Selection rules set for pandas to Taiwan
By Liang Chao (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-08-20 07:04

The identity of the longed-for pair of giant pandas to be sent to Taiwan as a gift by the Chinese mainland will hopefully be known soon, with the introduction of a new set of rules governing the "draft pick."

The rules include five major standards for the animals eligible to run for the goodwill mission to Taiwan, a senior expert announced on Friday in Beijing.

Unveiling the standards of the selection, Zhang Hemin, chief of the Wolong Nature Reserve in Southwest China's Sichuan Province and head of a nine-member selection panel, said they will focus on the panda's age, body conditions, mental activity, external and genetic characteristics.

Giant panda Ying Ying cuddles one of her twin cubs in the Wolong Nature Reserve in Southwest China's Sichuan Province, July 13, 2005. [newsphoto/file]

Under the rules, the pair of giant pandas to be selected will not only be young, healthy and lovely, but also be in sound psychological condition and well-behaved, he said. Following these rules, he was confident that "the pair of pandas picked would be the best pandas living in Wolong."

The mainland authorities will kick off the selection as of Saturday with the help of the new rules. Experts will firstly find a male and female and then begin the coupling process, said Cao Qingyao, spokesman of the State Forestry Administration.

"Experts from Taiwan are scheduled to come to Wolong next Saturday for our selection," he said, hoping the selected pandas can go to Taiwan as soon as possible.

Set up in 1963, the Wolong Nature Reserve, covering 2,000 square kilometres, is China's first and largest reserve devoted to panda conservation. It has 63 pandas in captivity, and has the country's largest population of wild pandas around 150 of them.

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