Giant panda Mang Cancan celebrated his 3rd birthday on Monday with a special feast featuring various fruit and vegetable at Chongqing Zoo in southwest China.
Zookeepers prepared an elaborate birthday meal for the giant panda, including a pumpkin-carved cart and fruit hamper made of cantaloupe. The festivities were further enhanced with snow-and-ice decorations and a water-mist spray.
Despite the intense summer heat, numerous local residents and tourists made a special trip to the zoo to share birthday wishes to this beloved giant panda.
"I came to see Mang Xiaowu celebrating his birthday. He was eating watermelon and ice and looks very happy. Here I wish Mang Xiaowu a happy birthday," said a visitor.
Mang Cancan was born on July 6, 2023 at Chongqing Zoo, weighing 191 grams at birth.
As the fifth cub of his mother Mangzai, he is affectionately called Mang Xiaowu, meaning "Mang Little Five".
His official name, "Mang Cancan", was selected by over 13,000 citizens and netizens through a public vote when he was 100 days old, symbolizing beauty and brilliance in Chinese.
Giant panda Mang Cancan celebrates 3rd birthday in Chongqing
Chinese President Xi Jinping on Friday urged efforts to carry out search and rescue operations in a scientific manner after a landslide struck a county in southwest China's Chongqing Municipality, leaving people trapped and missing.
The landslide occurred at 9:08 Friday in Hanjia Sub-district along a section of the Wujiang River in Pengshui Miao and Tujia Autonomous County, burying several residential buildings at the foot of the mountain. Ten people had been rescued as of 14:00, according to local authorities.
In his instructions, Xi stressed the need for scientific search and rescue operations to prevent secondary disasters, and called for proper medical treatment for the injured and appropriate arrangements for the aftermath. He also urged relevant departments to identify the cause of the disaster, draw lessons from this case and conduct thorough inspections to eliminate geological hazards. Xi emphasized that all regions and relevant departments must further fulfill their safety responsibilities, strengthen monitoring, early warning and risk inspection systems, and ensure that all work is carried out in a concrete and meticulous manner, so as to effectively protect the lives and property of the people.
The Ministry of Natural Resources on Friday raised its geological disaster emergency response to Level II from Level III and dispatched a working team to the site.
A four-tier emergency response system is in place for geological disasters, with Level I being the most severe.
Xi urges scientific search and rescue efforts after Chongqing landslide
