Hong Kong's twin baby panda cubs named Jia Jia and De De

South China Morning Post

6 days ago

Hong Kong's nine-month-old twin panda cubs - previously known only as 'Elder Sister' and 'Younger Brother' - have been named Jia Jia and De De, respectively.
Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Rosanna Law Shuk-pui announced on Tuesday the results of the panda naming contest, which received more than 35,700 entries from the public since submissions opened in February.
The Chinese characters for Jia Jia convey a message of support - 'add oil' in Cantonese - and are pronounced the same as the words 'home' and 'auspices' in Mandarin, the park said.
'Younger Brother' has been named De De, after the Chinese word meaning 'success'. De shares the same pronunciation as the Mandarin and Cantonese pronunciation for 'virtue'.
Jia Jia is also the English name of another panda who lived at Ocean Park until her death in 2016, although the Chinese characters for the name of 'Elder Sister' are different.
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Ocean Park's chairman, Paulo Pong Kin-yee, said visitor numbers and revenue had increased during the Easter and Labour Day holidays.
'What's worth noting is that the per-cap spending has also increased,' he said. 'We feel that this will continue well into the summer.'
He added that the park had benefited from increased exposure and intellectual property fees brought in by the Panda Friends series' product sales.
'It's been a very good first half of the year for the park,' he said.
The panda twin cubs made their public debut on February 16. Photo: Eugene Lee
Pong also noted that exclusive VIP tours, which allowed visitors to see the twin cubs, generated more than HK$2 million (US$255,177) in March and April.
The tours, which cost HK$1,500 per person, provided visitors early access to the facilities and a half-hour to capture pictures of the cubs.
Ocean Park earlier said that the nicknames 'Elder Sister' and 'Younger Brother' would remain, while the Mandarin pinyin of the selected Chinese names would be adopted as the English names.
Pong said that the cubs already weighed more than 21kg (46lbs) and visitors no longer had to be separated by a glass panel when visiting them in their new enclosure.
The enclosure will be open from 10am to 4.30pm daily starting on Wednesday for visitors to catch the twins together with their mother.
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The twins' father, Le Le, is housed at the Giant Panda Adventure but separate from Ying Ying and the twins, in line with their natural solitary behaviour, according to Ocean Park.
The cubs have been drawing fans to the enclosure every day since they made their public debut on February 16, six months after they were born on August 15 last year.
Ying Ying became the oldest first-time panda mother in captivity when she gave birth to the cubs. The journey to parenthood for Ying Ying and Le Le took more than 10 years, with multiple phantom pregnancies and miscarriages.