the cardboard in the center of the roll to take up less space when packing.
Insect repellent
You may wish to bring this in the panda base if you are particularly sensitive to bug bites.
Hand-sanitizer
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1.Temple House
An enthralling and vibrant hotel in Chengdu, The Temple House celebrates a city with a rich and fabled past and extremely exciting future. From first steps through a historic courtyard building, to the elegant modern design of our hotel rooms and residences centred around gentle hills concealing a subterranean world, The Temple House is an engaging journey.
$780-$2500
2. Niccolo Chengdu
the Chun Xi Road business district, Niccolo occupies the city’s highly desirable and fashionable address. With Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport just 25 minutes away by car and the impressive metro subway network with an entrance conveniently located in IFS, hotel guest can travel effortlessly to the city beyond.
$230-$630
3. Grand Hyatt Chengdu
The Grand Hyatt Chengdu is situated on South Chunxi Road, one of the city’s best and most famous streets for shopping. The hotel will take up the 10th through 39th floors of the Chicony Plaza, and was designed by New York-based decorator Tony Chi, who was inspired by the grand country estates of France. The hotel’s main restaurant, serves up traditional hot-pot specialties, though Western-style dining options are available, too. The property also boasts its own Maze Garden, nightclub, and patisserie, as well as an indoor pool and gym.
$180-$430
4. The St. Regis Chengdu
Steps from Tianfu Square and Chunxi Road, Chengdu’s newest icon unites impeccable service with the singular ambience of a private residence. An alluring haven in the heart of Chengdu’s business district, the St. Regis Chengdu artfully combines historic Art Deco accents with cutting edge in-room technology and captivating decor that reflects the local culture.
$240-$420
5. The Ritz-Carlton
Perched on the site of what was once an imp erial palace, The Ritz-Carlton, Chengdu pays homage to the historic splendor of the city's rich past as it heralds the future of luxury hospitality. This 5-star hotel welcomes visitors to China's Sichuan province with opulent accommodation and a serene spa, as well as fine dining at Li Xuan and prime placement in Chengdu's lively downtown district, a short distance from landmarks including Tianfu Square.
$220-$500
6. JW Marriott Hotel
Located at the city center of Chengdu, JW Marriott Hotel Chengdu owns casually elegant hotel rooms and suites boast warm, modern decor, spacious bathrooms and mesmerizing views of downtown. The hotel’s on-site restaurants celebrate the flavors of China, providing a modern twist on the traditional cuisine found along Chunxi Road, Chengdu's busiest street. JW Marriott Hotel Chengdu feature eight sophisticated venues, including a 10,398-square-foot Grand Ballroom with a pre-function foyer, a rooftop garden and space for 800. The hotel is very convenient to Chengdu popular attractions, such as Wuhou Temple, Kuan and Zhai alleys and Wenshu Yuan Monastery.
$350-$550
7. Fraser Suites Chengdu
Conceived by world-renowned architect and designer, Steve Leung, Fraser Suites Chengdu is one of the city’s most prestigious serviced apartments situated in the middle of the CBD at Tian Fu Square. Served by the central subway station, Fraser Suites Chengdu enjoys superb proximity to the offices and malls and a wide range of dining and entertainment in full view of beautiful fountains and gardens, in what was once the site of the Chinese Imperial Palace.
¥150-¥300
8. Chengdu Tianfu Sunshine Hotel
Chengdu tianfu sunshine hotel is located in the bustling chunxi business circle, by the world famous Hirsch Bedner company carefully designed, with southeast Asian style. The hotel is close to the manjusri square and the ecological living water park, which are the historic and cultural blocks, presenting you with the most authentic life in Chengdu. allowing you to enjoy the honorable experience.
$50-$127
9. Poshpacker Lazybones Hostel (Chengdu Wenshu Temple)
$20-$50
10. Poshpacker Flipflop Youth Hostel (Taikoo Li Chunxi Road Metro Station)
$5-$165
The "POSHPACKER" is founded by a native graphic designer and urban sketcher artist Mr.Mix. He established his first hostel "Mix Hostel" in Chengdu back to 14 years ago, It soon gained the popularity among European travelers, and a few years later another hostel opened. The owner who also has extensive travel experiences in over 20 countries around the world, all hostels are designed and crafted exclusively to meet the demand of independent travellers. Stylish, cultural, sociable and fun are the core value of "POSHPACKER"