(CN) China to mark 140th anniversary of giant panda's discovery

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http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-08/11/content_11863384.htm

 

China to mark 140th anniversary of giant panda's " discovery "

 

 

www.chinaview.cn 2009-08-11 15:34:36

 

 

CHENGDU, Aug. 11 (Xinhua) -- Giant panda enthusiasts will mark the 140th

anniversary of the outside world's discovery of the animal with a 350-km hike

and a film festival this month.

 

French Catholic missionary Pere Jean Pierre Armand David introduced the

animal to the Western world after taking photographs of it in 1869 in southwest

China's Ya'an city.

 

Li Yamei, deputy chief of the tourism bureau of Ya'an, in Sichuan Province,

said Tuesday that people could apply for the hike through a link on Sina.com,

but they were required to pass a health check.

 

The group would depart Aug.15. from the West China Medical School of Sichuan

University in Chengdu, the provincial capital, to follow the footsteps of Armand

David to Ya'an, a city in western Sichuan.

 

The hikers were expected to arrive at the China Giant Panda Protection and

Research Center of the Wolong nature reserve on Aug.25.

 

The center moved its pandas from Wolong, about 130 km northwest of Chengdu,

to Bifengxia breeding base in Ya'an after the devastating earthquake in May 12

last year. A new breeding center is being built at Wolong to replace the

quake-damaged habitat.

 

Li said the hike was intended to educate people on the panda's history and

its protection.

 

A week-long festival of more than 40 films featuring giant pandas and other

wildlife will start in Ya'an on Aug. 19.

 

About 1,590 pandas live in the wild in China, mostly in Sichuan and the

northwest provinces of Shaanxi and Gansu. Another 180 have been bred in

captivity, including 88 pandas in Ya'an and 56 outside Sichuan Province.

 

 

Editor: Lin Zhi