While Hong Kong residents have not stopped gushing over the enthralling feats of the city’s athletic delegation to the Paris Olympics, the whole city has been stunned by the miracle of giant panda Ying Ying’s giving birth to a female and a male cub after living in Hong Kong’s Ocean Park for 17 years.
The giant panda’s successful natural delivery has shocked the world as Ying Ying became the oldest first-time mother of her kind on record. Tourists offering compliments to the media said that they would love to see the baby pandas every month, which they consider “super, super exciting” and “great for Hong Kong”.
Hong Kong — already heartened by the motherland’s care, expressed in the central government’s decision to gift two more giant pandas to the city — is looking to become home to a total of six pandas, the most of any city in the world outside the Chinese mainland. The hope is that the two additional pandas will arrive in Hong Kong before National Day, Oct 1. During Hong Kong Chief Executive John Lee Ka-chiu’s visit to Sichuan province last month, a pair of pandas, aged between 5 and 8, were selected as a present by the central authorities to the SAR.
While attention has been focused predominantly on the economic gains that will be accrued from the anticipated rise of inbound tourism to new heights, the positive effects on other areas must not be underrated from the two new pairs of lovely pandas, including the first-ever locally born cubs, which are set to become “intimate members” of Hong Kong society, who will bring laughter and joy to be shared by local residents. They also will surely light up a joyous local atmosphere and unite people from various walks of life for a harmonious community with a shared future. Thus far, voices from different channels have spoken most favorably about the panda gifts and the infant bears, and are reminiscent of the pleasant and sweet memories of their counterparts while residing here. Indeed, local people have notably expressed their desire for the early arrival of the endearing treasures.
On the school side, by exploring and fostering students’ interest in and their care for the adorable pandas, youngsters are steadily geared toward developing from childhood a strong attachment to nature’s education and love for animals. This positive attitude and learning enthusiasm will go a long way to conserve our natural environment and protect precious and endangered species on Earth. Thumbs-up qualities in this category are fully congruent with the values and virtues that schools are strenuously making to cultivate in their students.
One crucial benefit to be derived from the panda gifts is that the national treasures will serve to tie a stronger emotional knot between the mainland and the SAR. Given their status as national treasures and high publicity, the new pandas will be in a most effective position to create a strong sense of national identity and kinship among the younger generation with the homeland. This has also become a vital goal in our school education.
The pending arrival of the two giant pandas from the motherland and the birth of twin bears have reinvigorated the idea of launching a “panda economy” in the city. For instance, tourism-sector legislator Perry Yiu Pak-leung suggested recently that studies be conducted in Sichuan and South Korea to extend the pandas’ fan base and reporting their growth details on social media platforms. References can at the same time be made on the proper ways to raise panda cubs from Guangzhou’s Chimelong Safari Park, where giant pandas have been found to have given birth to not just twins but even triplets. In response, Hong Kong Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Kevin Yeung Yun-hung reaffirmed the pandas’ significance to the city and said the government will study the costs and benefits of a “panda economy” before deciding if six pandas are sufficient for the city. In connection, Ocean Park Chairman Paulo Pong Kin-yee has also expressed hope that opportunities will be explored to develop a “panda economy”, which he said would shore up tourism appeal and bring in more visitors.
There is hardly any uncertainty over the further catalyzing impact on the SAR’s inbound tourism to be triggered by the two new pairs of national treasures. More concerted and systematic efforts are needed to this end, exploiting fully the potential benefits of a multimedia approach across geographical and cultural boundaries, to give people from different countries a clear perspective on the pandas’ fascinating characteristics and daily activities, particularly those of the newborns, which are believed to be of great interest to all age groups.
To set the proposed “panda economy” on a viable path, the first step is to look at the successful experiences in public panda-hosting in regions like Tokyo and Sichuan. Tokyo’s Ueno Zoo was able to drum up at least $380,000 in revenue from the sale of souvenirs of female panda Xiang Xiang, who in June 2017 was the first panda born at the zoo. Xiang Xiang departed for Sichuan province in February 2023. In Sichuan, the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding drew 270,000 visitors during the May Day holiday in 2023. To realize the hidden gains of “pandanomics”, it pays for the authorities to bring the organizations with a real interest to join the dynamic business-making procession into a multifarious consortium. Ocean Park, for instance, can initiate developing and marketing an extensive array of panda-themed intellectual property, capitalizing on the knowledge, skills and innovations, as well as design and business expertise of enterprises from different sectors. For instance, a mascot can be devised to symbolize the species and foster its extensive awareness and recognition from local and overseas traveling communities. A “Pandas’ Day” can also be designated each year to generate and sustain momentum in this regard across the city. Undoubtedly, this is a thought-provoking venture to both the public and private sectors. These valuable opportunities should not be squandered.
The author is a member of the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies.
The views do not necessarily reflect those of China Daily.
