Baby pandas among the many city attractions for 3-day holiday
A giant panda, Qian Qian, caresses her cub who was born on October 10 last year at the Shanghai Wild Animal Park. The 5-month-old panda doesn’t have a name yet.
THE Shanghai Wild Animal Park is among the host of scenic sites in the city that is expecting huge crowds for the Qingming Festival holiday this week.
Visitors to the park in the Pudong New Area can have a good look at the 5-month-old panda babies.
The pair, a male born to Si Xue and a female born to Qian Qian, were born on October 4 and October 10 respectively last year at the park, taking the number of giant pandas in the park to seven.
The baby pandas do not have a name so far, and the park operators are appealing to visitors to obey the rules as they need a lot of rest at that age.
The park was designated a giant panda reserve by the State Forestry Administration of China in March 2016. A pigeon pair — a male and a female — was born in the park in October the same year.
They were named Yue Yue and Ban Ban.
The four cubs born at the park ensured headlines to the park as most pandas are born and groomed in the natural reserves in southwest China’s Sichuan Province.
A number of other cubs including hamadryas baboon, pelicans and meerkats have been born at the park recently. The hamadryas baboon is nearly 3 months old and is artificially bred.
A pigeon pair — Yue Yue (male) and Ban Ban (female) — were born at the park in October 2016.
The eight pelicans are 50 days old and are served yellow croaker fish. The four meerkats are 40 days and are looked after by their mother.
Besides the Shanghai Wild Animal Park, there are other sites to enjoy across the city during the three-day holiday starting tomorrow.
There are flower exhibitions, intangible cultural heritage display, bamboo festival and bird observation event.
Pink peach flowers are in full bloom at the Datuan, Laogang, Huinan and Xinchang towns as well as the Shanghai Flower Port, Lingang area and Shanghai International Resort in Pudong.
The sea of pink nestles amidst traditional houses of white walls and black tiles in ancient watertowns are a feast for the eyes.
The International Flower Exhibition is under way at the Shanghai Botanical Garden and features more than 20,000 flowers from over 50 species such as dahlia, rose, tulip, peony and lily, some of them rare species.
The urban forest flower exhibition at the Gongqing Forest Park features 3D paintings, garden landscape, flower boats, fairy tale forest houses as well as over 100 varieties of plants.
A caretaker feeds milk to a baby hamadryas baboon.
The tulip exhibition at the Shanghai Flower Port and rape flower festival in Chongming’s Dongtan area are also likely to draw crowds.
The Shanghai Happy Valley will kick off a spring outing season with float parades, magic shows, street dance competitions and a balloon carnival. A wild herb festival is ongoing at the Dongping National Forest Park and visitors can taste the delicacies and snacks made of them.
The Great World is hosting an intangible cultural heritage carnival that will feature acrobatics and magic performances, silk display and alley, or street, games.
Tourists can taste bamboo shoots, a spring delicacy, at a cultural festival in Sheshan in Songjiang District. About 100 varieties of dishes will be available. A bird observation event will be held at the Estuary Science and Technology Museum of Yangtze River in Baoshan District.
