China to build new panda breeding center after last year’s quake leveled old habitat

September 20th, 2009 Pandas to return to famous China reserve in 2012BEIJING — Sixty pandas relocated last year from a famous Chinese nature reserve after their breeding center was severely damaged by a massive earthquake will return home after repairs in 2012. The panda breeding center in the Wolong nature reserve in southwest China's Sichuan province is undergoing a 379 million yuan ($55 million) reconstruction expected to be completed by 2011, the official Xinhua News Agency said late Saturday.

August 31st, 2009 XINING - An earthquake measuring 5.9 on the Richter scale Monday jolted the Qinghai province in northwestern China, officials said. The quake occurred at 6.15 p.m.

August 15th, 2009 CHENGDU - Panda lovers Saturday set out for a hike in China's southwestern Sichuan province to retrace the steps of a French missionary who made the animal known to the West 140 years ago. Pere Jean Pierre Armand David, a French Catholic missionary, introduced the Giant Panda to the Western world after taking photographs of the animal in 1869 in Sichuan's Ya'an City.

August 5th, 2009 San Diego Zoo super panda gives birth to 5th cubSAN DIEGO — Prized San Diego Zoo panda mom Bai Yun has given birth to her fifth cub, the zoo announced Wednesday. The cub, born to 17-year-old Bai Yun (White Cloud), becomes just the 13th panda in the United States.

July 27th, 2009 Pandas face uncertain future after China quakeBEIJING — About 35 pandas at a reserve in southwestern China face an uncertain future after nearly a quarter of their habitat was destroyed by last year's powerful earthquake that killed nearly 70,000 people, according to a study published Monday. Large parts of Sichuan province — where most of the world's remaining wild pandas live — were devastated by the massive May 12 earthquake, which sent landslides crashing into river valleys and leaving 5 million homeless.

July 24th, 2009 China announces first panda from frozen spermBEIJING — For the first time, a giant panda cub has been born in China after being conceived using frozen sperm, officials announced Friday — an innovation scientists hope will help the endangered species avoid extinction. The new cub's birth Thursday means breeders will no longer be forced to rely on semen from China's few virile males, and may even be able to bring in sperm from zoos in San Diego, Mexico City or elsewhere.

July 20th, 2009 HONG KONG - A book about a panda that went missing during last year's Sichuan earthquake in China and the Hong Kong woman who adopted the animal is to help finance a panda nature reserve, a media report said Monday. The book, "In Love with Pandas - The Story of Qing Qing & I", tells of the bond between Judy Chen Qing and the giant panda, Qing Qing, she adopted at Sichuan's Wolong nature reserve in 2007, the Standard newspaper said.

July 9th, 2009 More than 300 injured by quake in ChinaBEIJING — State media says an earthquake has rocked southwestern China and injured at least 336 people. The Xinhua News Agency said the magnitude-6.0 quake in Yunnan province damaged some 2,700 homes on Thursday night.

May 26th, 2009 NEW DELHI - Construction has begun on the world's largest earthquake simulation center at the Tongji University in Shanghai, China. The center will be able to test the quake-proof capabilities of the city's skyscrapers and stadiums more accurately, and observe the effects of earthquakes on long structures such as bridges, subways and tunnels.

April 26th, 2009 China relocates last pandas from quake-hit habitatBEIJING — China has moved the last batch of pandas still living in a world-famous preserve badly damaged in last year's devastating earthquake to a nearby facility, state television reported Sunday. CCTV said in a news broadcast the six pandas were moved on Saturday from the Wolong Panda Breeding Center, near Sichuan's capital of Chengdu, to another breeding facility in the same province.

April 19th, 2009 CHENGDU - China has announced plans to construct a new breeding center for giant pandas around May to replace the former quake-leveled habitat in southwestern Sichuan Province. Xinhua, the official news agency quoted officials as saying that the new China Giant Panda Protection and Research Center will be located in the Huangcaoping area, about 10 kilometers from the former one.

April 19th, 2009 China to start building new panda breeding baseBEIJING — China will break ground on a new panda breeding center next month to replace a world-famous preserve badly damaged in last year's massive earthquake in southwestern Sichuan province, state media reported Sunday. The new facility will host more than $200 million in projects to preserve the endangered species, according to the official Xinhua News Agency.

January 7th, 2009 BEIJING - A giant panda at Beijing Zoo mauled an intruder who climbed into its enclosure, state media said Thursday. The 110-kg panda, Gugu, bit the legs of the man who climbed into its pen to retrieve a toy dropped by his young son Wednesday, the Beijing Morning Post said.

December 26th, 2008 KUNMING - More than 95,000 people have been affected by two earthquakes that struck Yunnan province of southwest China Friday, the provincial civil affairs administration said Saturday. A 4.3-magnitude quake hit Yiliang county in Kunming, the provincial capital, at about 2.19 a.m.

December 22nd, 2008 TAIPEI/BEIJING - Two giant pandas given by China to Taiwan arrived in Taipei Tuesday amid huge public interest in the latest sign of improving ties between the two political rivals. The pandas, named Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan, arrived on board a chartered EVA Air jet, following a three-hour flight from a panda reserve in China's Sichuan province.