On October 6, staff of the Heishui River National Reserve in Sichuan province, who was monitoring the road to Tieshagang, found a giant panda cub along the route. This was the first wild giant panda cub discovered in the Heishui River Nature Reserve.
On September 5, the Sichuan Travel and Tourism Administration, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, and the Hong Kong Pandapia International Limited Company jointly hosted the first global live videostream of a male/female set of giant panda twins as they grew up. YouTube,the world’s largest video website, Japan’s famous Niconico, China’s Youku, and Tudou all hosted the live show for network users.
On August 28, the joint Changning Bamboo Forest and Panda World Scientific Research Cooperation Agreement signing ceremony was held at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.
The 17th Symposium of` Animal Reproduction Branch of the Chinese Association of Animal Science and Veterinary Medicine was held from August 23 to 25 in Fuzhou, Fujian province. Liu Yuliang, an associate research fellow from the Chengdu Research Base of` Giant Panda Breeding,
read his paper and introduced the identification technology and research results of mesenchymal
stem cells isolated.from giant panda bone marrow.The paper was published as a cover article in Stem Cells and Development in 2013.
The 34th International Society t`or Animal Genetics Conference was held in Xi’an on July 28. A team from the research center’s genetics department of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding joined over 1,300 Chinese and overseas experts to attend the conference. This was the first global gathering held in China since the International Society for Animal Genetics was founded in 1954. The conference was also the largest and most widely covered international meeting in the field of animal genetics in China so far.
Chengdu giant panda Ya Xing gave birth to the first set of male/female twins in the year of the horse. The cubs were born on June 30 between 8:13am and 8:44am. To date Ya Xing has delivered 3 cubs in 2 litters, all surviving.
On June 23, an anniversary commemoration was held in the Chengdu Research Base of Giant
Panda Breeding to celebrate the first anniversary of giant pandas’ return from Japan to China. The Sichuan Travel and Tourism Administration sponsored the event in collaboration with the Chengdu Panda Base. Nearly 50 people attended the event, including Chinese citizens from all walks of life and several Japanese friendship groups such as the Japan Tokyo China Friendship Association, the Japan Broadcasting Corporation, the Japan China Photography Artist Association, and several others.
This June marked the official opening of the reintroduction training enclosure at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding’s Dujiangyan Field Research Center for Giant Pandas. Careful interdepartmental coordination and effort went into the endeavor for years.
From June 17 to 19, the Children and Youth Science Center of China, the Chinese Science and Technology Museum, the Chinese Association of Natural Science Museums, and the China Association of Children’s Science Instructors jointly held the 2nd Scientific Education Project Exhibit and Evaluation of Science and Technology Site at the China Science and Technology Museum.First place was awarded to an educational program called the Conservation Education Volunteer Training and Summer Camp from the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. This program was also selected to receive the Teachers Choice award, an honor bestowed after careful selection by a panel of educators.The International Internship Program of the Chengdu
Panda Base won a third place.
On the afternoon of June 5, a delegation of 9 people headed by Luba Ntambo, Vice Premier and
Defense Minister of the People’s Republic of Congo visited the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding. The group came at the invitation of State Councilor and Defense Minister Chang Wanquan and were accompanied by officers from the Chengdu Military Foreign Affairs Office.
On the evening of June 2, at 19:38, the televised program “Topics in Focus” aired a piece on Children’s Day at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding and broadcast a feature documentary called “Kissing My Children”. June 1 is International Children’s Day and is widely celebrated throughout China with special events and free admission for children to many attractions.
