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☆ WAF Awards 2023: World’s best new buildings unveiled
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( Oscar Holland | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

2023 World Architecture FestivalUAE-based firm Dabbagh Architects was shortlisted in the religious buildings category for its Mosque of Light in Dubai. 2023 World Architecture FestivalBangkok-based architecture practice All(zone) was shortlisted for its temporary MPavilion. 2023 World Architecture FestivalOsamu Morishita Architect and Associates was nominated for this hydrogen station in Tokushima prefecture, Japan. 2023 World Architecture FestivalThe timber Turrell Pavilion, in the Maldives, was one of two shortlisted projects by Brazilian firm Studio MK27. 2023 World Architecture FestivalThe curvaceous E-sports center by Central-South Architectural Design Institute in Hangzhou, China.

Persons: 3XN, Paul Finch, Cox, Dabbagh Organizations: CNN, Newark Liberty International, Cox Architecture, Ages, Chat, Shanghai United Design Group, Chengdu Research Base, Dabbagh Architects, Associates, Design Locations: Dubai, Singapore, Chengdu, China, Melbourne, Cambodia, Senegal, Netherlands, Danish, Oman, Nizwa, UAE, Light, Bangkok, Australia, Tokushima prefecture, Japan, Maldives, Central, Hangzhou

☆ South Korean zoo welcomes giant panda twins
▼ + stars: | 2023-07-11 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

[1/2] Giant Panda Ai Bao holds her baby panda with mouth after giving birth to twin at Everland amusement park in Yongin, South Korea, July 11, 2023. Samsung C&T/Yonhap via REUTERSSEOUL, July 11 (Reuters) - A South Korean zoo said on Tuesday it had recently welcomed the first giant panda twins to be born in the country. The first twin weighed 180 grams (6.35 oz) and the second, which arrived nearly two hours later, weighed 140 grams. The birth of the twins comes nearly three years after Fu Bao, the first panda to be born in South Korea, came into the world with the same parents Ai Bao and Le Bao. Fu Bao is due to be returned to China by July next year at the latest, the zoo said.

Persons: Ai Bao, Donghee Chung, Chung, Fu Bao, Le Bao, Cherwon Kang, Ai Bao's, Kang, Hyunsu Yim, Ed Davies Organizations: Samsung, REUTERS, YouTube, Thomson Locations: Yongin, South Korea, REUTERS SEOUL, Korean, Seoul, China

☆ There's a pig theme park in China and people are paying $1,200 a night for a hotel room so they may see — but not smell — the piggery
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Huileng Tan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

A hotel room at a pig theme park costs over $1,200 a night, per local media. The room went viral after a Zhejiang media outlet, Tianmu News, posted a video clip on June 25 featuring the theme park on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok. The theme park, which opened in August 2021, aims to promote this highly prized pig breed, which is used to make Jinhua dry-cured ham, a local specialty. Guests can get a panda pig or a year's worth of express-couriered pork upon checkout. —Zhejiang Normal University (@StudyatZJNU) December 1, 2021The theme park — which has a castle-like facade — includes a museum dedicated to the pig, a cafe, an amusement park, and a conference room, according to its website.

Persons: — Organizations: Service, China News Service, Zhejiang Normal University Locations: China, Jinhua, Zhejiang, Douyin

☆ An albino giant panda thought to be the only one in the world was filmed in the wild in China — take a look
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-04 | by ( Isobel Van Hagen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +2 min

An all-white giant panda was spotted in China's Wolong National Nature Reserve. It is thought to be the only albino giant panda in the world. Footage captured at the Wolong National Nature Reserve in Sichuan Province shows the panda with a female panda and a cub, per China Xinhua News. It is believed to be the only albino giant panda in the world, according to South China Morning Post. The panda in Wolong National Nature Reserve, Sichuan province, southwest China.

Persons: —, Li Sheng Organizations: Nature Reserve, Service, China Xinhua, China Morning Post, Nature, ABC, Peking University Locations: Sichuan Province, China, Sichuan, ABC Australia

☆ Giant panda Ya Ya becomes internet sensation in China after returning from the US
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-29 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

Ya Ya was loaned to Memphis Zoo back in 2003 at a high-point in US-China relations. In a statement posted online, Beijing Zoo said Ya Ya was in “stable condition” and they had prepared a special feeding ground for her. Ya Ya took a chartered plane back to the capital and arrived in the Beijing Zoo at 00:43 on Sunday. Since at least 2019, Memphis Zoo has faced concerns from visitors and panda fans that Ya Ya looked thin and discolored. Instead, zoo officials and vets maintained Ya Ya was simply small framed but healthy, and attributed her fur loss to hormones.

