Germany had its first taste of panda mania on Saturday as two furry ambassadors arrived from China to begin a new life as stars of Berlin’s premier zoo.
The pair, named Meng Meng and Jiao Qing, jetted in on a special Lufthansa cargo plane, accompanied by two Chinese panda specialists, the Berlin Zoo’s chief vet and a ton of bamboo.
A crowd of journalists and officials on hand to welcome the VIPs let out an “ooooh” as Meng Meng raised a paw after flight LH8415 made an especially gentle touchdown at Schoenefeld airport.
The black and white pair, clearly groggy after the 12-hour-20-minute flight from Chengdu in southwest China, lay resting in their traveling crates during the welcome ceremony in a hangar.
Until, that is, the Chinese ambassador to Berlin got a little too close, prompting Jiao Qing, the male, to stand up, roar and beat his paws against the plexiglass sides of the crate.
“From this evening, their German and Chinese handlers will stay with them ... we’ll do everything to help them calm down so they have a good night, eat well and rehydrate themselves,” Berlin Zoo director Andreas Knieriem said.
After just over a week’s acclimatization, the pair will be unveiled to the public by no less than Chancellor Angela Merkel and Chinese President Xi Jinping, most likely two days before the G20 summit of world leaders hosted by Germany.
Famed for its “panda diplomacy,” China has dispatched its national treasure to about a dozen countries as a symbol of close relations.
Export giants Germany and China have nurtured increasingly close economic ties, and over the last year they have also taken on the leading role in championing free trade as Donald Trump shifts the US away from market liberalization with his “America First” push.
“The Chinese see the pandas as Chinese brand ambassadors,” said Bernhard Bartsch from the Bertelsmann Foundation think tank in Berlin.
The “pandas will lend a very positive spin in German media to the visit by Xi Jinping in July,” he added.
The excitement over the two bears was clear as the zoo published a daily update on its blog in the run-up to their arrival.
The flight to Germany was carefully prepared, with “bamboo snacks” to keep the pandas happy and absorbent mats to ensure the transport box stayed dry and odorless.
And their new home at Berlin’s zoo will measure about 5,500 square metres and comes fitted with a wooded climbing area and an artificial stream.
Meng Meng means “dream” in Chinese, while Jiao Qing translates as “darling,” although the Chinese characters are a composite of “tender” and “festive” or “celebration.”
The zoo will pay US$15 million for a 15-year contract to host them, with most of the money going toward a conservation and breeding research program in China.
And the pandas’ main dish — bamboo — will cost tens of thousands of dollars each year.
The zoo will probably look to offset part of its outlays through panda-themed merchandising.
Ultimately, it hopes that the pair will produce babies, even if experts have warned that panda reproduction is a fine art.
China has previously given three pandas to Germany, but the last one, 34-year-old Bao Bao, died in Berlin in 2012, having become the oldest male panda in the world.
