Both born in 2021, Bao Li and Qing Bao are of Generation Alpha. In fact, Bao Li has a lot of connections with the National Zoo. His grandma and grandpa are Mei Xiang and Tian Tian, and his mom Bao Bao was born here. Bao Li is just as handsome as his uncles Tai Shan and Xiao Qi Ji. I believe he is also excited for the upcoming trip from his hometown in Sichuan to D.C., to see the place where his family lived and get to know the friends here. As for Qing Bao, she is a star. At one year old, she became the ambassador of the ninth World Wildlife Day. Her name, voted by Chinese netizens, literally means “a treasure in green mountains”. From that alone, you can see how much we cherish nature and pandas.

China has all along been promoting ecological progress. Nearly 20 years ago, then Zhejiang Party Secretary Xi Jinping said “clear waters and green mountains are just as valuable as gold and silver”. Today, this has become a consensus in China. As a mega-biodiverse country and one of the first parties to sign and ratify the Convention on Biological Diversity, China has made biodiversity protection a national strategy, and has worked vigorously to build a beautiful homeland where man and nature live in harmony.

To better protect pandas, we have established a Giant Panda National Park, with a total area of more than 2.2 million hectares. “The kingdom of pandas” is now a haven for many other rare and endangered species too. Today, the number of wild giant pandas in China has grown to nearly 1,900, and the species has been downgraded from endangered to vulnerable. This could not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of generations of Chinese panda conservationists deep in the mountains. It is also inseparable from international cooperation on panda conservation.

So far, China has worked with 20 countries on panda conservation. The United States was among the first. Together, our researchers have successfully bred 17 panda cubs, and solved a number of technical challenges. The National Zoo is an important participant in the process. In 1972, it was exactly here that Ling Ling and Hsing Hsing, the first pair of giant pandas coming to the United States, made their home. Since we started the cooperation program with the National Zoo in 2000, positive outcomes have been achieved in panda conservation and breeding, disease prevention and treatment, and public awareness. This has both helped us better protect pandas and boosted our peoples’ friendship. 

The current round of cooperation will focus on prevention and treatment of major diseases, and protection of habitats and wild giant panda populations. I have heard that the team at the National Zoo is renovating the Panda House to give pandas more space to exercise, eat, play and relax, so that Bao Li and Qing Bao will live a healthy and happy life here.