A part of 2500 panda sculptures are displayed on the Hong Kong Worldwide Airport throughout a welcome ceremony of the panda-themed exhibition “Panda Go!” in Hong Kong, on Monday.
Chan Lengthy Hei/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Chan Lengthy Hei/AP
HONG KONG — Hundreds of big panda sculptures will greet residents and vacationers beginning Saturday in Hong Kong, the place enthusiasm for the bears has grown since two cubs have been born in a neighborhood theme park.
The two,500 reveals have been showcased in a launch ceremony of PANDA GO! FEST HK, town’s largest panda-themed exhibition, at Hong Kong’s airport on Monday. They are going to be publicly displayed on the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui, a well-liked procuring district, this weekend earlier than setting their footprint at three different areas this month.
One designated spot is Ocean Park, residence to the dual cubs, their dad and mom and two different pandas gifted by Beijing this yr. The design of six of the sculptures, product of recycled rubber barrels and resins amongst different supplies, was impressed by these bears.
The shows replicate Hong Kong’s use of pandas to spice up its economic system because the Chinese language monetary hub works to regain its place as one in every of Asia’s prime tourism locations.
Pandas are thought-about China’s unofficial nationwide mascot. The nation’s big panda mortgage program with abroad zoos has lengthy been seen as a software of Beijing’s soft-power diplomacy.
The Beijing-gifted big panda An An makes his debut look to media in Ocean Park throughout a preview occasion in Hong Kong, on Monday.
Chan Lengthy Hei/AP
disguise caption
toggle caption
Chan Lengthy Hei/AP
Hong Kong’s tourism business representatives are upbeat in regards to the potential influence of housing six pandas, hoping to spice up customer numbers although caring for pandas in captivity is pricey. Officers have inspired companies to capitalize on the recognition of the bears to grab alternatives in what some lawmakers have dubbed the “panda economy.”
The organizer of the exhibitions additionally invited some famend figures, together with musician Pharrell Williams, to create special-edition panda designs. Most of those particular sculptures might be auctioned on-line for charity and the proceeds might be donated to Ocean Park to assist big panda dialog efforts.
In a separate media preview occasion on Monday, the brand new pair of Beijing-gifted pandas, An An and Ke Ke, who arrived in September, appeared relaxed of their new residence at Ocean Park. An An loved consuming bamboo in entrance of the cameras and Ke Ke climbed on an set up. They’re set to satisfy the general public on Sunday.
The dual cubs — whose start in August made their mom Ying Ying the world’s oldest first-time panda mother — could meet guests as early as February.
Ying Ying and the child pandas’ father, Le Le, are the second pair of pandas gifted by Beijing to Hong Kong because the former British colony returned to China’s rule in 1997.
The primary pair have been An An and Jia Jia who arrived in 1999. Jia Jia, who died at 38 in 2016, is the world’s oldest-ever panda to have lived in captivity.
The common lifespan for a panda within the wild is 14 to twenty years, whereas in captivity it is as much as 30 years, in response to the World Broad Fund for Nature.
