CNN
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Thousands 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 had been born in an area theme park.
The 2,500 reveals had been showcased in a launch ceremony of PANDA GO! FEST HK, the town’s largest panda-themed exhibition, at Hong Kong’s airport on Monday. They shall be publicly displayed on the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui, a well-liked buying district, this weekend earlier than setting their footprint at three different places this month.
One designated spot is Ocean Park, residence to the dual cubs, their dad and mom and two different pandas gifted by Beijing this yr. The design of six of the sculptures, made from recycled rubber barrels and resins amongst different supplies, was impressed by these bears.
The 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.
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 residence at Ocean Park. An An loved consuming bamboo in entrance of the cameras and Ke Ke climbed on an set up. They are set to fulfill the general public on Sunday.
The shows replicate Hong Kong’s use of pandas to spice up its financial system because the Chinese monetary hub works to regain its place as one in every of Asia’s prime 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 software of Beijing’s soft-power diplomacy.
Hong Kong’s tourism business representatives are upbeat in regards to the potential influence of housing six pandas, hoping to spice up customer numbers though caring for pandas in captivity is dear. Officials have inspired companies to capitalize on the recognition of the bears to grab alternatives in what some lawmakers have dubbed the “panda financial 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 shall be auctioned on-line for charity and the proceeds shall be donated to Ocean Park to help large panda dialog efforts.
Ying Ying and the dual cubs’ 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 first 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 common 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 Wildlife Fund for Nature.
