HONG KONG – 1000’s of large panda sculptures will greet residents and vacationers beginning Saturday in Hong Kong, the place enthusiasm for the bears has grown since two cubs were born in a local theme park.
The two,500 reveals had 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 preferred buying district, this weekend earlier than setting their footprint at three different places this month.
One designated spot is Ocean Park, house to the dual cubs, their dad and mom and two other pandas gifted by Beijing this yr. The design of six of the sculptures, manufactured from recycled rubber barrels and resins amongst different supplies, was impressed by these bears.
The shows mirror Hong Kong’s use of pandas to spice up its economic system because the Chinese language monetary hub works to regain its place as considered one of Asia’s high tourism locations.
Pandas are thought-about China’s unofficial nationwide mascot. The nation’s large panda mortgage program with abroad zoos has lengthy been seen as a device of Beijing’s soft-power diplomacy.
Hong Kong’s tourism trade representatives are upbeat concerning the potential affect of housing six pandas, hoping to spice up customer numbers despite the fact that caring for pandas in captivity is expensive. Officers have inspired companies to capitalize on the recognition of the bears to grab alternatives in what some lawmakers have dubbed the “panda economic system.”
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 can be auctioned on-line for charity and the proceeds can be donated to Ocean Park to help large 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 house at Ocean Park. An An enjoyed eating bamboo in front of the cameras and Ke Ke climbed on an set up. They’re set to fulfill the general public on Sunday.
The dual cubs — whose beginning in August made their mom Ying Ying the world’s oldest first-time panda mother — might meet guests as early as February.
Ying Ying and the newborn pandas’ father, Le Le, are the second pair of pandas gifted by Beijing to Hong Kong for the reason that former British colony returned to China’s rule in 1997.
The primary pair had 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 typical lifespan for a panda within the wild is 14 to twenty years, whereas in captivity it’s as much as 30 years, in response to the World Large Fund for Nature.
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