Tag: Jia Jia

Jia Jia and De De

Hong Kong’s twin panda cubs, born in August 2024,  were finally named today, after a public competition which saw over 38,000 entries.

Jia Jia and De De

The winning names, Jia Jia (加加) for “Elder Sister”, and De De (得得) for “Little Brother”, were submitted by Lee Yuk Fan, and chosen by the judges who “opined that the names were rich in meaning”.

20250520_Little Brother (left)_Elder Sister (Right)

To quote the press release:
“Elder sister” is named “Jia Jia”, with the Chinese character for “Jia” (加) conveying the message of support. Having the same pronunciation as the Chinese characters for “home” (家) and “auspices” (嘉) in both Cantonese and Putonghua, “Jia” also features an element of family and a sense of auspicious grace, embodying the prosperity of families and the nation as well as the happiness of its people.

“Little brother” is named “De De”.  As the Chinese character “De” (得) means “to succeed”, the name has the connotation that Hong Kong is successful in everything.  “De” also shares the same pronunciation as the Chinese character for “virtue” in both Cantonese and Putonghua, suggesting that giant pandas, our national treasures, possess the virtues cherished by Chinese people.”

20250520_Little Brother_Ying Ying_2

Images: Ocean Park

Happy Birthday Jia Jia, An An, Ying Ying, and Lei Lei

jia-jia---37

Ocean Park’s Giant Pandas celebrated their birthdays on the 28th July – Jia Jia turns 37, An An is 29, Ying Ying and Lei Lei are both turning 10 – with a bit of a party.

Jia Jia, who arrived 19 years ago at Ocean Park when she was 18 years old, is now a double Guinness World Record holder for “the oldest panda ever in captivity” and “the oldest panda living in captivity”. The previous holder of both records was also a female, Du Du, who passed away on 22 July 1999 shortly before turning 37, now that Jia Jia has turned 37, she is the new record holder. In human terms 37 is still young but converting panda years into human years, 37 is equivalent to 110 human years. A birthday that is definitely worth celebrating!

Ocean Park also announced that Ying Ying had recently returned from Sichuan where she participated in China’s Giant Panda Breeding Program and enjoyed several romps with China’s horny male pandas and a bout of artificial insemination. The gestation period for giant pandas is quite long but there’s hope that Ying Ying is pregnant, and will soon give birth to her first locally born cub.

10-year-panda

Ocean Park’s “Summer Nights” promotion offers extended opening hours to 9pm on all Saturdays and Sundays in August (i.e. 1, 2, 8, 9, 15, 16, 22, 23, 29, 30 August). There’s also a special discounted entry price of $198 (Adults) and $99 (Children) to enter the Park after 4pm.