US Giant Panda to be sent to China

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American-born panda to go home

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October 15, 2007

 

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Article* <http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90883/6282742.html#> The

four-year-old American-born panda Mei Sheng is expected to return to his

hometown in southwest China's Sichuan Province at the end of this month and

will settle down hence.

 

" Mei Sheng, " which means " born in America " or " beautiful life, " was born on

August 19, 2003 at the San Diego Zoo in Southern California by Bai Yun and

Gao Gao, a couple lent to the zoo by China Conservation Wildlife Association

under a giant panda conservation and research program, said a spokesman of

the China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center, based in Wolong,

Sichuan Province.

 

Under the contract, overseas-born cubs of the loaned pandas belong to China

and should be returned after they are three years old.

 

As an envoy of good-will from the Chinese people and a symbol of friendly

cooperation between China and the United States, Mei Sheng's return rivets

wide attention.

 

Experts from both the San Diego Zoo and the Chinese research center will

escort the panda on his homebound journey, China News Service reports.

 

Preparations for the male panda's return have been completed, sources with

the center said.

 

Mei Sheng is scheduled to arrive in Shanghai on the night of Oct. 30 and

arrive at the Shuangliu Airport in Chengdu, the provincial capital of

Sichuan, at noon of Oct. 31. The panda is expected to arrive at the Wolong

center in the afternoon of Oct. 31 and will be quarantined for a month

before it begins new life at Wolong Nature Reserve, the most renowned home

of pandas..

 

China presented 24 giant pandas to nine countries as gifts in the 26 years

from 1957 to 1982. But the country decided to present no more giant pandas

to other countries in 1985. Instead, the endangered animals go abroad by

means of leasing and their cubs born in foreign countries belong to China.

 

*Source: Xinhua*