Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo (second from left), Chinese Ambassador to Belgium Liao Liqiang (right) and Eric Domb (left), president of Pairi Daiza Zoo, wait for the arrival of Xing Hui and Hao Hao at Brussels International Airport on Feb 23. Fu Jing / China Daily

Pandas begin 15 years of service as ambassadors

Two Chinese pandas that are enthralling millions of Belgians have started the next 15 years of their lives at a zoo 60 kilometers from Brussels.

The pandas, Hao Hao and Xing Hui, both 4, are being depicted as a symbol of Sino-Belgian friendship, and when they arrived at Brussels International Airport on Feb 23 they were given the sort of red-carpet treatment usually reserved for heads of state. Belgian Prime Minister Elio Di Rupo was on hand to greet them after their 15-hour flight, as was Chinese Ambassador to Belgium Liao Liqiang. It was reported that King Philippe would visit them at the end of March, before they go on public display from April 5.

At the airport, the chartered flight carrying Hao Hao and Xing Hui from Chengdu, Sichuan province, taxied through an arc of water sprayed by firefighters in a ceremony reserved for VIPs. More than 120 journalists were on hand, many reporting live, and dozens of children daubed their faces with black and white paint to look like pandas.

"We are very honored and proud that China agreed to lend Belgium two of its national treasures," Di Rupo said, pledging that the country's two newest residents would be looked after well.

"The two pandas are special goodwill guests, and we will provide an environment for them that is the same as their home in China."

Liao said the two pandas would offer new opportunities to spread the word about his country.

"Pandas are the most powerful Chinese symbols, and I think these ones will inspire more Europeans to learn about China. They are here not only for Belgium but for the heart of Europe, too."

The speed at which negotiations for sending the pandas to Brussels were conducted is being attributed to the intervention of China's Premier Li Keqiang and the role Di Rupo played.

Requests to China for pandas are usually dealt with in four or five years, in keeping with the animals' lumbering pace, but Hao Hao and Xing Hui have taken up residence less than 18 months after a request was received from Pairi Daiza Zoo.

After being taken there following the welcome ceremony, they were said to be adapting well to their new home, which features Chinese gardens and traditional architecture. Though their habitat is yet to open for direct public viewing, video images projected on the walls of a garden are allowing people to see them eat bamboo, play and sleep.

Eric Domb, president of the zoo, echoed Di Rupo in saying their living conditions would be no different to what they were in China, and said that because the climate in Belgium is similar to where the pandas came from, it will not be difficult for them to adapt to their new lives.

One of the Belgians excited by Hao Hao's and Xing Hui's arrival was Edouard Goldschneider, 14, who is learning Mandarin. He said he hoped to visit them soon.

At a Chinese Spring Festival reception before the pandas arrived, Alexander De Croo, Belgium's deputy prime minister, looked forward to their arrival and made a lighthearted poke at his country's linguistic divisions.

"I'm very glad the Chinese government has chosen the names for them, or else there would have been a hassle between Flanders and Wallonia over who would pick their names," he said.

Paula Roth, a German living in Brussels, said pandas used to be the favorite animal of their son Eric, now 34.

"'Oh, they're so cute, so cute,'" Roth quoted him as saying after he saw pandas in China as a child.

"Maybe the panda will become the new favorite of our grandson," Roth said.

Liu Jingrui, president of a supermarket in Brussels that specializes in Chinese foodstuffs, said that the arrival of the pandas would help in promoting understanding between China and Belgium. "I reckon that once many Europeans have visited the pandas they will want to go to China," Liu said.

In addition to welcoming the pandas' arrival, Belgium made special arrangements for their departure from Chengdu.

On Feb 22, hours before Hao Hao and Xing Hui boarded their flight to Brussels, Michel Malherbe, Belgium's ambassador to China, hosted a farewell party.

Their arrival in Belgium would not only strengthen Sino-Belgian friendship but also understanding between China and Europe, he said.

"China and Belgium have had very deep cooperation in foreign trade and investment, and the pandas' arrival will further promote the two countries' cultural and people-to-people exchanges."

Hao Hao's and Xing Hui's arrival in Belgium comes 27 years after two other pandas, Wan Wan and Xi Xi, were loaned to Antwerp Zoo for six months.

Jeroen Jacobs, 28, recalling his childhood visit to see them, said: "That was the start of my passion for pandas."

That passion led him to start Giantpandazoo.com, and he traveled to Chengdu to report on the journey of Xing Hui and Hao Hao.

"I was so excited to go to the pandas' hometown to report on the pair to my hometown," he said.

The privately owned Pairi Daizi Zoo, which takes its name from the ancient Persian meaning "enclosed garden", is built on the walled site of a ruined Cistercian abbey. It is regarded as one of Europe's best zoos and features the continent's largest Chinese garden, replete with cranes and red pandas. The garden will, naturally, become the new pandas' abode.

Chinese panda experts have also traveled to Belgium.

Tang Chunxiang, a veterinarian and assistant to the director of the China Conservation and Research Center for Giant Pandas in Chengdu, said: "Pandas are easily able to adapt to new environments. Xing Hui and Hao Hao will live well and possibly have cubs during their 15-year stay.

"Bamboo is available in the Netherlands, France and Germany. European bamboo species are different from those in China. But some are more nutritious than Chinese species."

Tang and Wu Daifu, one of the research center's keepers, accompanied Xing Hui and Hao Hao to Brussels. Tang will stay at Pairi Daiza Zoo for about two months, and Wu will stay for six months to ensure the pandas adapt.

Tang, who joined the research center a year after it opened in 1981, has sent many a panda overseas. On his first trip, in 1990, he accompanied a pair to Singapore for a 100-day exhibition to celebrate the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Singapore.

Xing Hui and Hao Hao are the equivalent of 12 years old in human lifespan.

"They will reach sexual maturity when they are 7 and may give birth to cubs," Tang said.

Li Xiaofei in Brussels contributed to this story.

(China Daily European Weekly 02/28/2014 page7)