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CHENGDU, China, June 10, 2020 /Xinhua=KYODO JBN/--

A chubby panda cub weighing 219 grams was recently born in Chengdu Research

Base of Giant Panda Breeding, which is believed to be the heaviest panda cub

born in the base.So far this year, a total of five panda cubs, three males and

two females, have been born in Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding.

Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding is located in northeastern of

Chengdu and renowned as the habitat of the world's largest captive-bred and

ex-situ giant panda population. Why Chengdu? For many people, the success of

Chengdu is definitely not a stroke of luck.

In terms of the natural environment, Chengdu has long been revered as a

beautiful city. Chengdu is located on an alluvial plain in the west of the

Sichuan Plain, with an elevation of around 600m, average annual temperature of

16 degree centigrade, winters that are not too harsh and summers that are not

too hot. More than two millennia ago, the Dujiangyan irrigation system, the

world's oldest hydro engineering project, was constructed here and continues to

play a crucial role even today.

The outstanding natural environment has endowed the area with copious plant

resources, including bamboo, the favorite of the giant pandas. In Chengdu,

bamboos can be found everywhere, further accentuating the inseparable bond

between this city and the giant pandas. In the past four months, the local

government unveiled a proposal that involves plans such as "expanding area of

bamboo forest to 1.1 million mu and establishing four modern bamboo industrial

parks," among other schemes. Tourists might be impressed by the sheer ambition

of this proposal, but it is merely a tiny portion of Chengdu's current city planning.

Build the city in a park! In 2018, Chengdu officially put forth the notion to

create a beautiful and livable park city, which is driven by Chengdu's

distinguished natural environment, but even more so a necessary choice

beneficial to the city's long-term growth.

Chengdu has planned and designed the 17,000km-long Tianfu Greenway System,

which will endow an average of more than one kilometer of greenway for every

square kilometer of urban territory. This super-long urban slow traffic system

will connect together all parks and gardens, big or small, throughout the city,

create venues and scenarios of fun and relaxation such as recreational

entertainment, physical exercise, urban agricultural experience and urban night

tour, thereby enriching the leisure in the daily living of local dwellers.

In the near future, the giant pandas residing in Chengdu will embrace a new

home. On September 25, 2019, construction for the "Giant Panda Planet" and

expansion of the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding formally broke

ground. After the expansion program, the Panda Base will measure 3,525 mu in

area, and the construction effort signifies the official commencement of

Chengdu's plan to position itself as the "Capital of Giant Pandas".

According to plans, Chengdu's "Capital of Giant Panda" campaign is constituted

by three areas that will amount to 69 square km in total area. Plan calls for

combining giant panda ecology, cultural value and the building of the beautiful

and habitable park city into a holistic and organic entity that will function

as an ecological homeland of the giant pandas.

For Chengdu, the "Capital of Giant Pandas" is transforming from a moniker to reality.

Source: Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding