One year after the devastating Sichuan earthquake, China.org.cn paid a visit to pandas who were evacuated from the badly damaged Wolong nature reserve to their new home at Bifengxia Base in Ya'an City, Suchuan Province.

Photo taken on April 27, 2009 shows the gate to Bifengxia Base in Ya'an City, Sichuan Province. [China.org.cn]

Zhang Hemin, chief of the Wolong Nature Reserve Administration, told us the center opened in 2003 as an offshoot of the Wolong Panda Research Center which was established in 1983 as a joint effort between China and the World Wildlife Fund.

"In fact, the base was set up to split up the growing panda population. We were worried that if an epidemic broke out in Wolong, the entire species would be endangered," Zhang said. "As it turned out, we were able to play an important role looking after pandas transferred from Wolong after the earthquake."

The center built 17 temporary sheds and 20 new enclosures to accommodate the new arrivals.

Zhang said most of the pandas will be returned to Wolong nature reserve when the research center there is restored. But that will take two to three years.

Panda Kindergarten

Photo taken on April 28, 2009 shows two panda cubs are playing happily in  the Panda Kindergarten at Bifengxia Base in Ya'an City, Sichuan Province. [China.org.cn]

Zhang Hemin showed us the center's Panda Kindergarten where 13 of the cutest babies in the world, all born after the earthquake, were playing happily.

Li Guo, one of the panda keepers, said the babies are put in incubators after birth to control their environment. They also receive daily massages.

When the little ones are around 150 days old they are moved to the Panda Kindergarten. "Here they learn to live independently and collectively. They seldom see their mothers, and begin to learn skills like climbing and identifying danger; they also learn from each other by playing games."