BEIJING (AP) – Ten pandas made their public debut in China’s largest panda sanctuary on Wednesday morning to mark the upcoming Lunar New Year.
One seemed shy and covered his face with both feet when he saw the crowd, while another turned villain and crawled away from his keeper before being caught.
According to the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Panda in Southwest China’s Sichuan Province, the pandas are between 4 and 6 months old, and all are the result of natural mating.
The black and white fluff balls made their way into a playground in the center, adorned with New Year’s decorations, including lanterns, traditional Chinese buttons, paper cars and flags.
“Newborn baby pandas from the class of 2020 … wish you a Happy New Year and good luck in the year of the ox,” shouted their caretakers holding the pandas in their arms as some tried to scramble away.
For the pandas, bamboo baskets of treats were prepared, with the Chinese character ‘fu’, meaning happiness and blessings, written on the outside.
This mimicked the Chinese tradition of adults giving red envelopes of money to children during the Lunar New Year to pass them on good wishes and blessings.
Instead of money, the baby pandas got snacks. Some of them were curious about the baskets, others were distracted by the toys and decorations nearby.
In December there were 44 pandas worldwide, and more than half were bred in China.
China is proud of its efforts to conserve a species that has been in danger of extinction for years. Pandas are also a symbol of China and are part of its cultural diplomacy.
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Associated Press news assistant Caroline Chen contributed to this story.