Birth of panda twins brings double joy
Bonds between Hong Kong, Sichuan province strengthened through animal exchanges, post-earthquake support
If anyone is happy about giant panda Ying Ying successfully giving birth to twin cubs in August after years of futile mating attempts and a miscarriage, it's Janet Long Shun-kwan.
Long began looking after Ying Ying in 2009, and was close by during the giant panda's decade-long efforts to give birth, which started in 2011.
Ying Ying and male panda Le Le were gifted by the central government to Hong Kong in 2007, but several mating attempts had failed to produce cubs.
In 2015, Long accompanied Ying Ying to the Wolong Shenshuping Base of the China Conservation and Research Center for the Giant Panda in southwest Sichuan province, where the giant panda was to take part in a natural breeding program.
Long and Ying Ying stayed at the base for six months. The giant panda was able to conceive, but miscarried.
However, the trip was romantically fortuitous for Long. At the base she met Dong Chao, a senior caretaker involved in giant panda breeding since 2003, who later became her husband.
Long returned to Hong Kong, but the budding romance with Dong grew stronger, with their shared passion for giant pandas bringing them closer together.
In 2018, Long, after much soul searching, resigned from her job in Hong Kong and moved to Wolong to start a family with Dong.
