Giant pandas will become TV stars for the first time as cameras get ready to roll on the set of a TV play in Ya'an, Southwest China's Sichuan Province, according to a China News Agency report yesterday.
China's first giant panda was discovered in Ya'an by a French explorer in 1869. Over the past five decades, Ya'an has provided 127 giant pandas to the rest of the country, including 16 that were sent abroad as China's friendship envoys. It is believed that 30 percent of the world's giant panda population are currently living in Ya'an. The TV play will mark the 40th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and France.
(China Daily February 19, 2003)
