At about 11:00 a.m. on September 16, 2015, Chengdu giant panda “Qing He” gave birth to twin female cubs, adding two little furry balls to the Olympic panda family in Chengdu. The older cub weighed 152g and the younger cub weighed 150g. They are the sixth set of twin giant panda cubs born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding this year. All the mothers and the cubs are in good shape so far.

Qing He is from the big family of Qingqing. With a cute appearance, a little bit round face, high cheekbones, a long nose and round eye sockets, she is one of the most beautiful pandas in her family. In this notable family, panda stars Lili, Eryatou and Dashuang are Qing He’s elder sisters. It may be said that there are many “beauties” in this family. The name of “Qing He” is quite memorable: On September 24, 2001, just one month after China's successful bid for the 2008 Olympic Games, Chengdu giant panda Qingqing gave birth to a female cub. To celebrate the successful bid for the Olympic Games, breeders of the base named this cub “Qing He” which means “congratulations”. Today, the gift given by Chengdu giant pandas to 2008 Olympic Games, “Qing He” gave birth to twin female cubs after more than one month of the successful bid for the Olympic Winter Games by chance, adding two adorable sisters to 2015 Olympic babies and giving another gift to the Olympic Games after 14 years, which is brought by the lasting good fortune of Qingqing’s family.

Expert Yang Kuixing of Animal Management Department said that Qing He is a multiparous panda that has strong maternal instinct. On August 9 this year, she began to eat less; after over 38 days of a decreased diet, early on the morning of September 16, she started to show parturient signs; at 10:31 a.m., her amniotic fluid broke; at 11:25 a.m., she gave birth to the first cub; at 11:56 a.m., she gave birth to the second cub. They are all safe now.

Panda breeding and cub nursing at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding reach another milestone

To date, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding has bred a dozen cubs from seven births and has established the largest existing population of 115 captive giant pandas by artificial breeding. This year could be called the “The Year of the Twins” of the pandas in Chengdu, since from June to October, six pairs of twins (three pairs of male cubs and three pairs of female cubs) were born at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, becoming another brand new milestone for research of giant panda breeding this year.

On June 22, Kelin, the protagonist in the photo “Panda watching AV” among the “Most Surprising Photos of 2013” selected by the Times, gave birth to female twin panda cubs—the first panda twin cubs born in the world in 2015; On July 26, Xiaoyatou gave birth to male twin cubs; On August 2 when China won the bid for Winter Olympic Games, Jingjing—mascot panda of 2008 Beijing Olympic Games and Siyuan—“Aunt of White Gloves” gave birth to male twin panda cubs in succession on the same day, presenting a gift of good luck for our country’s successful bid for Olympic Games. On August 7, Nini, one of the Olympic mascots (i.e. Beibei, Jingjing, Huanhuan, Yingying and Nini) also gave birth to female twin panda cubs. It is worth mentioning that the cubs of Jinjin, Siyuan and Nini were born successively in 5 days, achieving better results of panda breeding and cub nursing; This morning, Qing He gave birth to a pair of twins again, a new record of the twins born in a single year.

The birth of six pairs of twins is not only a brand new milestone for research of giant panda breeding, but also a propitious gift to the successful bid for the Olympic Winter Games of our country!

Broadcast delivery of the cubs live, urging waves of panda protection

According to the head of Publicity Office of Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding, to generalize the knowledge of panda conservation and breeding, spread ideas of “love” and “protection” and create an international cultural brand for “Chengdu panda”, Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding together with panda culture brand PANDAPIA jointly planned and launched the “Delivery of Panda in Chengdu Live Globally” at 8:00 a.m. this morning on domestic and foreign online video platforms such as Xunlei Kankan and NICONICO with Qing He as the protagonist, “a panda mother with stories” and “panda babies with surprise for you” as the highlights and “get a surprise and find love” as the theme of the event. According to incomplete statistics, by 16:00 p.m. in the afternoon, there had been nearly 120,000 viewers on the domestic and foreign online video platforms.

Screenshots from live on Xunlei Kankan

Screenshots from live on NICONICO

Since the live of panda delivery was launched, the number of online viewers had been increasing rapidly and surpassed 100,000. Warm blessings were sent by goodhearted fans and netizens who left messages one after another: “Mommy, I want to give you a big hug!” “I cannot believe that I just witnessed birth of a new life! My Qing He! Qing He’s little furry ball! I’m crying!” “Another baby has not come out yet, come on mommy!!”

At the time that Xunlei Kankan was broadcasting live, NICOCO was also broadcasting the delivery of Qing He’s cub. By 16:00 p.m., the number of online viewers had reached 13,700. The difficulty of Qing He’s delivery affected Japanese netizens, who all encouraged the mother Qing He with live comments. When the elder sister was born, there were many joyful blessings in the live comments. On seeing the birth of the younger sister, all the netizens that saw the birth of pandas for the first time were extremely excited and moved by the difficulties of the panda’s delivery.

Link of the online video on Xunlei Kankan: http://sc.kankancity.com/pandazb.html

Qing He’s younger cub

Qing He’ elder cub

Qing He’s twin cubs

Qing He’s twin cubs

“Qing He” and her cubs