Related News
Panda who is the pride of the city bears a name
Print Edition
THE first giant panda born in Shanghai — though she is no giant yet — has been named Hua Sheng and will be greeting visitors from the Mid-Autumn Festival, which falls on Thursday, onward, Shanghai Wildlife Park announced yesterday.
Hua Sheng weighs 3,285 grams and is 52 centimeters long. She was 2 months old yesterday and the park held a celebration for her.
The panda weighed 151 grams when she was born and is a “fat girl,” the park said.
Her name was decided by a public vote. Among the 20 potential names put forward, “Hua Sheng,” suggesting healthy growth and fertility, won an overwhelming 14,875 votes, the park operator said.
“The name bears people’s good wishes that Hua Sheng is as beautiful and lovely as a flower (which is pronounced as Hua in Chinese), and she can give birth to more giant pandas here, thus expanding the giant panda population in Shanghai,” said Cao Liang, deputy general manager of the park.
In Chinese, flowering also has the connotation of bringing fertility, while Sheng means giving birth. “Sheng” also has the harmonic tone of “Shen,” which refers to Shanghai, Cao explained.
“Nan Nan,” which Shanghainese often use to call girls affectionately, and “Shen Bao,” meaning Shanghai’s panda baby, won more than 8,800 and 5,100 votes respectively and were the second and third most popular names in the poll.
Hua Sheng is in good health and she has already learnt to roll over, said Cao. Her eyes have fully opened, and she has an increasing sense of light and sound, he added.
“Guo Guo, the mother, and Hua Sheng are both in extremely good health as experts have appraised their situation and they will greet visitors from September 15 when this year’s Mid-Autumn Festival falls,” Cao said.
Twenty giant panda fans attended the celebration party yesterday, and they presented toys and a swing to Hua Sheng.
A giant pregnant panda, You You, has also arrived at the park from the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in Wolong in Sichuan Province, meaning another panda cub is expected to be delivered in Shanghai.
The park said this could even happen during the National Day holiday in October.
The park was designated to be a giant panda preserve in Shanghai by the State Forestry Administration of China in March, and the other two newly designated panda reserves are in Beijing and Guangzhou.
Guo Guo and another giant panda were transported to the park from the Wolong center.
The mother of 20-year-old Guo Guo is 38-year-old Jia Jia, who lives at Hong Kong’s Ocean Park and is the world’s oldest captive giant panda.
- About Us
- |
- Terms of Use
- |
-
RSS - |
- Privacy Policy
- |
- Contact Us
- |
- Shanghai Call Center: 962288
- |
- Tip-off hotline: 52920043
- 沪ICP证：沪ICP备05050403号-1
- |
- 互联网新闻信息服务许可证：31120180004
- |
- 网络视听许可证：0909346
- |
- 广播电视节目制作许可证：沪字第354号
- |
- 增值电信业务经营许可证：沪B2-20120012
Copyright © 1999- Shanghai Daily. All rights reserved.Preferably viewed with Internet Explorer 8 or newer browsers.
