Staff members carry the two giant pandas to a special truck which will deliver them to the panda pavilion in Macao, Dec 18, 2010. [Photo/Xinhua]

MACAO/CHENGDU - Two giant pandas named Kai Kai and Xin Xin - after "kaixin," the Chinese word for "happy" - arrived in Macao Saturday to help the Macao Special Administrative Region (SAR) celebrate its 10th anniversary.

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The fluffy pair were given by China's central government as a gift to the SAR. The gift was announced by President Hu Jintao during a visit to Macao on December 19 last year.

The pandas left the Chengdu Research Base for Giant Panda Breeding in Chengdu, capital of China's Sichuan province, at around 10 a.m. after a half-hour farewell appearance and their flight took off at 11:40 a.m.

"They had a happy childhood here. We wish them a bright future in Macao," said Yin Hong, deputy director of the State Forestry Administration.

The central government hoped to enhance cooperation in wildlife protection research as giant pandas were a "national treasure," Yin said.

The chartered plane that carried the panda pair landed in Macao Saturday afternoon, after which the two pandas were delivered to the panda pavilion at Seac Pai Van Park in Macao's Coloane district.

The pandas had to be quarantined for at least a month and they needed to get used to the environment in Macao before the panda pavilion could be open to the public, said Yang Zhi, a veterinarian from the Chengdu base.

He also said that a team of keepers and veterinarians from the Chengdu base will stay in Macao for at least half a year, assisting the inexperienced local staff to raise the two pandas.

To provide a comfortable habitat for the two pandas, the SAR government has splashed out some 90 million patacas (11.4 million U.S. dollars) in building the panda pavilion, which covers an area of 3,000 square meters and has various facilities that can provide feeding and medical services to the two pandas.

The SAR also planned to establish a fund to pay for research and care of the animals.

According to Yang, it takes an annual cost of 60,000 yuan ($9, 016) to raise a panda in the Chengdu base.

The price of the ticket to the panda pavilion, which was expected to be open at the end of next month, will be set at no more than 50 patacas ($6.3), said Florinda da Rosa Silva Chan, the SAR's secretary for Administration and Justice, who attended the welcoming ceremony for the panda pair held at the Macao International Airport.

Macao Post Saturday issued two special giant panda stamps with a commemorative brochure.

Kai Kai, the male panda, was born in August 2008 and weighs 75 kg, while Xin Xin was born about two weeks later and weighs 65 kg.

Their names, which mean "happy" in Chinese when combined, were chosen by the people of Macao through a naming contest that began in June this year.

China's central government has given four pairs of pandas to Hong Kong, Taiwan and Macao. The first pair named "Jia Jia" and "An An" went to Hong Kong in 1999, followed by "Le Le" and "Ying Ying" in 2007.

"Tuan Tuan" and "Yuan Yuan", named after the Chinese word for "reunion," were sent to Taiwan at the end of 2008.