A pair of
giant pandas are leaving for Belgium on Saturday, on lease from their breeding
center in southwest China's Sichuan province.
Hundreds of
people attended a ceremony on Saturday morning to see the two pandas off at the
China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas. They are bound for a
research program at Belgium's Pairi Daiza Zoo.
Hao Hao,
the female, and Xing Hui, the male, are both four years old and will stay in
Belgium for the next 15 years, as announced during Belgian prime minister Elio
Di Rupo's September visit to China.
"The
Belgians are crazy about giant pandas. All people and media are talking about
them," said Eric Domb, head of the Pairi Daiza Zoo during the ceremony.
Several
days ago, the Belgian prime minister announced that he would meet these Chinese
"VIPs" in the airport. Brussels airport has even told panda fans not
to go there because "they may not see pandas even through a
telescope."
Veterinarian
Tim Bouts from Pairi Daiza came to Chengdu a week ago to meet Xing Hui and Hao
Hao. He has been briefed on their quirks of diet and is up to date on panda
health matters.
Xing Hui
and Hao Hao will travel to Belgium on a charted DHL aircraft, where they can
enjoy enough space and food.
The
aircraft, equipped with advanced medical facilities, will carry nearly 100
kilograms of bamboo and two Chinese experts will pander to the pandas' every
whim onboard.
The
chartered flight will take off from the Chengdu Shuangliu International Airport
late Saturday afternoon.
Hao Hao and
Xing Hui are expected to arrive in Brussels on Sunday, via Bahrain, and make
their debut this April.
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