China Selects 2 Pandas for Hong Kong Zoo

BEIJING – China on Tuesday said it had selected a pair of pandas bound for Hong Kong in commemoration of the 10th anniversary of the former British colony’s handover to Chinese rule.

The pair, a male and female both born in 2005, weigh about 132 pounds each and will move to their new home in Hong Kong’s Ocean Park before May 1, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

There they will join another pair, An An and Jia Jia, who were gifted to Hong Kong in 1999, it said.

“It is an exceptional case for the Central Government to give an extra pair to Hong Kong,” the report said, citing remarks by Hong Kong’s No. 2 leader Rafael Hui on a recent visit to the China Panda Protection and Research Center at Wolong in the southwestern province of Sichuan.

China has been building anticipation over the July 1 Hong Kong handover commemorations as part of efforts to instill patriotism and faith in Communist Party leadership.

Unique to China, pandas are frequently used by the government as a symbol of goodwill. Loans have been made to the United States and other countries to mark major breakthroughs in relations.

However, a 2005 offer to send a pair to Taiwan was rejected by the self-governing island that Beijing claims as its territory.