Unlike the chubby, fluffy image of her younger self, 22-year-old Ya Ya has appeared skinny in recent photos, with her black and white coat missing clumps of fur. But Le Le died suddenly of heart disease in early February, further fueling suspicions of mistreatment. Throughout the past weeks, Ya Ya regularly appeared as a top trending topic on Weibo, each time attracting hundreds of millions of views. Allegations of mistreatmentWhen Ya Ya and Le Le arrived at Memphis in 2003, it was a huge deal for the city. A petition by Panda Voices to bring Ya Ya and Le Le back to China on change.org has garnered 193,000 signatures.

☆ Off-the-radar destinations every China visitor should consider
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-29 | by ( Maggie Hiufu Wong | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +8 min

JingdezhenLarge chimneys, used for firing porcelain, dot the skyline of Jingdezhen city. gui yong nian/Adobe StockDubbed the porcelain capital of the world, Jingdezhen has been firing quality pieces of “white gold” for more than 1,700 years. For a crash course in the city’s porcelain history, visit the newly built and photogenic Jingdezhen Imperial Kiln Museum of China. LinhaiLinhai's historic city wall stretches more than 6,000 meters in length. Food aside, travelers should leave time to admire this historic city that dates back more than 2,000 years.

☆ Tears and photos as Japan sends giant panda 'home' to China
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Elaine Lies | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

[1/2] A baby panda Xiang Xiang, born from mother panda Shin Shin on June 12, 2017, walks on the ground during a press preview ahead of the public debut at Ueno Zoological Gardens in Tokyo, Japan December 18, 2017. REUTERS/Yoshikazu Tsuno/PoolTOKYO, Feb 21 (Reuters) - With tears, waves and shouts of farewell from fans, a Japan-born giant panda set off for China on Tuesday from the Tokyo zoo where she was raised. Xiang Xiang was originally supposed to be returned in December 2020 but this was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic. The zoo's first naturally-conceived panda, Xiang Xiang was also the first born there for years, enhancing her popularity. "Thank you, Xiang Xiang," one fan wrote on the zoo's Twitter page.

☆ The last panda in Latin America? Mexico to decide what happens next
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-18 | by ( Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

Xin Xin, the last panda in Latin America, is not your average bear. A native of Mexico, she’s the only remaining member of a diaspora descended from giant pandas China gifted to foreign countries during the 1970s and 1980s. That era may soon end after more than 50 years because Xin Xin, the granddaughter of pandas gifted by China, is childless, in menopause and, at 32, very old. It could be the end for pandas in Latin America altogether if Mexico’s government balks at the price of a new panda. Xin Xin is a second-generation Mexican-born panda, tracing her lineage to Pe Pe and Ying Ying, who arrived to the zoo in 1975.

☆ China panda experts visit Taiwan in rare point of contact
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-02 | by ( The Associated Press | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

TAIPEI, Taiwan — Taiwan has welcomed a pair of experts from China to help with an ailing panda in a rare opportunity for contact between the sides. The two experts arrived Tuesday after Taipei Zoo’s Tuan Tuan, suspected to have a malignant brain tumor, took a turn for the worse. The giant panda and his mate, Yuan Yuan, were gifted to the zoo in 2008 during a time of warming relations between China and Taiwan, which split amid civil war in 1949. Chinese panda experts checking on Tuan Tuan at the zoo in Taipei on Wednesday. AFP - Getty ImagesAn MRI on Tuan Tuan showed that lesions on his brain had grown in a sign the disease was “progressing rapidly,” the zoo said in a news release.

☆ China brings ‘panda diplomacy’ to Qatar with World Cup gift
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-20 | by ( Hannah Lee | Dorothy Kam | ) www.nbcnews.com time to read: +2 min

HONG KONG — A pair of giant pandas arrived in Qatar on Wednesday as a gift ahead of the World Cup, marking the first time China has extended its “panda diplomacy” to the Middle East. Si Hai, a 3-year-old female weighing about 150 pounds, will be given the Arabic name Thuraya, while Jing Jing, a 4-year-old male weighing 265 pounds, will be known in Arabic as Suhail. The pandas will be available for public viewing by the time Qatar hosts the World Cup starting Nov. 20. A child viewing one of two giant pandas gifted from China in Al Khor, Qatar, on Wednesday. Denour / AFP - Getty ImagesGiant pandas, a vulnerable species that seldom reproduces in the wild, are considered a national treasure and symbol of China.

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